Salli Spoon Scholarship Fund
IN MEMORIAM
Selma Elizabeth “Salli” Spoon
september 25, 1947 - march 22, 2021
Donations by check may be mailed to:
John Swett Education Foundation
Salli Spoon Scholarship
P.O. Box 455
Crockett, Ca. 94525
United States
Salli Spoon’s family has established the Salli Spoon Scholarship to be awarded to a John Swett High School senior who demonstrates joy by helping others. The recipient will be nominated by a staff member, junior, or senior year student. If you would like more details, please email us at johnswettef@gmail.com.
Salli Spoon loved her adopted town of Crockett fiercely and actively. Anyone who needed her help or wanted to scheme up a new venture could find her there for them, with a pot of black coffee brewing, no matter the hour. Salli’s house was a second home to many. She had a habit of “adopting” people into her fold and caring for them like family. It wasn’t only individuals she touched, it was also the community as a whole. She was instrumental in negotiating with Crockett Cogeneration to bring millions of dollars to the Crockett community which led to the formation of the Crockett Community Foundation, and was by the side of Beverly Hill when she founded the John Swett Education Foundation. Beverly fondly remembers the first time she met Salli:
“Having a lunch meeting in a Berkeley cafe with a political friend and my Mom, I noticed a couple at a nearby table and they looked familiar to me. I sauntered over and introduced myself and that launched the beginning of our friendship and collaboration on many things. It was Salli and Chuck Spoon and I must have seen them in Crockett at some of our many events. The year, probably 2002 or 2003.
While I don't have a total recall of all of Salli's many contributions in the first few years of JSEF, Salli Spoon was a welcome contributor with a ton of very savvy ideas. Chief among them was her researching Donor's Choice and subsequent promoting of it within the organization and community. That collaboration has been a continued success for our school community. I could always depend on Salli for wise counsel on a myriad of topics especially in the formative days of JSEF and I turned to her often as she was an eager participant in formative and fundraising aspects of JSEF. She was tireless in her dedication to making JSEF a success.
On a side note, Salli and I together did a tremendous amount of voter registration in the early 2000s. She and I had a whole set up with a table, tent, clipboards, registration forms, signage, etc. along with an army of others hungry for meaningful political involvement. Together, we literally registered thousands of people in our county at various venues. We had such fun with it.”
The JSEF thanks Salli for the ways she’s enriched our lives and our community and we’re honored to help foster that same spirit in our youth who show the potential to do the same.