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Students in the adult degree-completion program at Bluefield College now have access to more financial aid, and the legacy of service above self by southern West Virginia native Betty McGlamary Mayberry will live on through the Mayberry Memorial Adult Education Assistance Scholarship.

June 1, 2009

A native of the coalfields of Wyoming County, West Virginia, the late Betty McGlamary Mayberry devoted her life to caring for others. After the untimely death of her father, she helped her mother care for the family of four children. Even after she married her husband, Clarence, a native of Bluefield and a BC alumnus who established the scholarship in her memory, Betty cared for many disabled family members and friends throughout her life and until her death in 2006.

     "She was a devoted and caring person," said Clarence, a 1957 BC graduate who now lives in Kensington, Maryland. "Having grown up in he coalfields of West Virginia, she never forgot the hardships of children like herself and wanted to help wherever and whenever she could. Hopefully, this scholarship will help perpetuate her love for the people of the coalfield area by helping to improve health care through increased adult education in the health care field."

     Designed for adult degree-completion students pursuing a bachelor's degree in behavioral science, the Mayberry Scholarship is an annual award of at least $500, accessible for multiple years of study in the degree-completion program.

     Available for two recipients each year, the award is designed preferably for adult students working in healthcare-related fields or the coal industry and with a family history related to the coal business. Students who demonstrate a greater financial need will be given additional preference.

     "This scholarship honors and remembers the important aspects of Betty's life," said BC president, Dr. David Olive, "and it provides for future generations of students the opportunity to be transformed through the Bluefield College experience."

     Dr. Olive and Clarence Mayberry formally signed the scholarship into existence during a ceremony on the BC campus, May 15. A host of family and friends from as near as Bluefield and as far as Maryland joined Clarence and college administrators for the event at which time he spoke about how the scholarship will do more than just pay tribute to his wife.

     "The fact that I received a scholarship to attend Bluefield College helped get me to where I am today," said Clarence, who came to BC from Beaver High School on a Henry Rodgin Scholarship. "That, along with the experience I had at Bluefield College, led me to the decision that I wanted to help the school and help students like me."

     A veteran of the Unites States Navy and the U.S. Navy Reserves, Mayberry spent his professional career with the Federal Housing Administration and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Among the family and friends who joined him for the scholarship signing ceremony were Melba McGlamary of Kensington, MD; Charles McGlamary of Harrisonburg, VA; George Akers of Princeton, WV; Howard Honaker and his wife, Janie, of Falls Mills, VA; David Mayberry of Bluefield, WV; Kathleen Stowers of Bluefield, VA; Russell Garrett of Bluefield, VA; and Don Scott of Bluefield, VA.

     "This is a wonderful thing to carry on the memory of my sister," said Charles McGlamary. "She was a wonderful person, who was good to everybody and who never had an enemy in her life. She spent her entire lifetime helping people, and in some small way will continue to do that through this scholarship."

     Adult students interested in applying for a Mayberry Scholarship should contact the Bluefield College Financial Aid Office at 276-326-4604. Alumni, family and friends who wish to contribute to the scholarship or who may be interested in establishing their own scholarship fund in honor or in memory of someone should call the BC Advancement Office at 276-326-4209.

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