The Record Newspapers - Hometown News For Orange County, Texas

Gisela Houseman will donate $50,000 to Lamar Institute of Technology in order to fund the Gisela Houseman Scholarship Endowment for scholarships for all educational programs at LIT.

Houseman will sign the endowment at 11:00 a.m. on Aug. 12 at the Houseman Development Company in Orange.

Houseman is well-known throughout the community for her philanthropic work in Southeast Texas.

A native of Hamburg, Germany, she became a U.S. citizen in 1950. For 25 years, Houseman was an insurance professional and had a background in accounting and finance. She moved to Southeast Texas in 1987, and married the late Orange County developer Tony Houseman. Together, they had four children.

Houseman is a graduate of Leadership Texas, Leadership America, and is a founding member of Leadership Southeast Texas. She also established a leadership program in China.

She has received many awards throughout her life including South East Texan of the Year, the Athena Award of Orange County, J.C. Penney Golden Rule Award, the CASA Lone Star Proud for Kids Award and the Bill Leger Family Advocate of the Year Award.

In 1991, Houseman was inducted into the Women’s Conference of Southeast Texas Hall of Fame and also received the Frances Monk Award for Leadership.

She is active on numerous charity boards and foundations including the Salvation Army, CASA, Better Business Bureau, Lamar State College-Orange Foundation and the Lamar Institute of Technology Foundation.

The Gisela Houseman Scholarships will be awarded to a student at LIT with any academic major who is a full-time student and who has a 2.5 GPA. Preference will be given to students from Orange County, and some weight will be placed on need.