News > Giving Thanks for the Legacy of Kyle S. “Stanley” Drake Jr.

Giving Thanks for the Legacy of Kyle S. “Stanley” Drake Jr.

Posted: October 21, 2022
Kyle S. "Stanley" Drake, Jr.

The Georgia United Methodist Foundation was saddened to learn Kyle S. “Stanley” Drake Jr., a scholarship donor who was passionate about helping to educate students in need, died on October 15, 2022. The Foundation give thanks to God for what he meant to his family, his church, and the community he so faithfully and generously served.

When Stanley was searching for a meaningful way to give back, his cousin, Morris Henderson, told him about the scholarship endowment he established with the Foundation. Morris, a former member of the Board of Trustees, currently serves on the Foundation’s Strategic Purpose Task Force Committee. In 2019, Stanley followed suit and established The Stanley and Mary Ann Drake Scholarship Endowment.

In a previous interview with the Foundation, Stanley explained how his formative years and marriage to Mary Ann served as the inspiration for this endowment.

Stanley’s parents grew up in the years preceding the Great Depression. His father’s formal education ended in the eighth grade, and his mother graduated from high school. They were self-taught and together became successful in a business enterprise.

Mary Ann helped put Stanley through college and supported him during a Tour of Duty in the U.S. Army. He later became the recipient of his parents’ shared success and could not help but appreciate the value of a formal education they were unable to enjoy.

Stanley shared previously, “As a consequence of Mary Ann’s mothering skills, we were able to raise three sons and make a college education available for each of them. When I see children who have been denied the opportunity of formal education through no fault of their own, it moves me to seek some way to be of assistance to them because I know, for a certainty, that is what Mary Ann would want me to do. She had an overwhelming desire to help other people and responded to that desire whenever she recognized there was a need for assistance.”

This named endowment will generate funds for a scholarship each year in perpetuity. The first scholarship was awarded to Theneshia Bowen, a Master of Divinity student at Candler School of Theology. Most recently, LaGrange College student Davis Day received a scholarship for the 2022-2023 academic year.

The Foundation is grateful for the life and witness of Kyle S. “Stanley” Drake, Jr.

Read Kyle S. “Stanley” Drake Jr.’s obituary.

A Word of Thanks From Scholar Wonyeong Lee

The Georgia United Methodist Foundation’s Scholarship Ministry empowers the next generation of Christian leaders. We partner with donors who establish scholarship endowments with the Foundation, a student’s Methodist church, the United Methodist Higher Education Foundation...