$600K checks given to local groups
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on December 30, 2014 1:46 PM
The largest individual donation received in Wayne Community College history, $654,496, will be used for scholarships and to support its nursing programs, said Jack Kannan, executive director of the WCC Foundation.
The benefactor of the endowment, Josephine Tavzelf Dunn Bannon, lived in Goldsboro at the time of her death last January, at age 91.
The college is not the only area organization to benefit. Locally, the Salvation Army and St. Mary's Catholic Church also received checks.
Born in Pennsylvania to Yugoslavian immigrants, she had worked at the Ford Motor Co. in Detroit for more than 40 years and also served as a yeoman in the U.S. Navy during World War II.
She originally came to this area because of her sister, Francis Long, and remained after Ms. Long passed away.
Twice widowed, she reportedly enjoyed her 4 o'clock "coffee" with her close friends and the relationships forged at her church, St. Mary's Catholic Church in Goldsboro.
Her niece, Debra Glesson, paid a visit to the college over the holidays, Kannan said.
"She came down to present the check, which was actually one of four, in the same amount -- to St. Mary's Church, the diocese of the Catholic church in Raleigh and the Salvation Army," he said. "The same amount, $654,496, went to all four of us."
The WCC funding will be designated for the nursing program, which offers ADN and LPN, or associate degree in nursing and licensed practical nurse, degrees, he said.
"We're very excited to have that because nursing is not only very difficult, it's also very expensive," Kannan said. "We're hoping to defray some of the costs for the nursing students.
"We're hoping to have Bannon nursing scholars, where we'll give a stipend to our most scholarly nurses in the program."
Officials at the college are looking at other areas in the nursing program where the funding would be helpful.
"We're going to do something like scholarships," Kannan said. "And the endowment will allow us to give each student in our ADN and LPN programs a stethoscope at the appropriate time."