Watson Memorial Scholarship Endowment Fund In Memory of Dallas, Hazel, and Leland Watson

Established in memory of Dallas, Hazel, and Leland Watson in recognition in perpetuity of their lifetime interests and careers in business (Dallas), Republican politics at the local, state, and national levels (Hazel), and theatrical lighting including technical lighting for forty-two Broadway shows (Leland). To award a full-time or part-time student enrolled at EIU and who is majoring in one of the following areas: business, political science, or theater.

Watson (1926-1989), a Charleston native, attended Eastern Illinois State Teachers College for one year before joining the military. He later received a Bachelors’s from the University of Iowa and a Masters’s from Yale University. He served as a lighting designer/director for forty Broadway productions, over sixty operas, more than 400 productions off-Broadway and at regional theaters, the CBS television network, and several other television concerns. He received the Obie Award for best off-Broadway lighting design in 1960. Watson was also a professor at Purdue University and the author of two books on lighting design. The Leland Watson Poster Collection was donated to the Tarble Arts Center permanent collection from Watson’s estate through the efforts of Hazel Watson.