Mary Alice Hall-Vaughn, a Washington teacher known for her passion in the classroom, lost her battle with liver cancer last year.

Starting in the fall of 2015, Washington State University’s College of Education will offer an endowed scholarship in her memory.

Mary Alice’s son Joe Vaughn, a WSU senior, said his father Charles thought a scholarship was the best way to commemorate her life.

“My dad, he thought of it when we were spending the last few weeks with her in the hospital,” Joe said. “He’s always admired how good of a teacher she was — he never felt like he was quite the caliber that my mom was.”

Mary Alice worked at Harbor Heights Elementary School in Gig Harbor for over 20 years. She taught special education and kindergarten through second grade.

In the 1990s, Mary Alice was diagnosed with breast cancer and received a mastectomy.

“We thought she was good to go,” Joe said.

In 2012, Mary Alice learned that the cancer had spread from the lymph nodes in her breast to her bones and liver.

“By that point, it was already stage four and way too developed,” Joe said. “They tried four or five different treatments, but the prognosis kept going down.”

Mary Alice had to retire at age 55.

“She was really passionate about it and it really hurt her to not be able to go back to the classroom,” said CJ Vaughn, the couple’s youngest son and a WSU sophomore. “That was another motivation for us to try to put more teachers in the classroom — just to carry on her legacy.”

Charles contacted Andrea Farmer, the director of development for the College of Education, in order to create a scholarship for elementary and secondary education majors at WSU.

“Charles called looking for a way to honor his late wife,” Farmer said. “I helped him find his path in establishing a scholarship that would benefit teachers in the College of Education.”

CJ agreed that a scholarship at WSU made the most sense.

“My mom always loved giving back, my whole family does,” CJ said. “My brother and I, both of us went to WSU, so we figured that a scholarship would be a great way to give back.”

The Mary Alice Endowed Scholarship will require that an applicant be certified in the College of Education and seeking a bachelor’s degree in elementary education, secondary education or a masters of teaching.

The student must have a GPA of 3.5 or above and come highly recommended by the scholarship committee.

Farmer said a scholarship that is endowed will exist as long as the university does.

“Charles made a gift of $25,000 to get the funds started, so it will kick out a $1,000 scholarship every year for as long as WSU is around,” Farmer said.

According to CJ, the funds for the scholarship were raised mostly by the Vaughn family.

“The majority of it was my dad and the money he saved up his entire life, and a lot of family helped, too,” CJ said. “We’ve also had several donations — I’ve had class members donate.”

Additionally, the Vaughn family started a Facebook page for the scholarship and manages a GoFundMe account for donations. They also encourage donating to the Susan G. Komen Foundation in honor of Mary Alice.

“We’re just incredibly grateful to work with the family and to be able to honor such an incredible person,” Farmer said. “She’s really made a difference in her community and we’re grateful for the opportunity to continue her legacy here.”