The William Armstrong Scholarship Fund was started by the Henderson County Wildlife Club, which wanted to honor the memory of William “Bill” Armstrong, one of its charter members, by awarding a scholarship to a Henderson County student studying wildlife. However, the Club soon discovered the great amount of legal issues involved in creating such a fund. A similar dilemma faced a group of citizens responsible for managing the Charlie Renfrow Scholarship Fund, established in memory of Charlie Renfrow, a beloved local sports broadcaster. The paperwork and other responsibilities proved too burdensome. Establishing a Community Foundation was the logical answer, providing management of these two funds, and the vehicle for other people in the community to establish their own funds, or make a tax-deductible contribution to improve the quality of life in Henderson County for future generations.

Back then, just like now, one of the unique features of the Community Foundation is that we build endowments —permanent funds that will continue to support the causes our donors care about, forever. Our founding directors understood these long-term benefits, and we are deeply indebted to them for their foresight and determination. Those founding directors are: G.M. “Bud” Campbell (dec.), Dr. Herbert E. Coolidge, Kermit Edney (dec.), Frank Ewbank (dec.), Dr. Samuel C. Falvo, Tom Hunter, Jr. (dec.), Morris Kaplan, Donald B. Keith, William H. McKay, Duane McKibbin, Philip R. Milroy (dec.), Robert A. Prosser (dec.), R. Clinton Thompson, and Kenneth Youngblood.

The Community Foundation’s first paid executive director was Priscilla Cantrell who helped build legacies for 18 years. She started work in a one-room office at the Community Foundation with assets less than one million and little grant money. In fact, she was told that a community foundation in Henderson County would not succeed because the community was too small, too rural; it had no homegrown industry, no university and had a population under 150,000. But, thanks to this giving community today’s assets exceed $72 million.

All of these individuals realized when people care about their community; they will give back to their community through the Community Foundation.