The legacy of Mary Churchwell and Robert Churchwell Sr. was recently honored by the establishment of the Robert Sr. and Mary Churchwell Undergraduate Scholarship by their son Kevin Churchwell, MD’87, and his wife, Gloria Respress-Churchwell.
Education was of supreme importance to Robert Churchwell Sr. and his wife, Mary, a lifelong schoolteacher. A pioneering journalist at the Nashville Banner and the first full-time Black journalist hired by a Southern newspaper, his first assignment was the education beat. The Churchwell’s achievements and commitment to furthering educational opportunities for others were so profound that a local elementary school in Nashville is named after Robert.
To honor their legacy, their son Kevin Churchwell, MD’87, and his wife, Gloria Respress-Churchwell, established the Robert Sr. and Mary Churchwell Undergraduate Scholarship, a fund that will provide generations of students with the gift his parents valued most of all: a Vanderbilt education.
“To my parents, an education was not so much a way to achieve goals, but rather was part of the joy one has in being a human,” Kevin says. “They very much loved the opportunities that a school like Vanderbilt provides to its students as they seek to fulfill their dreams through education and the college experience.”
The Robert Sr. and Mary Churchwell Undergraduate Scholarship is also a unique reminder of the positive social change that has taken place on campus and in Nashville since the 1930s. Robert Sr.’s grandson, John Churchwell, BA’21, JD’24, explains, “While my granddad was a big Vandy football fan, he couldn’t even go sit in the stands. He would watch the football games through a fence. It’s cool now for my dad to have been the former CEO of the Children’s Hospital here, and for me to have attended Vanderbilt for my undergraduate degree and law school. That progression of my granddad watching games from outside of the fence, to my dad and me now being inside the fence and part of the decision making apparatus – that’s awesome.”
The Churchwell family hope that awareness of the scholarship will become more widespread to inspire others and honor the special place that Vanderbilt held in the hearts of “Mom Churchwell and Daddy Churchwell.”
To learn more, read the full story, written by Addy Crosby, here.
