Valerie Spake and Alison Thomas

Valerie Spake and Alison Thomas are Jan Eliot Spake’s sisters and fund the scholarship in his memory.

Eliot Spake was born in 1958 and passed away in 1985.

Eliot loved the world—from Africa to the deeps of the South China Sea to the heights of the Himalayas (where he died at age 27).
He loved art, poetry, nature, biological sciences and taught scientific English in Hong Kong.
He loved travel—always, by necessity, “on the cheap.”
He loved the unencumbered life and “heard the beat of a different drum.”