MONMOUTH, Ill. — Monmouth College has received a $125,000 estate gift from Helen Hicks, a 1943 graduate from Winnetka, who died last year.

“As Helen requested, the estate gift along with memorial gifts the college received in her memory have been used to endow a scholarship in her name,” said Mary Stahl, director of individual and planned giving.

The purpose of the Helen R. Hicks Scholarship Fund is to provide perpetual scholarship opportunities for select Monmouth College students based on a combination of financial need and academic merit. It may be awarded to either prospective students or current students. Selection will be based on financial need, a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher, leadership qualities and an interest in accounting and/or business administration.

Hicks grew up in Monmouth and enrolled at Monmouth College to study economics and accounting. She also minored in mathematics. A campus leader, she participated in many activities, including Pi Phi, the Tau Pi honorary society, Student Council and the college’s newspaper and yearbook.

Hicks continued her education with a special intensive course in accounting and auditing at Northwestern University. She worked as an auditor for Price Waterhouse in Chicago for seven years, then served as the assistant to the president of the 1950 Chicago Fair, where her duties included interacting with a number of dignitaries.

Much of Hicks’s career was spent working for law firms in Chicago and San Francisco. She retired in 1987 as the administrative director of the Chicago law firm of Hopkins and Sutter.