When the five children of Margaret Julia Ward and Bevan Blau Lewis (both CE '21) wished to honor their mother and father, they decided that 2017, the anniversary of their parents' entering Purdue University, was great timing. Recalling the pride their parents took in Purdue and the Class of '21, the siblings created awards to recognize academically outstanding Civil Engineering students.

Annually, a Margaret Julia Ward Award for Academic Excellence will be presented to the female CE undergraduate with the best academic record, and the Bevan Blau Lewis Award for Academic Excellence will go to the male undergraduate with the best academic record.

2017 also marks the 60th anniversary of the creation of the Bevan Blau and Margaret Ward Lewis Scholarship Fund, a gift that has provided financial assistance to many hundreds of Purdue CE students, helping them succeed in school and graduate.

While at Purdue, both parents worked hard. Bevan worked in a bakery four hours every day before class. Margaret babysat professors' children and typed papers for graduate students. Both enthusiastically participated in campus activities. Bevan was a member of the Class of '21 football team and served as treasurer of the Civil Engineering Society. Margaret was a member of the Exponent staff, class secretary in 1920 and literary editor of the 1921 Debris.

After graduation, Bevan went to Central and South America to build and run railroads, and Margaret went to Washington, D.C., to work as an editor for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. They kept in touch and married in 1928, becoming the first pair of Purdue CE students to marry. More than 150 additional pairs of Purdue CE grads have followed the Lewis' example.

Their oldest daughter, Virginia Beatty, says, "Both of our parents were bright, well organized, and had a strong sense of personal responsibility. They believed that education is a lifelong process, and helping others grow physically and intellectually is an important and satisfying part of living." It is no surprise that Bevan Lewis was a CE faculty member from 1945 to 1966. "Our parents inspired us to make things happen and help where we can," Beatty says.

The children honoring their parents are: Virginia L. Beatty, Carol A. Lewis, Georgia Morehouse, Q.E.D. "Tex" Lewis and Maryland Austin. Virginia, Georgia and Tex, like their parents, earned bachelor's degrees from Purdue — Tex with a BS in civil engineering in 1959.

"We know that time is the most precious thing we have to offer," Virginia says. "But money is nice too, especially when a good education has helped us to earn enough to be able to share. It has been our pleasure to create these awards. We feel they are something that would have made mother and father smile, and at the same time, say to the recipients, 'Well done.'"