Couple’s Loyal Support for Oswego Spans Five Decades

Marilynn “Lynn” Nagy Farrar ’61 and
Neil Farrar

Marilynn “Lynn” Nagy Farrar ’61 and Neil Farrar cherish their memories of Oswego and have kept those connections strong 63 years after their lives carried them away from their lakeside city.

A native of nearby Solvay, N.Y., Lynn came to SUNY Oswego to study education at a time when New York state residents didn’t have to pay tuition but only had to cover their room and board. Her father’s salary at Camillus Cutlery and mother’s wages from Solvay Process Company were just able to cover that and her older sister’s college expenses.

“It was tight, but they made it work,” said Neil, who has been married to Lynn for 59 years.

Lynn said she loved the lakeside location of SUNY Oswego and had a great experience in her math and education classes for her major. She went on to have a fulfilling career as a teacher in Camillus, N.Y., and in the Rochester, N.Y., area.

Neil was called into active duty with the U.S. Coast Guard two years into his undergraduate work at Syracuse University and then was stationed in Oswego for a year. While in Oswego, he called on Lynn, who he knew from having gone to high school with her.

They began dating, and were frequent visitors to Rudy’s Lakeside Drive-In. Lynn used to walk on the break-wall out to the Oswego Harbor West Pierhead Lighthouse and maybe glimpse a certain sailor who was at the U.S. Coast Guard Lifeboat Station.

“We have many happy memories from Oswego, and we still make a point of going to Rudy’s at least once a summer,” said Neil, who graduated from Syracuse University and worked for Eastman Kodak.

So, the couple said they happily answer the phone when a Telefund student from SUNY Oswego calls. Lynn enjoys telling the current student about her Oswego experience as well as hearing what is happening on campus today.

They can’t quite remember if it was Telefund student caller, a mailer or just their desire to support Oswego that prompted their first gift to the university in 1981, but it’s been 43 years and not a year has gone by without the couple making a gift. Because of their unwavering annual giving that spans five decades, they are part of the Loyal Lakers Society, an honor reserved for people who have made gifts to the university for at least five consecutive years.

“We are big believers in higher education and have benefitted from it,” said Lynn, whose initial gifts, she said, were of modest size. In 2014, she made a more significant contribution and established the Lynn Nagy Farrar ’61 Endowed Scholarship for a student in the School of Education with financial need and GPA of at least 3.0.

“It’s so exciting and rewarding to meet our scholarship recipients,” Lynn said. “They’re so thankful and full of excitement about what’s awaiting them in their careers.”

To make your own impact at SUNY Oswego, visit alumni.oswego.edu/givenow or call 315-312-3003.

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