Manche Langley portrait circa 1960.

Manche Langley Scholarship

The Manche Langley Scholarship was conceived in 1963 by Queen’s Bench, as a memorial to Manche Langley when she died. At age 79, Langley was still practicing law and was an active member of Queen’s Bench, the association of women attorneys which she had helped to found in 1948. Queen’s Bench members revered and loved Manche as a matriarch. Not only was she bright, accomplished and a leader of great professional integrity, she was charismatic, fun-loving and very caring, especially toward younger attorneys. Although Queen’s Bench collected some seed money at the time of her death, it did not have enough to create a memorial scholarship until over 30 years later when two members, Helen Althaus ’45 and Jean King ’53, pledged significant contributions.

“I joined Queen’s Bench in time to get to know Helen and Jean, to hear them tell of their deep respect for Manche and to learn of their long-held dream to honor her,” said Trudy Allen ’82. “The strong foundation of fellowship and mutual support that Manche, Helen, Jean and the other early members had instilled, was – and is still – alive in the culture of Queen’s Bench, and I have benefited from that in countless ways in my career. We, in Queen’s Bench and in Oregon Women Lawyers (which grew out of Queen’s Bench and other such groups in Oregon), owe a great debt of gratitude to our founders. In helping to repay that debt by contributing to this scholarship, we have an opportunity, also, to connect to both our predecessor and future generations in the law – by keeping Manche’s memory alive and by helping new students to achieve their dreams of becoming lawyers. Hopefully, the recipients of this scholarship will follow Manche’s example of professionalism – and at the same time will find Queen’s Bench to be their “family,” – as it was for Manche and still is for so many of us.”

The Manche Langley Endowed Scholarship Fund was established in 1994 in recognition of Manche Langley, a 1927 graduate of the Law School. It is intended to recognize individuals, especially women, with superior integrity and intelligence who have chosen to pursue legal education and a career in the law.