AUGUST 13, 2009 ISSUE
Mark Linnville Receives John & Ruth Blue Scholarship
Mark Linnville is the recipient of the 2009 John & Ruth Blue Scholarship Endowment, a fund of the Watauga County Community Foundation.
Linnville, who began at Watauga High School, is graduating from the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics (NCSSM). The son of Barbara and Richard Linnville of Boone and the eldest of five children, Linnville is also a four-time varsity soccer athlete. He played his freshman and sophomore years at WHS and his junior and senior years at the NCSSM. He has been a captain of the soccer team since his sophomore year and led the NCSSM team to a state championship his junior year. Linnville will be attending Princeton University in New Jersey, where he will continue his soccer career. At Princeton, he plans on fulfilling pre-medical requirements and then going into medical school. After medical school, he plans on joining the Doctors Without Borders organization or starting his own nonprofit to deliver modern medical care to third-world nations. Even though he attended school in Durham, he has continued to provide volunteer services to the Watauga community by working at the Hospitality House in downtown Boone.
This is the third year that the Blue Scholarship has been awarded. The recipient receives a $5,000 scholarship to the university of his or her choice that is renewable for four years. The recipient of is selected based on academic excellence, physical vigor and activity and leadership in the school, church or community.
John and Ruth Blue established the Blue Scholarship in 2001 with provisions for additional funds after their passing. The Blues retired to Watauga County more than 20 years ago and wanted to do something for the community that had meant so much to them. John was a member of the Blue family that organized the Aberdeen and Rockfish Railroad more than 100 years ago, which operated as one of the most successful short line railroads in the country. The railroad serves the Aberdeen, Raeford and Fayetteville area and, during World War II, the system carried more than one million troops in and out of the Fort Bragg area.
John Blue passed away in 2003 and Ruth died in 2005. Following their deaths, a significant estate gift was added to the original fund to support scholarships for graduates of a high school in Watauga County or Watauga County residents graduating from the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, the North Carolina School of the Arts or any other school for academically gifted students. The Blue Scholarship is currently the largest single local scholarship available to Watauga County residents and the contribution by the Blue family will ensure the perpetuity of the scholarship as it grows in future years. Recipients are known as Blue Scholars. The Blue Scholarship Endowment is one of the 25 funds of the Watauga County Community Foundation, an affiliate of the North Carolina Community Foundation (NCCF). The local affiliate was organized in 1988 with the establishment of a Legacy Fund and now includes endowment holdings of more than $1.5 million. The Blue Scholarship was established with the legal assistance of local attorney Jim Deal, who specializes in estate planning. A former member of the Watauga County Community Foundation, Deal was the recipient of the foundation’s Spirit of Philanthropy award for his efforts in establishing local funds and promoting philanthropy.
The NCCF is the single statewide community foundation and was created 21 years ago to build capacity through philanthropy. The NCCF sustains nearly 1,000 endowment funds established to provide long-term support of a broad range of community needs, nonprofit organizations and scholarships. The NCCF partners with 59 affiliate foundations to provide local resource allocation and community assistance in 65 counties across the state, with an emphasis on rural and underserved areas. For more information, click to www.nccommunityfoundation.org.
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