LA CONNER — A longtime La Conner School District supporter bequeathed the district’s scholarship foundation more than $1.6 million upon her death.

The gift, received last summer from Lea McMillan Diacos’ estate, means one La Conner High School senior every year will be given a four-year, full-ride scholarship to any public university or community college in the state, said Vincent Wilbur, president of the La Conner Community Scholarship Foundation.

Diacos left $1 million to the foundation in her will, along with the proceeds from the sale of her home, and some money in a certificate of deposit. The total amounts to more than $1.6 million.

“We have an acre in Florida,” laughed Maureen Harlan, a counselor for seniors at the high school. “We joke that it’s a piece of swamp land.”

The amount dwarfs the $300,000 the foundation had in its account. The foundation uses the interest from the principal and splits it into scholarships for graduating seniors to help them during their freshman year of college.

“We always dreamed about trying to reward (college) sophomores,” Harlan said.

The foundation also administers scholarships from 18 other community organizations, including the local Kiwanis Club, Soroptomists and Rotary Club.

Many districts don’t have a dedicated scholarship foundation. In either case, seniors rely heavily upon high school guidance counselors to lead them to applications for local scholarships.

Sally Straathof, a guidance counselor at Concrete High School, said the community gave out about $200,000 in scholarships to high school seniors and graduates last year.

This year, however, scholarships countywide will not be as flush. The recently established Ralph R. Crum Memorial Endowed Scholarship for Concrete grads will not be giving out new scholarships this year, Straathof said.

“That’s been a big discussion lately,” she said. “The kids that are on it right now will be able to get their second year out of it, but we can’t get anything out this year.”

The scholarship was established in the name of a Concrete High School graduate who died in 1953 at age 19 after crashing his car into the Skagit River. About $560,000 was given to the Skagit Valley College Foundation last year to manage the scholarship, which was the largest gift to the foundation to that point. The scholarship would have allowed several students from Concrete to attend Skagit Valley College for two years.

Straathof said other local organizations have pulled out of this year’s scholarships.

Still, the generosity toward high school graduates remains strong.

“The community really pulls through,” she said. “It’s part of the community spirit in a small town.”

The amount of Diacos’ gift was a total shock to La Conner’s scholarship foundation officials, Harlan said.

Diacos, who died on Jan. 18, 2008, set forth a few rules for who could receive the scholarship.

It’s taken the foundation’s board nearly a year to draft a set of scholarship rules they feel will satisfy Diacos’ requirements, which also reflect her deep value for community service. One senior this year will receive the award. Nine applied, Harlan said, reflecting intended majors such as medicine, art, law enforcement and communications.

Diacos was one of 17 graduates of La Conner High School in 1938. From there she attended Western Washington University’s College of Education. She taught in Anacortes and married a Navy veteran, Christopher “Pom” Diacos, who later set up a cocktail lounge in Anacortes.

She also had a wild streak in her, Harlan said. Diacos was known to have ridden her horse into the Edison tavern and ordering beer from the bar. In her later years she could be seen driving her red convertible around town.

The daughter of a pea cannery owner, Diacos was modest, Harlan said. Diacos had no children and was the only child of George and Lillian McMillan, after whom the scholarship is named.

Harlan remembered Diacos as a generous woman who would offer to help students throughout the year with a gift of cash in an envelope. The only condition was that she maintain her anonymity.

Harlan had always relayed the students’ thanks. While she had heard that Diacos would leave something to the foundation upon her death, she never dreamed it would be this much.

“(Altruism) is one of those values we espouse to,” she said. “This is one of those examples because we can’t thank her.”

Kate Martin can be reached at 360-416-2145 or at .