New Fund to Bolster Vocational Arts

   Roy Greenberry McCarty worked hard for many, many years of his life. He started out working on a farm to help a family whose son was serving in World War II (McCarty was prohibited from service because of a vision impairment). When the family's son returned from the war, McCarty decided it was time to learn a trade and began night classes in welding at North High School in Evansville.

 

   Eventually, McCarty, who lived in Owensville, opened the McCarty Implement Shop, taking care of welding and mechanical needs for his community for 40 years.

 

   Known as a self-made man, McCarty built his business from the ground up and was considered by many to be a master mechanic and a craftsman in metalwork. "He could turn people's thoughts and ideas into a metal product," said Al Lentz, husband to McCarty's niece, Jayne. "Everything was done in his head --- no engineering drawings or plans were used. He would normally just sketch something out on a piece of scratch paper then go make it." 

 

 

 

 

       McCarty was seen as a talented yet humble man who believed in the value of hard work and in the importance of helping others. So it will likely come as no surprise to McCarty's neighbors and friends to learn about how he turned his desire to help others into a perpetual resource for young people just starting out. 

 

      Four years ago, as part of his estate plan, McCarty established a scholarship fund of $30,000 bequest to the Gibson County Community Foundation. The Roy G. and Dorotha McCarty Scholarship Fund will help students at Gibson Southern High School to pursue advanced vocational education, particularly in the area of metalwork and welding. Dorotha, who passed away in 1990, was McCarty's wife.

 

      Sadly, Mr. McCarty passed away in 2002, but his memory will live on through the McCarty Scholarship, which will be awarded for the first time in the spring of 2005.