Howard Munson Scholarship Presented to Bethany Smith
Bethany Smith wants to be a nurse. To accomplish that goal will take plenty of studying and practical experience. It will require a college education. That costs money. So, the Huntington High School senior was all smiles when she was presented with the $3,000 Howard N. Munson Scholarship by the Huntington Fire Department.
Although Mr. Munson once admitted that he never really enjoyed school, he knew it was important. So he did what needed to be done, graduating Port Washington High School and keeping his eye affixed on the future. The award presented in his honor is made payable to the recipient’s college of choice.
Born June 28, 1908 to Frank and Dora Hill Munson, Howard “didn’t like school very much,” said Neil D. Getter, an ex-chief and the current financial secretary of the Huntington Fire Department, who was on hand in the Huntington auditorium for the annual senior academic awards night. “He liked being around cars and told his dad to forget about the new car he had been promised if he stuck it out and graduated, because he would rather use the money to study engineering at Pratt Institute, which he did, graduating in 1928. After Pratt, he went on to graduate from General Motors Tech.”
Mr. Munson opened an auto repair shop in Huntington in 1930 and continued running it until the very day he passed away on October 22, 1999. “During the almost 70 years he was in the auto repair business he served the local fire department, the rich and famous, the poor who could not pay, the local town folk and those who came from afar,” Mr. Getter said
An insightful episode in Mr. Munson’s life was shared with a crowd of several hundred. “On one terribly cold and icy night, when there was a very bad fire in Huntington, he worked all night to keep a truck pumping and got it out of the way when the building started to collapse,” Mr. Getter said.
“Over the years, the business continued to grow, largely due to the fact that he cared about his customers, never once over charged nor cheated them in any way and while he got his hands dirty, he was noted for always wearing a necktie with his uniform and keeping the shot neat, clean and organized,” Mr. Getter said about Mr. Munson.
Ms. Smith plans to attend SUNY College at Farmingdale in the fall and enroll in the well-regarded nursing program there. Huntington teachers believe she will be a smashing success in the profession.
Mr. Getter closed his remarks by wishing the same type of success Mr. Munson enjoyed on the soon-to-be Huntington grad. “Though he chose blue collar work, he died a wealthy man and we hope that you will do as well in your chosen career,” Mr. Getter said.
This marked the tenth year the Munson Scholarship was presented to a Huntington senior.
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