A group gathers to celebrate the creation of a new scholarship honoring Dr. Beverly Tucker in front of the portrait of Maria Parham at the hospital that bears her name. Seated, from left: Blair Tucker Tate, Dr. Tucker, Megan Tucker Adkins and Anne Tucker; standing, from left: Maria Parham Medical Center CEO Bob Singletary, volunteers Sallye Lloyd, Louise Bennett, Sylvia Edwards, Lou Reavis, VGCC President Dr. Stelfanie Williams, Guild president Anne Bunch and volunteers Jean Brehm, Betty Stevenson, Tricia Kleczek, Roxanne Fleming and Gean Bobbitt. (VGCC Photo)
Volunteers from the Guild Gift Gallery at Maria Parham Medical Center recently presented a gift of $25,000 to the Vance-Granville Community College Endowment Fund that will create a new scholarship. This is the sixth such scholarship established by the Guild Gift Gallery in recent years. Since 2008, the hospital’s Guild has given over $150,000 to the college. The newest scholarship was given in honor of Dr. W. Beverly Tucker of Henderson, who was joined by family members, volunteers from the gift shop and hospital staff at a brief celebration at MPMC on June 26. Tucker has long been associated with the hospital, first as a family practitioner at Henderson Family Medicine for 35 years and then as an MPMC board member since his retirement in 2005. “We are pleased to be able to do this to honor Dr. Tucker, who has served our community for so many years not only as a physician but as a volunteer,” said Anne Bunch of Henderson, the Guild president. Among other activities, Tucker is president of the Vance County Public School Foundation and a member of the board of directors for the local YMCA. Earlier this year, the Henderson-Vance County Chamber of Commerce presented Tucker with the “Citizen of the Year” award. He is also the father of four children (two of whom, daughters Blair and Megan, were on hand along with his wife, Anne, to celebrate the scholarship) and a grandfather of nine.
“I’m honored and humbled to have my name associated with the Guild,” Tucker said. “They do a great job promoting the hospital and making it more pleasant for people staying here. I think it’s particularly appropriate and important that these scholarship funds will help us to develop and retain health professionals here in our community.” The volunteer-operated Guild Gift Gallery offers convenience items and gifts as a service to both patients and visitors at the hospital. Profits from sales are used to provide scholarships to people entering the health care professions. The new VGCC scholarship will assist deserving students in programs such as Nursing, Radiography, Medical Assisting and Pharmacy Technology. Bob Singletary, the CEO of Maria Parham, noted that he continues to value Dr. Tucker’s contributions to the hospital, especially in recruiting physicians. He also praised the work of the Guild, calling them “a wonderful part of our Maria Parham family and another facet of our great partnership with Vance-Granville Community College.”
The president of VGCC, Dr. Stelfanie Williams, thanked Tucker for the example of his leadership, while also thanking Bunch and the volunteers for their continued commitment, which will support students for years to come. Because the scholarship, called the “W. Beverly Tucker, MD/Guild Gift Gallery Presidential Scholar Award,” is endowed, it will be awarded in perpetuity. Such gifts have allowed the VGCC Endowment Fund and Scholarship Program to award more than 7,000 scholarships to students since 1982. Scholarships have been established by individuals, businesses, civic groups, churches and the college’s faculty and staff to assist deserving VGCC students. Tax-deductible donations to the VGCC Endowment Fund have often been used to honor or remember a person, group, business or industry with a lasting gift to education. For more information, call (252) 738-3409.