Erin Plante Captures
Howard Munson Scholarship
Erin Plante is a very determined young woman. The teenager has a good idea of what she wants to do with her future and she’s willing to work hard to accomplish her personal and career goals. Considering his own legendary work ethic, the Huntington High School senior is someone that Howard N. Munson would be proud of.
Honored earlier this spring as a Class of 2014 Distinguished Senior, Ms. Plante is headed to Morrisville State College in the fall. She plans to pursue an associate degree in equine science and management and a bachelor degree in animal science, focusing on equine science.
The teenager has spent the past nine years working with horses, participating in Wilson Tech’s equine studies program at the Thomas School of Horsemanship in Melville and volunteering at several barns. She was inducted into the National Technical Honor Society last year and was president of Wilson Tech’s Future Farmers of America chapter as a senior.
Ms. Plante dreams of opening her own farm one day, filled mostly with horses, but sheltering other animals, too. “The purpose of the farm would be to help American war veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder,” she said earlier this month.
Ms. Plante was clearly happy as she was presented with the $3,000 Howard N. Munson Scholarship by Neil D. Getter, the Huntington Fire Department’s ex-chief and current financial secretary, during this month’s senior academic awards ceremony.
“Winning the Howard Munson Scholarship was a true honor,” Ms. Plante said. “It was really amazing shaking the former chief’s hand.”
The Huntington senior never met Mr. Munson and most likely hadn’t even heard of him or knew where his automotive shop was located in Huntington village. Yet the businessman’s good fortune and generous nature will now play a role in the teenager’s future.
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 eyes fixed 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,” Mr. Getter said during the scholarship award presentation in the Huntington High School auditorium. “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
A telling episode in Mr. Munson’s life illustrated his character and the values he held dear. “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.
Mr. Getter closed his remarks at the award’s night 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 marks the 14th year the Howard N. Munson Scholarship was presented to a Huntington senior.