The MSU-Northern Foundation has received an endowment from the family of C. Lowell Purdy. The endowment will fund a memorial scholarship called the C. Lowell Purdy Memorial Scholarship, established by his three children; Judy Purdy Fountain, James Lowell Purdy, and Barbara Purdy Leak. The Scholarship is available to a North Star graduating senior who plans to attend MSU-Northern full time. Hi-Line students wishing to apply should contact their school counselor or the MSU-Northern Foundation office at 265-3711.

C. Lowell Purdy was a 1934 NMC graduate in the pre law program. He was born in Milbank, South Dakota and moved to Montana when he was three years old. He attended Hill County Schools in Kremlin and Havre where he graduated from high school. After leaving NMC, he attended the University of Montana graduating 1936. He worked in Malta, Montana where he me and married Vivian Thomson in 1940. They operated a wheat farm between Gildford and Kremlin until 1970 when he sold the farm. Purdy was a member of the Montana Legislature and was later appointed Montana Commissioner of Agriculture in 1963. He was active in civil and fraternal organizations and was an elder in the First Presbyterian Church in Montana. He was an avid golfer. A very private person, his life centered around his family, his three children Judy, James, and Barbara, and his four grandchildren, Sara, Annie, Stuart, and Jessica. He and Vivian moved to Longview, Washington in 1991 where he passed away on May 31, 2002.