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Scholarship set up in honor of drowning victim
Wood Scholarship pic
Ethelyn Geiger, far right, and Camryn Geiger, second left, along with Coach Arron Haynes, far left, present the David Bruce Wood Jr. Memorial scholarship to Ryan Jones, Levi Kennedy and Keaton Toal. - photo by For the Dawson Community News

One mother is turning tragedy into opportunity for Dawson County students.

Ethelyn Geiger, the mother of accidental drowning victim David Wood, whose body was found in Lake Lanier last January, has started a scholarship in memory of her son.

"Our family has created the David Bruce Wood Jr. Memorial Wrestling Scholarship, in honor of my son, who passed away earlier this year," Geiger said. "It will be made available each year to graduating seniors who have wrestled and are accepted to a college or university to continue their education beyond high school."

The criteria will also include a review of their academic achievement, financial need and other factors.

"As many of you know, David wrestled here at the high school throughout all of his high school career," Geiger said. "While our lives are forever changed with David's passing, we know David would want us to go on with our lives but of course we want to keep his memory alive, and one of the ways we have decided to do that is by creating this memorial fund."

Geiger said that it was the family's wish "to do something to give back to the community, especially to honor David's memory for something he was so passionate about."

The scholarship is a one-time payment of $500 to go toward college education and will be paid directly to the college.

"We created this scholarship in honor of David. While this is the first year for this scholarship fund Coach [Arron Haynes] is working with me to formalize this fund for the next school year," Geiger said. "David was very dedicated to wrestling in Dawson County - and he was quite a character.

"I know he meant a lot of different things to so many different people in this community."