Tanya and Craig King couldn’t afford to endow a scholarship when they first set out to honor their son. They started anyway.
“We started with the absolute minimum we could put down because that’s all we had,” Tanya says. “And we just kept adding to it, and other people added to it, and finally it got endowed.”
Today, the Jesse C. King Jr. Space Physics and Astronomy Endowment Scholarship at Embry-Riddle helps students pursue the kinds of dreams Jesse once had. The Kings also included the university in their estate plans, extending their commitment to future generations.
For Tanya, the meaning is deeply personal.
“We were just so happy when that happened because we knew then … Jess’s name would be in Embry-Riddle from then on.”
Jesse’s fascination with space began in childhood. After witnessing the Challenger disaster on television with his third-grade classmates, he came home determined to become an astronaut so he could help other astronauts. Later, he learned to fly, sharing the cost of lessons with his parents through earnings from a weekend job.
Embry-Riddle was the only university he wanted to attend. He earned his degree in 2003.
After Jesse died in 2012, Tanya and Craig wanted to help young people whose families were making the same sacrifices they had. Their scholarship became more than a memorial. It introduced them to students whose ambitions they could encourage—and whose accomplishments they could celebrate.
One recipient was Timothy Robinette (’15), whom they affectionately called Timmy. When he earned a scholarship to study biomedical engineering at Cornell University, he faced a gap: Cornell wanted him there for the summer, but his funding wouldn’t begin until fall.
“Well, don’t worry about it, Timmy,” Tanya told him. “We’ll pay for your rent for the summer until your scholarship starts.”
They stayed in touch throughout his doctorate.
Another recipient, Maurice Wilson (’16), earned a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and a doctorate in astronomy from Harvard University.
Today, he studies distant planets and solar eruptions at the National Center for Atmospheric Research’s High Altitude Observatory. His Harvard academic CV lists the Jesse King scholarship—a $1,000 award toward his undergraduate tuition.
The Kings’ generosity also inspired another family’s gift. Tanya told Teresa Delafosse how much it meant to hear Jesse’s name whenever his scholarship was awarded. Teresa’s late husband, airline captain and Embry-Riddle alumnus John Delafosse, had mentored Jesse. She established a scholarship in John’s memory, extending his legacy of encouragement to students he would never meet.
Craig died in 2022, but the commitment he and Tanya shared continues.
“We just loved Embry-Riddle because Jess did,” Tanya says.
She imagines a scholarship recipient saying, “Well, Jesse King, I didn’t know you, but thank you.”
And when she considers what her son would think of the students helped in his name, her answer is simple.
“I think he would smile,” she says. “I think he would smile about it.”