Woody DeMayo, a resident of Los Altos Hills since 1996, has established the Gail Wagner DeMayo Scholarship and named its first recipients. DeMayo said the scholarships will be given annually to two graduating Los Altos High School seniors planning to study art in college.

“I established the scholarships to honor my wife and provide some aid for students who needed it to further their art studies,” he said.

Matthew Weiden will use his scholarship to study photography at UCLA, and Vivian Rollinger plans to study fashion design at the Fashion Institute of Technology. The two were chosen from among seven applicants who submitted their artwork, stated their goals and explained their financial situation to the DeMayo family, which selected the winners.

The amount of the scholarships will vary from $1,500 to $2,500 annually, DeMayo said, because they depend on donations from family and from people who knew his wife. Gail Wagner DeMayo, who died of breast cancer four years ago, was not an artist but what every artist needs - an appreciator.

“She just had a very great appreciation for art and all things beautiful,” DeMayo said.

Their daughter, Lindsey, is a junior at LAHS, and an art student. Their son, Jason, is an eighth-grader at Egan Junior High School.

Those interested in donating to the Gail Wagner DeMayo Scholarship fund can e-mail wgd921@aol.com.