Veteran's Foresight Leads to New Scholarship Fund

Gertrude "Betty" Ward taught English at Princess Anne High School in Virginia Beach for 19

Fred & Betty Ward in 1941

years. 

Although she died in 1996, Betty is helping send in the fall of 2015 two Virginia Beach Public School new graduates to follow in her footsteps.

The new Gertrude Ward Scholarship Fund at the Hampton Roads Community Foundation is thanks to Betty's husband Fred's foresight. A few years ago he was crafting a will with his attorney John Midgett of Midgett Preti Alperin PC of Virginia Beach. 

John asked Fred the question he asks all clients making wills: "If no one you have named is living, are there charities, causes or schools you would want to benefit?"

At the time the former World War II  sailor living in a Virginia Beach retirement center had a daughter and grandson to name as beneficiaries. But, Fred heeded his attorney's advice and put the community foundation in as a contingent beneficiary to administer an endowed scholarship in his late wife's name for Virginia Beach students. He expressed a preference for Princess Anne High graduates or Virginia Beach students majoring in English never expecting the scholarship to be activated.

Sarah Burk

Daja Askew

It is sad to think that Fred's only daughter and grandchild passed away before he did in 2011 at age 92. But it is satisfying to know that this fall Sarah Burk, a Princess Anne high graduate, will be studying English at the University of North Carolina and Daja Askew, a Bayside High School graduate will be studying English at Virginia Tech. 

Sarah says: "UNC has some of the best options to give me a diverse education in preparation to enter the publishing industry, so I was extremely glad to receive this scholarship to help me attend."

Daja says: "This scholarship has allowed me the opportunity to attend my dream school and pursue a degree in English. With my English degree, I plan on pursuing the education track and hope to become a high school English teacher in the future."

We can only imagine how pleased Fred and Betty Ward would be to know they are helping shape Sarah and Daja's futures along with the many other Ward Scholars who will follow them.