letters and keep in touch. Through the years, I’ve received some very, very nice letters.” Eric Stichler ’03, an education major, is one who benefitted from Wingenroth’s kindness. He was taken by surprise by the scholarship award. “It was completely unexpected,” Stichler said. “It’s a heck of a surprise for a college kid to get a scholarship from a generous man like Jerry. It was a big help.” Stichler put himself through LVC by waiting tables during the academic year and doing construction work at his father’s firm over the summers. After graduation, he taught school for three years in the Virginia Beach area before deciding it was time to return to his roots. “I grew up in construction and decided that’s where my heart was. I came into this firm in an entry-level position and fortunately worked up to where I am now.” Today, Stichler is a vice president with his firm, Blueridge General, Inc., which specializes in commercial construction. He credits his degree with giving him a leg up in his career, and is grateful for the scholarship support that helped make it possible.
professors were dedicated to good teaching, and we realized that we wouldn’t have been as successful with lesser quality teaching. What we’re trying to do, to some degree, is to honor those teachers.” Bill taught music education for 36 years at Messiah College. “Basically what I taught was what I had been taught at LVC,” he said. The Higgins family is also associated with The Frank E. Stachow Scholarship, which helps support the education of a clarinet or woodwind player who is planning to teach music in
public schools. “Mr. Stachow taught woodwind instruments, and I’m a woodwind specialist,” Bill explained. “He was absolutely a remarkable man. He joked that if you didn’t play the clarinet, you weren’t going to go to heaven—and I’m not sure he was joking!” Finally, the couple decided to create a third scholarship under their own names. They established The William R. Higgins ’64 and Judith Baker Higgins ’64 Scholarship in 2009 to provide support to a junior or senior music education major with a high
Honoring Favorite Professors Some graduates choose to honor and recognize a favorite professor through their scholarship donations. Bill Higgins ’64 and his wife, Judy Baker Higgins ’64, are associated with three music scholarships, two of which honor former LVC professors. The Dr. James M. Thurmond Music Education Scholarship, which the Higgins family helped create in 2005, honors the couple’s favorite music education professor. “Lebanon Valley was the premier music education school in the eastern United States,” said Bill. “The
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