Minnesota Golfer - Fall 2021 - 29

Edina's Ede Rice Receives
WGA's Lifetime Achievement Award
Ede Rice of Edina, Minn., was recognized by the Western Golf
Association with its Donald D. Johnson Lifetime Achievement
Award, Aug. 2 at Olympia Fields Country Club in Olympia Fields,
Ill. Rice, 68, is a longtime director of the WGA and was the fi rst
woman elected to the WGA Board of Governors in 2010.
" I'm thankful for this prestigious honor. The great privilege of
being a WGA Director is having a front row seat to watch deserving
young men and women earn a scholarship opportunity that
literally changes their lives and the lives of their families, and
changes our lives, too, " Rice said.
The WGA established the award in 2009 in recognition of Johnson's more than two
decades of leadership at the WGA, which oversees the Evans Scholars Foundation and
conducts championships for professional and amateur golfers.
Rice's contributions to the WGA span several decades in a variety of important
functions: tournament chair, rules offi cial, team captain, league founder and champion
player. She has fi lled several leadership roles in Minnesota, including the Evans
Scholarship State Chair, from 2010-2016, and has also served on key Evans Chapter
House committees. Rice has been a board member for the Minnesota Golf Association
for more than 25 years. In 2012, she received the Warren J. Rebholz Distinguished
Service Award, the MGA's highest honor. She is currently the First Vice President of
the MGA, is a member of Edina and Woodhill Country Clubs, and was profi led in the
Fall 2012 issue of Minnesota Golfer magazine.
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In Memoriam
Dorothy " Dot " Sprau Gay, 1939-2021
Dorothy " Dot " Sprau Gay passed away Aug. 17 in Wayzata. Sprau
Gay was born an identical twin on April 28, 1939, in Storm Lake,
Iowa, where she grew up and later attended Iowa State University,
picking up the nickname " Dot. " She was an avid golfer, passionate
about the game, and dedicated an ext raordinary amount of
her time toward its betterment. She served not once, but twice as
president of the Minnesota Women's Golf Association in 1983
and 1987.
As a golfer, she had the memorable and rare exp erience
of carding two hole-in-ones during her lifetime, and
was credited with being the fi rst woman to play at Olympic Hills Country Club
in Eden Prairie after the club dropped its male-only membership clause in the 1980s.
She married her college sweetheart, Dick Sprau, on May 28, 1961. The couple relocated
from Wayzata to Rio Verde, Ariz., in 1993 to retire and play golf. Sprau Gay
served on the board of Rio Verde Country Club including a term as president. They
had three children, Julie, Jeff (Angela) and Tim, eight grandchildren and one great
grandson. Several years after Dick passed away in 2003, she met Roger Gay, also widowed.
They married in June 2008 with goals to play a lot of golf, travel and lead a
happy life, all of which they accomplished. Sprau Gay is also survived by step-daughter
Michelle Rogers (Sam), stepson Michael Gay, and a granddaughter.
mngolf.org
Fall 2021 MINNESOTAGOLFER
29
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