Contact: Sammy McDavid
Separate scholarship endowments established at Mississippi State by the combined university alumni chapter for George and Greene counties are helping two Lucedale seniors complete their education.
Brandon L. Davis is receiving the $1,000 George McNeill Scholarship, while Randy L. Welford is this year's selection for the $1,000 Dr. Thomas R. Shaw Memorial Endowed Scholarship. Davis is an agricultural economics major; Welford, landscape contracting.
Davis, the son of Tommie and Charlotte Davis, is a 1999 Greene County High School graduate.
Welford, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Randy D. Welford, is a 1998 graduate of George County High School and a 2001 graduate of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College-Perkinston Campus.
"The George-Greene chapter is proud to invest in the future through this scholarship for our young people's education," said Jim Yonge, chapter membership chairman.
Named for a longtime Lucedale physician and MSU graduate who died in 1992, the Shaw Scholarship endowment was created in 1993 as an annual award by the chapter. In 2001, the scholarship fund was permanently endowed through the MSU Foundation.
The George McNeill Scholarship, which originated in 1994 with a gift from his widow Faye, currently is transitioning to a permanent endowment in memory of the Lucedale native and area horticulture specialist. A 1955 MSU agricultural and extension education graduate, McNeill was a former president of the George-Greene chapter who died in 1993. He was an MSU Extension Service agent in George County 1971-90.
"Our family is happy to have provided these scholarships for the last 10 years and we are happy to have helped these deserving students reach their educational goals," Faye McNeill said.