OXFORD, Miss. \u2013 After 28 years of stewardship, University of Mississippi School of Law alumnus and 1848 Society member William H. McMullen of Charlotte, N.C.,\u00a0finally got to see his labor of love come to fruition. Recently, McMullen had the chance to meet the first recipients of the Everett-Williams Memorial Scholarships, products of the fund he helped his uncle initiate in 1984.<\/p>\n
Thomas Marshall Everett of Meridian,\u00a0McMullen\u2019s uncle, seeded the fund with an initial gift of $90,000 to help deserving students pursue a college education. It was to be managed by an out-of-state foundation, initially the Southern Baptist Foundation of Tennessee. In 2008, McMullen coordinated the transfer of the fund to the University of Mississippi Foundation, creating two four-year scholarships that total $13,000 annually: one for the Sally McDonnell-Barksdale Honors College, the other for Ole Miss First, a scholarship program that rewards scholastic achievement and leadership. OMF offers mentoring opportunities to recipients in addition to a financial award.<\/p>\n
Everett\u2019s one condition of the fund was that the total endowment had to reach $1 million before any distribution was allowed. Slowed but undeterred by the economic recession, the operations committee of the Everett-Williams Memorial Scholarship announced its first scholarship awards almost three decades after Everett\u2019s first contribution. The deserving recipients were incoming honors students Logan Wilson and Davelin Woodard, also an Ole Miss First Scholar, in 2012.<\/p>\n
Wilson came to UM from Hattiesburg,\u00a0where he graduated second in his class at North Forrest High School in 2012 and was chosen for the school\u2019s Hall of Fame. He was class president all four years and president of the Student Council. Named a Mississippi Rural Medical Scholar, he also won awards in English, anatomy and physiology, and trigonometry\/pre-calculus.<\/p>\n
After arriving at UM, Wilson made an almost immediate impression at the Honors College. Wilson is \u201celectric,\u201d said Douglass Sullivan-Gonzalez, UM Honors College dean. \u201cLogan is so engaging. Everyone just melts around him,\u00a0and his grades are stellar to boot. He maintained a 4.0 GPA all year in an honors pre-professional health track.\u201d<\/p>\n
Receiving the Everett-Williams Memorial Honors Scholarship helped Wilson decide among his college options.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was unsure about where to go until I got the offer,” he said. “I considered going out-of-state, but this scholarship, coupled with everything the honors college offers, was an opportunity I couldn\u2019t pass up.\u201d<\/p>\n
A rising sophomore bio-chemistry major with plans to pursue orthopedic surgery, Wilson also joined UM\u2019s\u00a0Increasing Minority Access to Graduate Education program. IMAGE is funded by the National Science Foundation and strives to increase minority entrance in graduate school in the fields of science, engineering and mathematics.<\/p>\n
When asked if the Honors College surprised him in anyway, Wilson said it did not.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was coming because I expected to be challenged,” he said. “I like that our professors expect more from us; not only do they want us to grasp the material, they want us to master it. Dean Sullivan-Gonzalez and other administrators have a true open-door policy. They set high standards and expect us to achieve them but are willing to help in any way to get you there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Woodard, of Oxford,\u00a0the Everett-Williams Memorial OMF Scholarship recipient, is a rising sophomore and Honors College student.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am very grateful for this scholarship,\u201d Woodard said. \u201cReceiving it has enabled me to pursue my dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n
Woodard graduated top of her class from Water Valley High School where her mother, also an Ole Miss graduate, teaches.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince I was old enough to think about college, Ole Miss has been my preference,\u201d she said. \u201cAlthough I probably should have, I didn\u2019t even apply to any other universities. I knew in my heart that this was the right college for me. Every time I visited the campus I knew I wanted to be part of this family.\u201d<\/p>\n
During her freshman year at Ole Miss, Woodard volunteered as a tutor for\u00a0elementary school students and worked in the UM Writing Center. She made the Chancellor\u2019s Honor Roll and was inducted into Phi Eta Sigma honor society. Woodard was also accepted into the Early Entry Nursing Program at the UM Medical Center. She will transfer to the Jackson campus after her sophomore year with hopes of becoming a nurse anesthetist.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese scholarships give our program the opportunity to engage high-performing students like Davelin and Logan as citizen scholars,\u201d Sullivan-Gonzalez said. \u201cNot only can we attract students of their caliber, we can also offer them a quality honors education without accumulating debt \u2013 which is worth its weight in gold.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was an honor to meet Mr. McMullen,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cI was glad to have the opportunity to shake his hand and hear the history of his family, and how they came to dedicate this scholarship which has helped me and will help others.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of 13 children born to James Sellers Everett and Minine Lee Fanning Everett of Hickory,\u00a0Thomas Everett wished to name the scholarship in memory of his parents as well as the parents of his wife, Jane Williams Everett.\u00a0 Elias George Williams, Sarah Elizabeth Harris Williams, and Mr. and Mrs. Everett all were born, lived and died in Newton County.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany of the Everett children, especially the women, went to college which was rare in the \u201910s and \u201920s,\u201d McMullen said. \u201cThe story goes, at least for my mother, that the experience of farming cotton was enough to drive anyone elsewhere to look for work. About half of them ended up in Washington, D.C., including my uncle.\u201d<\/p>\n
McMullen\u2019s mother, Angie Everett McMullen, finished at Clarke Junior College in Newton in the late 1920s.<\/p>\n
Tom and Jane Everett moved to Washington, D.C., as a young couple. Tom worked in retail and sales, while Jane worked at AT&T as a long-distance telephone operator. They eventually settled on Cathedral Avenue, where McMullen and his parents visited frequently.<\/p>\n
After retiring, the Everetts moved back to Meridian to be help care for brothers and sisters during illnesses. Tom Everett also traveled to Virginia to help care for his sister, McMullen\u2019s mother, during her recovery from cancer in 1978 to 1979.<\/p>\n
It was later in 1984 when Everett asked his nephew to help him establish the endowment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI visited Uncle Tom after Aunt Jane\u2019s death and we would talk about their dreams and desires,” McMullen said. “Over several years, we finally prepared an agreement acceptable to Uncle Tom.\u201d<\/p>\n
Upon Thomas Everett’s death in 1997 at age 93, the majority of the Everett estate was transferred to the fund.<\/p>\n
\u201cUncle Tom was a product of the depression era,\u201d McMullen said. \u201cHis primary interest was the preservation of the corpus of money. He followed the stock market and was dedicated to being a good financial steward. But he was also a steward of our family, always caring for others in times of illness or hardship.\u201d<\/p>\n
McMullen was eager to help his uncle navigate leaving this legacy, as McMullen also came to Ole Miss to focus on studies, not to worry about how to pay his tuition.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was lucky to be able to complete law school in 1969 by just taking out a few manageable loans and working on the law journal for a small stipend. Back in those days, the cost of law school was not what it is now. For today\u2019s students, to borrow to go to school can be in the six-digit figures.\u201d<\/p>\n
McMullen and his wife, Kaye, are philanthropically active in their home city of Charlotte, N.C., as well. In 1979, the couple established the Children\u2019s Medical Fund through the Foundation for the Carolinas in honor of their daughter, Amy McIntyre. This fund has awarded more than $500,000 to provide medical treatment and vaccinations for hundreds of children, as well as funding pediatric cancer research. McMullen is of counsel with Cranford, Buckley, Schultze, Tomchin, Allen and Buie P.A.<\/p>\n
\u201cI greatly admire the vision that Bill McMullen has shown in positioning this fund for growth and making it available for so many students now and for decades to come,\u201d said Wendell Weakley, president and CEO of the UM Foundation. \u201cHe has worked dilligently to get us to this point and put this remarkable gift in a position to pay educational dividends.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Everett-Williams Memorial Scholarship Fund is open to receive gifts from individuals and organizations by sending a check with the fund noted in the memo line to the University of Mississippi Foundation, P.O. Box 249, University, Miss. 38677; or by visiting http:\/\/www.umfoundation.com\/makeagift<\/a>.\u00a0 For more information call 662-915-5945.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"