Grad leaves nest egg to USM

The University of Southern Maine has received $109,000 from the estate of a former Buxton schoolteacher.

Shirley Usher Towle, a 1945 graduate of the former Gorham Normal School that evolved into the university, bequeathed the money to be used for scholarships and to support the university’s School of Education and Human Development. Towle, who graduated from Hollis High School in 1943, taught school in West Buxton and Bar Mills until her marriage to Dr. David M. Towle in 1947.

After marrying, the couple relocated to Providence, R.I., and then to Acton, Mass.

Two Buxton students excel

Kyle Leavitt and Morgan Furman have been named to deans’ lists for the fall semester. Leavitt attends Saint Joseph’s College in Standish and Furman, Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, Mass.