The parents of Kyle Wega, the 28-year-old Dallas School District Technology coordinator who died in a one-car crash Feb. 20, have established a memorial scholarship fund and are looking for help. They want to give away the first scholarship to a Dallas senior this year.

Kyle’s mother, Catherine, said the fund is managed by Bob Richardson of the Wachovia Bank in Kingston, who is also handling a memorial scholarship fund for 1st Lt. Michael Cleary, a Dallas graduate killed Dec. 20 in an ambush near Samarra, Iraq. “We are hoping that this is something people will respond to,” Catherine Wega said. “We know that it’s something Kyle would want to be done.”

Catherine Wega recounted two family trips to New Orleans, where a tour guide once told them the city had a rich tradition of wealthy residents bequeathing part of their money to the city, to “give back to the community.” Wega said it was an idea her son embraced.

Details of the scholarship haven’t been worked out. “We will have a committee and sit down and talk about what the criteria are,” Wega said, “and then we’ll set up a selection committee, and these are generally done blind.” That means the committee would pick the scholarship winners without knowing their names. It also means the Wega family “won’t have any control over it.”

Although the effort has just begun, Wega promised the first scholarship will be awarded this year. “It will be given out at the May honors banquet, without question,” she said. The family is also hoping to raise enough to give out a scholarship every year.

Dallas Township police say Kyle Wega was driving south on Hayes Corners Road when he failed to make a right-hand curve, went off the east side of the road and into a tree. He was pronounced dead on the scene. The accident occurred around 3:30 a.m. The crash is still under investigation

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 28th, 2006 at 5:49 pm and is filed under Education, Scholarship. Tags: Scholarship. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.