Contact: Bill Wagnon
A Starkville couple is remembering their late daughter and Mississippi State alumna with a medical technology scholarship at the university.
J.W. and Nancy C. James are making a $20,000 contribution to establish the Sheila James Newell Memorial Endowment. The fund will support seniors majoring in the College of Arts and Sciences-based curriculum.
The gift makes the James family members of the President's Club donor group.
Sheila Newell died in December 1996 at age 39. At the time of her death, the 1979 medical technology graduate was living in Tupelo with her husband, Dr. Samuel D. Newell, a partner in the Tupelo Neurology Clinic and MSU graduate. As a couple, they were members of the university's Patrons of Excellence donor group and Bulldog Club athletic support group.
Mrs. Newell was active in the Calvary Baptist Church of Tupelo, Christian Women's Organization and Lee County Medical Alliance. A Bay Springs native, she was educated in Madison, Wis., and Starkville public schools. While at MSU, she was a Dean's Scholar, President's Scholar and member of the Delta Delta Delta sorority.
After receiving her degree, she worked in Jackson as a registered technologist in the University Medical Center's bacteriology laboratory.
Her father, J.W. James, retired in 1983 as a state extension 4-H youth development specialist. A Leakesville native, he served in state and federal government service for more than three decades, including nearly 30 years with the Mississippi Cooperative Extension Service and the U.S. Army and Mississippi National Guard for a total of 18 years. He received a bachelor's degree in agricultural education from MSU in 1955 and a master's degree in extension administration from the University of Wisconsin in 1964.
A Macon native, Nancy James is retired after 18 years of service with the dean's office of the College of Education.