Leo and Carolyn Johnson met while cutting down a Christmas tree when they were students at what was then-Southwest Missouri State University. Decades later, the Johnsons are nurturing a future for generations of Bears and giving them the gift of education. In 2019, they established the Leo and Carolyn Mirts Johnson Scholarship Fund.
The fund creates full scholarships for students from Callaway or Douglas counties in Missouri who are pursuing a business-related major or accounting. The scholarship covers tuition for four years for business majors, or five years for students in accounting.
“I felt like that was important to not leave accounting students hanging for that fifth year,” Carolyn said. “We hope they get their CPA certification and then go on to help somebody else in the future.”
The couple says they wanted to give back to people from the areas in which they were raised.
She grew up in Fulton, Missouri. Leo is from Ava.
This gift has already made a significant impact for students from Callaway and Douglas counties, which like other rural counties in Missouri, have lower rates of college enrollment.
This is an endowed scholarship, which means it will provide ongoing financial assistance for generations to come.
FINDING THEIR FUTURES AT MISSOURI STATE
The Johnsons, who live in Columbia, Missouri, say they want to leave their legacy with the university where they fell in love and have fond memories. They do not have any children.
“You start to look around and wonder, where are you going to leave (your estate) if there’s something to leave?” said Leo.
Leo and Carolyn met through their roommates, who were dating.
On a cold December night in 1969, the women decided they wanted to cut down a Christmas tree. The men tagged along to help.
Leo was 25. Carolyn was 20.
“Leo asked me if I wanted to go to a men’s basketball game. We went to the game and enjoyed each other’s company,” she said.
While Leo was in college, he realized his aptitude for investing.
WORKING IN FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING
Leo graduated in 1970 with a finance degree. He landed a job at Phillips Petroleum in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.
The couple married, and Carolyn decided to suspend her studies for a time. She eventually went back to school in Oklahoma and became a certified public accountant. She is an “accounting genius,” Leo said.
Carolyn spent most of her career as controller and then chief financial officer of Star Building Systems in Oklahoma City, a pre-engineered metal building manufacturer.
Leo worked for 25 years at the Oklahoma Department of Securities regulating stockbrokers and investment advisors.
In fact, he was working across from the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995, when the building was bombed.
Leo looked out the window of his office and saw a parked truck. Then he turned around, picked up some files and sat down.
“The next thing I knew I was on the floor in front of my desk. It had blown me across the desk,” Leo said.
Leo suffered extensive injuries and required 100 stitches.
LOVING RETIREMENT, GIVING BACK TO MSU
The Johnsons eventually retired, and in 2011 they relocated to Columbia, Missouri.
A few years ago, they started asking themselves where they would leave their estate. Missouri State seemed a natural choice.
“This seemed like the best way to be able to do some good if we have something to leave,” Leo said. “When we were going to college, it didn’t cost that much. Because of our education we have been very fortunate, and we want to try and help out. This gives people a chance to do what we’ve been able to do and not come out of school with debt.”
Because of their generosity, students in these counties have a chance to graduate debt-free or nearly debt-free.
MEETING THE SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS
For the first few years of the scholarship, the Johnsons were only able to meet students via Zoom due to COVID-19.
But last fall they had the chance to meet two scholarship recipients at the College of Business Scholarship Banquet.
“It was just wonderful,” said Carolyn. “The first student we had is now a junior, so we were happy to finally get to meet her. She is marvelous and doing extremely well. She is on the Dean’s list all the time. The other is a young lady who is studying entertainment management. Both of their parents were there so that was really nice because we got to visit with them as well.”
The families are incredibly grateful for the gift.
Claire Duenckel was one of those fortunate students. She was thrilled to meet the Johnsons.
“It was an honor getting the opportunity to meet them face to face, shake their hands and express my gratitude for their hard work and their willingness to give back to students like me,” Duenckel said. “It was such a heartwarming experience, and I can’t wait to go back next year.”
Duenckel is an entertainment management major from Holts Summit, population of about 3,200. When she attended a financial aid seminar as an incoming freshman, she learned about the privately funded scholarships through the Missouri State University Foundation.
“They really stressed the importance of filling out the Foundation Scholarship application. I learned that you never know what scholarships are available to you, whether they are major specific, based on your background, or need based,” she said.
Then she received a call from Sean Barnhill, director of marketing, strategic communications and external relations for the College of Business, who stressed she should apply given her high GPA and the fact she resides in Callaway County.
“He was really a big factor in that whole process, and I am super thankful that he personally reached out,” Duenckel said.
She applied and was working at a bank in her hometown when she received an email from the Missouri State University Foundation. Duenckel asked her boss if she could go in the back to call her mom.
“I read it to her, and we both just burst into tears. We were like, ‘this cannot be happening. This is not real.’ Holy cow, this is life changing for me,” Duenckel said.
It was also life-changing for Karcee McFarlin, the first recipient of the scholarship.
McFarlin is from Ava and graduated from the same high school as Leo.
The accounting major is also a first generation student.
“No one in my family has ever gone to college,” she said. “I wanted to go. I didn’t want to stay in Ava, and that’s kind of what happens if you don’t go to college.”
She and Leo bonded at the banquet talking about their high school.
When McFarlin was first applying to college, it “was scary at first, not knowing how to pay for it, not knowing how any of the application stuff worked. But Missouri State had a lot of good programs to help with that and made it pretty easy.”
When she received the scholarship, McFarlin was “really excited” especially to be the first recipient.
McFarlin was also impressed that there was a scholarship for students specifically from her county.
“That was really neat and it made it easier to find something for myself because I didn’t really have much of a chance with some of the others,” she said.
Ryan Newman, a freshman, is the third scholarship recipient. A native of Fulton, Missouri, he’s also a first-generation student.
Newman always knew he wanted to go to college and was encouraged by his parents to do so.
“They’ve always told me they wish they went to college — it’s what I need to do. Them not going and me being a first generation student pushed me harder to go to college. I am the oldest of all my cousins and if I don’t go to college, that sets a bad example for the whole family. I want to set a good example,” he said.
A natural in math, he’s studying financial planning.
Newman learned about the scholarship opportunity from his high school counselor.
“I don’t know where I would be without that scholarship. My school counselor at Fulton knew I had applied for MSU and was going for business and she said ‘there is this scholarship and it’s an amazing opportunity.’ I applied and got it. It was amazing. This scholarship determined where I would go to college,” he said.
Newman said he was at a loss for words for what the Johnsons had done for him, “but I have to start with thank you! Thank you. It’s really a life changing opportunity.”
Because of the Leo and Carolyn Mirts Johnson Scholarship Fund, these students say they’ve been able to focus on their studies, get involved on campus and graduate without debt, ready to tackle their careers.
Duenckel said she will be eternally grateful. “Hopefully someday I am as successful in my profession as they were and have the opportunity to give back to students like me,” Duenckel said. “I know their generosity not only impacts me through this scholarship, but also the campus as a whole.”
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