School of Music lecturers Fred Radke and Gina Funes were honored recently by the Pacific Northwest Campaign of the national Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation (MCSF), which awarded the couple its Service Above Self Award at its annual awards dinner Oct. 25 at Seattle’s Westin Hotel. The dinner, which raised scholarship support for the foundation, featured a performance by the couple with the Harry James Orchestra, which Radke leads and with which Funes appears frequently as guest vocalist.
According to the foundation’s website, the MCSF is the nation’s oldest and largest provider of need-based scholarships for military children, awarding some $120 million in scholarships to 40,000 recipients since its inception in 1962. In 2017-18, the foundation expects to grant $7.3 million to more than 2,300 students attending post-high school, undergraduate and career technical education programs in all 50 states.
In honoring the couple, the foundation noted Radke’s longtime support of military causes through performance work benefitting Medal of Honor recipients and others, as well as the couple’s work in the community with students at the University of Washington, where Funes provides vocal instruction to non-major singers and Radke has worked extensively with the UW’s big band.