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| Godfrey Briefs, '36, (left) and Elkin Franklin, '36 |
In 1935, Godfrey Briefs entered Georgetown Prep as a 15-year-old member of the Class of 1936. Briefs, who was born in Germany, spoke broken English and was the object of some teasing from some of the Prep boys, except for one student: Elkin Franklin.
Franklin was the quarterback of the football team and a resident student from St. Louis. Franklin went out of his way to make Briefs feel comfortable in his new environment, and the two became fast friends. Franklin and Briefs remained close through their college years, but over time and World War II they lost touch. Franklin was killed in 1944 while flying a bombing mission over Italy.
In 2006, to honor the memory of his classmate, Briefs earmarked $100,000 in his estate for the Elkin Franklin Endowed Scholarship at Prep. Briefs said that his bequest was a small token of his appreciation for his love for Prep and his friend, Franklin. It was also his hope that others would consider making the same gesture so that future Prep students could grow in body, mind, and spirit the way Elkin Franklin did.
Briefs passed away in 2007, but his legacy lives on through a scholarship in his friend’s name that will benefit students at Prep for generations.