Lemon Grove Historical Society Receives $2,000 Essay Contest Endowment

A local leader is honoring the memory of her late son with a gift to the Lemon Grove Historical Society to support the organization’s annual essay competition for the school district’s eighth grade students.

Mary England, who served three terms on the Lemon Grove City Council, has endowed the contest with a $2,000 grant. The society has named the competition “The Robert ‘Bobby’ Carroll Annual 8th Grade History Essay Competition."

England, a 50-year resident of Lemon Grove, is a longtime historical society member. Her son, Bobby, died in 1972 at age 19.

She said in The Lemon Tree, the society’s quarterly newsletter: “There is no better way to honor the memory of this ray of sunshine in my life than to endow programs that further the academic achievements of young people. I’m proud to assist the Historical Society with the annual essay competition.”

Each year the historical society sponsors essay-writing contents for students in the Lemon Grove School District’s third and eighth grades. Students have tackled topics that have ranged from the national debt to the U.S. Constitution for the older kids, and various aspects of local history for the younger ones. Prizes are awarded during a ceremony held in conjunction with a school board meeting.  

The annual third grade content is named after the late Dr. Amorita Treganza, the renowned pediatric eye doctor and founding president of the historical society.

England, who stepped down from the city council to run for an Assembly seat in 2012, is the CEO of the La Mesa Chamber of Commerce.