About Us

     A generous gift in the will of Thelma Belle Shrimplin provides two scholarships annually, and the family of Tim Boothe provides a memorial scholarship. A $2,000 scholarship is provided to honor the memory of Michael David Combs by his family, and the late William B. Young is also honored by his family with an annual scholarship. Dr. Richard and Lois Brown have established a scholarship for students who wish to pursue studies in medicine or the ministry. The local Arts and Humanities Council has established a fund to honor the late Gerald E. Snyder, and the family of Maxine Abbott Hunt provides a scholarship in memory of this former teacher.

The Spencer Rotary Club has established a perpetual scholarship fund, Charles B. Lewis has endowed a scholarship to honor the memory of his wife, Margaret Ruth Lewellen Lewis, Aaron Cottle has established a scholarship fund for nursing students in memory of his mother, Mardel DePue Cottle, and also funds the Aaron D. Cottle Scholarship of Excellence. The wife of Gaynol D. Starcher, a 1932 SHS graduate, endowed a scholarship in his memory. A local business, Contractor Services, Inc., established an engineering scholarship, and the late Thelma Stemple Bell provided generously for a scholarship fund in her will. The parents of Phil Scott, former valedictorian at Spencer High School, provided a memorial gift to endow a $500 award to all future valedictorians.   An anonymous donor endowed the George and Gertrude Moffatt Memorial Scholarship Fund.
 

     In 2004, the family of Roma T. Arnott, long time science teacher at SHS, established a scholarship in his memory. In 2005 the family of Christopher Raines established a scholarship in his memory, and Elsie Daugherty established scholarships in the business and education fields to honor her late husband Virgil.  The Spencer High School Alumni Association has established a scholarship award.  Eva Chapman Baber (SHS 1947) established the Eva Chapman Baber and Evelyn Chapman Whitney Scholarship.  The Ladies Livestock Auxiliary provides $1,000 scholarships to a 4H/FFA members.  Mr. Fields' estate will provide many scholarships in the future thanks to his generous provisions in his will. Beginning in 2009 estate of Sidney Boggs provided generously for scholarships for Roane County students.  In recent years, the families of former educators Betsy Atkins, Ronald Stewart, Don Williams have established memorial scholarship funds, and, and the late Jarnetta Jarvis Kroh, a 1948 graduate of Walton High school, established a very generous trust fund for the foundation in her will.
 

     In December 2009,  Judge George Scott gave $1,000,000 to the Foundation to fund memorial scholarships to honor his son Phil. This is the largest charitable gift in the history of Roane County, and it more than doubled the amount available for scholarships.  In 2017, Judge Scott’s brother, Basil Edward (Ed) Scott, passed away and had provided for a $5,000,000 gift in his will to this Foundation to provide scholarships.
 

     Dorothy Custer Hays passed away in 2016, and she has provided for many scholarships in the future for Roane County students through a generous provision in her will.  Also, last year Dr. R. Gene White, a retired professor of Veterinary Science at the University of Nebraska who was born in Roane County, made a substantial donation to memorialize his late wife, Donna; also a Roane County native and graduate of Spencer High School; and he pledged another major bequest in his will for the Foundation.
 

     Several Roane County school employees give through payroll deductions and several donors make annual contributions. Their gifts and other undesignated donations go into the General Foundation Fund.  The Roane County Retired School Employees  Association established a scholarship this year for a student who is planning to work in the school system. In 1920, a major bequest in the estate of Arthur Brannon, a 1951 Spencer High graduate established the Arthur and Burlyn Brannon Memorial Scholarship.

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     Since its inception in 1994, the Foundation has awarded 759 scholarships and awards worth over $1.5 million.