College receives gift of $800,000
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on November 19, 2015 1:46 PM
The Foundation of Wayne Community College has received the largest donation in its history, Executive Director Jack Kannan said this week.
The anonymous $800,000 gift was given in memory of the late Bertha Eutsler Shepherd Wooten, who was a former Foundation board member. She died in May 2014 at age 101.
The donation recognized the lifelong interests of Mrs. Wooten in both education and the humanities.
Mrs. Wooten lived in Goldsboro for most of her life and was active in numerous civic organizations. She was also a past recipient of the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce's highest honor, the Cornerstone Award, presented to citizens with longtime service that has had a significant impact on the betterment of the county.
At the time of her death, Mrs. Wooten resided at The Forest at Duke in Durham.
Over her lifetime, she had funded scholarships at both WCC and Virginia Military Institute, the alma mater of her late husband, William Almon Shepherd Jr.
Kannan recalled her days as a charter board member of the Foundation.
"She had a passion. Before we had the Foundation, she established scholarships for high school graduates," he said. "She donated the first amount of money for the college, and the arts and humanities was a passion of hers as much as the scholarships.
"I have always said that she was the originator of gifts to our arts and humanities program."
The funds will be used to support the areas the benefactor was most supportive of, Kannan said.
"We're going to divide it mostly between scholarships and our arts and humanities program because those were her two passions," he said.