Harold and Cynthia Carter Memorial Scholarship 

In their effort to support higher education, Harold Ray and Cynthia Ann Skaggs Carter established a scholarship fund through their estate. Through their most generous gift, the Carters will forever help LaRue County students fulfill their dream of higher education by annually awarding multiple renewable scholarships to attend Elizabethtown Community and Technical College.

The fund allows up to 10 students annually to receive $2,000 per year to attend ECTC. A distinguishing feature of the Carter scholarship fund is it’s open to past and current year graduates of LaRue County High School. Mrs. Carter attended college later in life and valued education and opportunities for improvement throughout life. This generous gesture opens the scholarship up to many more residents of LaRue County. 

It is a scholarship opportunity 2018 LCHS graduate Sean Smith was glad he didn’t pass up. 

“The Carter Scholarship has really equipped me to be able to better financially afford attending ECTC,” he said. “The family was very generous to donate all that money to help LaRue County students. I think that everyone that is a LaRue County senior or graduate should apply for it. Maybe they’re not sure yet where they want to attend, but to start off at ECTC, they can get a good start with using the Carter scholarship.”

Harold graduated from Hodgenville High School in 1948. Cynthia graduated from Buffalo High School in 1953 and later graduated from Sullivan Business College in Louisville.  

Harold was a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, retired from civil service at Fork Knox where he, along with two coworkers, was cited for bravery in 1980, receiving the Army’s top civilian award in a ceremony held at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

Cynthia was a more than 50-year member of the Eastern Star and a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She retired from civil service with more than 36 years of service in various jobs at Fort Knox.

“I’d like to thank the Carter family for their generous donation that’s helping a lot of students and the foundation for setting everything up and making it a smooth and easy process,” Smith said.

To get started setting up a scholarship fund, or for additional information, please contact Davette Swiney at 270-737-8393 or by email at dswiney@ckcf4people.org.