NATCHITOCHES – A student from Singer High School who plans to study at Northwestern State University will benefit from a scholarship established by a Singer High School alumnus and his nephew. Dr. John Bolin of Lafayette and his nephew Laurent Charles “Chip” Lutz created the Bolin Family Scholarship for a freshman entering NSU with a 3.2 or better grade point average. Applications are open to any major.
Bolin graduated from Singer High School in Beauregard Parish in 1959 and was honored by the school recently with induction into the Singer High School Hall of Fame, at which time the school also retired his basketball jersey. Bolin was an All-State basketball player who held the school record and the state Class C scoring record in his senior year when his team won 40 games. The school also invited him to be grand marshal of the Homecoming parade.
The Bolin Family Scholarship honors Dr. Bolin’s parents Otto and Dorothy Susan Cooley Bolin, and his sister, Doris Elaine Bolin Lutz. The mother and daughter earned bachelor’s degrees at NSU at the same time in 1954 after Dorothy Bolin, who held a two-year teaching certificate from NSU, returned to complete her four-year degree. Both had careers as teachers.
Dr. Bolin graduated from Northwestern State in 1963 with a degree in biology education, but “never taught a minute in the classroom” other than his student teaching at Natchitoches High School. His wife, Jeanne Johnson Bolin, is the daughter of J.W. Johnson, who was an esteemed professor at Northwestern State. Dr. Bolin is also the nephew of H. Alvin “Cracker” Brown, for whom NSU’s Brown-Stroud baseball field is named.
As a student at Northwestern, Dr. Bolin was state president of the Baptist Student Union and was a member of Blue Key. He and Mrs. Bolin married just before he went to medical school when they were 18 and 21. Mrs. Bolin had taken classes at NSU as a high school student and completed her degree at the University of New Orleans when she was 20. Dr. Bolin’s peers in residency voted him top resident his first and third year. The Bolins have two children and five grandchildren, one of which is also a graduate of Northwestern State. Most of Dr. Bolin’s career as a surgeon was spent in Lafayette, where he worked from 1972-2013.
“Dr. Bolin has long been a supporter of Northwestern State and he is one of my favorite people,” said NSU Development Officer Kimberly Gallow, a Lafayette native. “It is especially meaningful that he and Mr. Lutz chose to honor the teachers in their family by supporting a Singer High School student.”
For information on creating or contributing to a scholarship, visit northwesternalumni.com or contact Gallow at (318) 357-4414 or gallowk@nsula.edu.
