Tyndalls endowment
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on February 6, 2004 2:01 PM
A retired Goldsboro couple has a rather novel idea for a 50th wedding anniversary gift this year: scholarship money to entice students to teach in Wayne County.
Dr. and Mrs. Durwood Tyndall recently donated $25,000 to Wayne Community College to be used for scholarships. The H.D. and Catherine Tyndall Endowment was established to encourage the "grow your own" concept for teachers, similar to a nursing program the college has with Wayne Memorial Hospital.
"These scholarships will be given to students who want to come back to Wayne County to teach," said Jack Kannan, director of the college's foundation. "One solution to the shortage of teachers in our area is to get others to follow suit in providing scholarships."
Kannan said the college is excited about the donation and hopes that others will follow the Tyndalls' lead. Because of the gift, he said, he is establishing the Wayne County Teacher Endowment to allow others to contribute in similar fashion.
An endowment, he explained, is perpetual. The principal is banked and the interest used for scholarships. A gift of $25,000 could provide two or three annual scholarships, he said.
Mrs. Tyndall and her husband are former teachers, she at the high school level and he at East Carolina University after his retirement from general practice 15 years ago.
The couple have lived in Goldsboro for the past 48 years. Tyndall is originally from Wayne County. "We want this to be for someone educated here who would come back and teach here," she said.
"What better way to commemorate 50 years of marriage?" she added. "We're not a corporation; we're not a big company. We're just common, everyday citizens who want to give back some of what we have received."
She called it a gift "to and from ourselves" because of the enormous benefits living in Wayne County has provided.
Hope Hancock, the Tyndalls' daughter, is a fund-raiser in Raleigh. She said her parents place a high premium on teachers and are dedicated to Wayne County.
"They looked at the community college as a way to find and retain good teachers," she said. "They both think that philanthropy should begin in your own backyard, and this investment in a teacher is one that returns many-fold."