John operates Webb Plumbing in Spring Hill and Carol has worked for the St. Albans Post Office for more than two decades. Last year, John toured a potential construction site. The professional giving him the tour was a mechanical engineer. “He said to me, ‘Webb. Webb. Did you have a daughter who attended Tech?’” John recalled recently. “I asked him if he knew Ammy. He told me how she changed his life. He was a student at Tech at the same time as Ammy and was struggling with some of the math. She helped him study that semester and encouraged him to stay in school. Now, he’s a mechanical engineer.”
We want to help someone else achieve what she couldn’t. his family made a generous contribution to the scholarship. “We were more fortunate than some, so we put a large gift in there,” Aubrey recently recalled. “It mattered to us. My mother was close to Ammy, but more importantly (my mother) knew how much Ammy meant to me so she made a large donation to the scholarship.” Now, students pursuing a civil engineering degree at WVU Tech can receive financial help through the Ammy Michelle Webb Civil Engineering Endowed Scholarship, which provides financial support for a sophomore, junior or senior civil engineering student with a B average and who has financial need. No athletes are eligible for the award. While Ammy participated in sports and activities in her youth, she focused her attention on her studies in college, her parents explained. Ammy was 22 when she died. She was a young woman with a bright future, full of ambition and vision. Her father said she eventually planned on a career in public service. “She liked to help people. She would have done a good job (in politics),” he said. In her short life span, Ammy impacted a lot of lives, her parents said. It was evident during her funeral service, when hundreds of visitors lined up outside the funeral home to pay their respects. “She tutored quite a few people in an official and unofficial capacity,” Aubrey said. “I heard about how she helped people at the funeral. People I didn’t know would tell me stories about her helping them study, or learn a concept.” Ammy’s influence is evident even today as John and Carol continue their lives in the Kanawha Valley.
That’s the kind of influence Ammy had in people’s lives. John and Carol want their daughter’s influence to continue at WVU Tech through her scholarship. The scholarship keeps their daughter’s memory alive, but more importantly it provides a way for Ammy to continue to be an influence in other students’ lives. “We want to help someone else achieve what she couldn’t,” the Webbs said. Donations to the Ammy Michelle Webb Civil Engineering Endowed Scholarship may be made using the enclosed enveloped or by contacting the WVU Tech Office of Development at 304.442.1078. Ammy’s father John affectionately remembers his daughter’s loving spirit.
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