SCHOLAR of living history.

Being honoured with a scholarship is not just a summer sensation for young Bermudians. This month, the woman who founded Bermuda's Junior Service League in 1936 received one: the Mrs. C. Vail Zuill Scholarship was named after her.

"They call me the founding member. But I say it never takes one person," said Mrs. Zuill.

Asked what else she wanted to achieve in life, having "won" this scholarship, and having been awarded the MBE in 1990 from the hand of the Queen herself, Mrs. Zuill laughed.

"I would like to play duplicate bridge. I'm not very good at it, but I can do better!

"And at night, when I wake up and can't get back to sleep, I compose poetry."

She has recently published her fifth book of poems, A Pot-Pourri of Poetry, in Bermuda.

An indicator of the importance of history, community and tradition in her life is a nickname - "Higgy", derived from her maiden name of Higgins - which has stayed with her.

A line of men's names in her family, beginning with "J", have included her father's Judiah, an older son Jonathan and her own Janette.

SHE was born in a small town near Princeton, New Jersey, and recounted the sensations of arriving in Bermuda before air travel, when Bermuda men came to see the girls arriving at the port.

"I was visiting a friend from boarding school. She asked me what I thought of what Bermuda men had to offer, and I said there was a great variety, but, goodness, they were so short!"

She adopted Bermuda with her marriage to C. Vail Zuill - with whom she became acquainted some time after she arrived at the port.

Later, living in Smith's Parish, the couple attended St. Mark's Church, feeling that it was important to go to church in the community where you lived. "My husband was a deacon at St. Mark's," she added.

She effectively founded the Junior Service League, she said, "because there was nothing for young matrons to do.

"It was suggested we do something similar to the American League. The first thing we did was taking magazines around the hospital - now that's the Hospital Auxiliary."

The multitude of activities available could take people away from volunteer work, she admitted. "Everyone seems to be so busy. It's so hard to get volunteer workers."

However, managed by the League, the new scholarship in her name would contribute to volunteer activities in Bermuda, she said. "The winner is to go away for education, and then come back and serve Bermuda in some capacity beneficial to the country."

Besides the Junior Service League, she has been involved with KBB, the Gardening Club, and was the first woman board member of the Mid Ocean Club.

""The volunteer work done in Bermuda is wonderful."

But, despite reading the daily paper "from cover to cover", her delight in community tradition does not end with family names and volunteer work: beside her as she spoke stood an historical "tall clock" measuring out time with old-fashioned weights. It was saved from the sack of Washington, DC in 1815.

Such history was important for nations as well as people, she stressed.

"It would be a great mistake if Bermuda went Independent."

"I believe Canadians and Americans like the traditional English background, and if they can't go (further) abroad, they can come here and get the feeling of it, like the Festival Season, Commissioner's Point and all the history and culture which goes along with it."