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hey were just two guys with an idea.
Little did they know that 25 years
later, their idea would still be going
strong after raising more than
$ 150,(XX) and helping dozens of stu
dents with college tuition. As one recipient put
it, “Wow, a scholarship just because I’m queer.”
Well, there’s more to it than that, hut the
Pride of the Rose Scholarship is for members of
the sexual minorities community and their
children. Most of the recipients have a specific
career path and know exactly where they are
going. Some are looking for a few more dollars
to get them through their last semester. Most
have been involved with the queer community
and when they graduate are going to make it
stronger and affect the greater Portland com
munity as well.
Rose Emperor V Frank Schreckenherger
and Rose Empress XXI Allison Grey (aka Cur
tis Meyers) established the scholarship as a gift
to the community and city. They wanted to
leave a legacy of their reign, which ended in
October 1979.
Since then they have seen the scholarship
grow, evolve and weather tough times. During
the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, most of the money
the community raised went to helping people suf
fering from the disease. But in a sad sort of way,
Pride of the Rose complemented that, Grey says.
“We had a lot of people applying who want
ed to help with the AIDS situation,” he recalls.
“There were lots of naturopathic medical stu
dents or people who were pursuing psychology
and other kinds of endeavors to help that battle."
Dollar by dollar, the scholarship kept going.
The amount of money and number of recipients
have fluctuated, but the trend has always been
on the positive side. Last year the fund gave away
T he O ld C ollege T ry
“There was so much sadness going on then,
and we needed to have some fun," Schrecken
herger explains. “We needed to laugh. It was a
good stress release. And it’s been fun to have
ever since.”
Through the years word of the scholarship
spread through fliers at bars, friends telling
friends, blurbs in newspapers and the Internet.
Casey Meredith heard about Pride of the Rose
after meeting Schreckenherger through mutual
friends. He received a share of the scholarship in
1998 and 1999— and just in time. A percentage
of his tuition was due at Oregon Health Sciences
University, hut his school loan hadn’t come
through yet. It was down to the deadline.
“If I hadn’t had that money, I would not have
been able to stay in school,” says Meredith, a
registered nurse for Multnomah County in pri
mary care. “Receiving this scholarship was won
derful. You really feel like the gay community is
behind you. It’s money generated in this com
munity, by my people, so it was just fabulous.
Meredith gives back to the scholarship each
year by attending various fund-raisers. He adds
that the bulk of the cash collected comes from
“$1 donations at drag shows.”
“It was our idea,” Schreckenherger says. “But
they are the people who have raised this kind of
money and enable this to happen." J D
Pride of the Rose Scholarship celebrates 25th anniversary
by P at Young
a record $12,000. This year the goal is
$25,000,.and so far about $15,000 has
been raised.
Most ot<he money has come through
fund raising from the Imperial Sovereign
Rose Court, as various titleholders have
designated Pride of the Rose as their
charity. Plus, Grey calls “Daddy Frank”
the best lobbyist in the world.
“I don’t know the formula for this suc
cess, if there is one, other than we have
endured and we are still here,” says Grey,
who notes that when they attend fund
raisers, they don’t see many faces in the
audience from the 1970s. Instead, they
see “kids in their 20s and 30s.”
“It’s exciting to see the enthusiasm for
this continuation of this scholarship come Rose Empress X X I Allison
from the next generation,” Schrecken Grey and Rose Emperor V
herger notes. “Here it is 25 years later. It’s Frank Schreckenherger
definitely the next generation.”
created the Pride of the
Schreckenherger and Grey hold a few Rose Scholarship after their
annual fund-raisers including Darcelle’s reign in 1979 (inset)
Rags to Scholarship, in which drag
queens donate their dresses and shoes to he auc It’s an evening of camp
drag, a time for fringe
tioned off. “Some of us have gotten older and
bigger, and we can’t wear the things we used to and fishnets instead of Elizabethan gowns and
choreographed versions of “Touch Me in the
wear, so it’s a great place to donate clothes and
Morning.” Along with Empress VI Marne,
help the scholarship," Grey says.
Schreckenherger and Grey started this event
Another event is Valentines from Hell— or,
as Schreckenherger puts it, “Flash and Trash." during the height of the AIDS crisis.
P at YOUNG is a Portland free-lance writer and
gay and lesbian historian.
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