Guy Beatty, one of the nations leading educational philanthropists, will be honored at Fork Union Military Academy on the evening of Thursday, June 15, 2006 when the Academy will present him with the Colonel R. L. Pulliam Leadership Award, the schools highest honor. This special presentation, to be held during FUMAs Sports Hall of Fame banquet, will recognize Guy Beatty and his wife Betty for their decades of support for the Academy and their leadership in providing scholarship funding for students. Mr. Beatty has served on the Academys Board of Trustees since 1976.
One of the Nations Leading Education Philanthropists
Mr. and Mrs. Beatty made one of the largest charitable gifts in the nation in recent years when they established a $ 60 million charitable lead trust to provide need-based scholarships for students at the Academy. This trust is expected to provide the Academy $ 2 million in scholarship aid each year for 30 years from the Beattys' estate. In addition to this gift made through estate planning, the Beattys have funded current scholarships that have aided dozens of students in recent years. They have also underwritten multiple building projects on campus.
The Beattys' philanthropy has not been limited just to Fork Union Military Academy, either. In 2002, the Beattys established a $ 40 million charitable trust to aid the Virginia College Fund. Their generosity places them in the forefront of the nations philanthropists supporting education.
For Guy Beatty, however, his interest is in creating educational opportunities, not in attracting attention. He will use his money and prominence when it will aid a public cause, as in 1987 when he helped Jeannie Baliles (then the First Lady of Virginia, wife of Governor Gerald Baliles) create the Virginia Literacy Foundation; but he is just as likely to work quietly and personally to help others, when it will attract little attention.
Many years ago, he happened to notice one of his employees in the painting company he owned cashing a check, observing that he signed his check with an X making his mark because he did not know how to sign his name. The employee saw Beatty near by and appeared to be very embarrassed. Thats the problem with illiteracy, Beatty explains. People dont want you to know that they cant read or write so its very difficult to get their attention. Beatty told the man to come by his house and see him before he cashed his next check. Beatty spent three hours that next week teaching him how to write his name, telling him Tomorrow when you get in that line to cash your check, I want you to sign your name.
It felt wonderful to do that, Beatty explains. He went on and married a schoolteacher, and he became very literate. It was a turning point in his life.
Leading By Example
Guy Beatty came to visit the Fork Union campus for the first time in 1976, at the request of his friend Jack Jones, who was then the Chairman of FUMAs Board of Trustees. Beatty so loved what he saw at Fork Union Military Academy that he became a member of the Board of Trustees. Soon, he was identifying ways he could make the Academy an even better place.
Beattys first project was building a new infirmary in 1978. As Beatty matter-of-factly described it, We needed a new infirmary, so I helped to create it. In keeping, with Beattys unassuming manner, the infirmary was named after the Academys longtime physician, Dr. Yeatman.
In the fall of 1983, Beatty told Colonel Kenneth Whitescarver, then school president, I dont know whether you realize this or not, but we need a new library. Col. Whitescarver told Beatty that hed known that for years, and Beatty replied, Well, Im going to give you one. The new library, which the Academy named to honor Beatty, was completed in only ninety-three days.
A new addition to the library, funded by the Beattys, was completed this year, nearly doubling its size. On May 5, 2006, Guy and Betty Beatty helped cut the ribbon at the dedication ceremony for the new addition that provides more space for Middle School book stacks, state-of-the-art multimedia classrooms, a computer lab, and conference room facilities.
The wonderful thing about having Guy Beatty as a Trustee, school President Lt. General John E. Jackson, Jr. says, is that he doesnt just point out the things that need to be done, he steps forward to do it, leading by example.
A New Century, and a New Benefactor Arises
Schools ranging from Fork Union Military Academy to the nations major universities could not exist without the support of benefactors who give donations, both large and small.
In 1898, ten families in the small village of Fork Union pledged $ 50 each to hire a teacher for their children, and a school for 19 students was founded in a rented house. At the turn of the twentieth century, Fork Union Military Academy received an unexpected gift from the estate of a wealthy benefactor named Thomas Bowles. Mr. Bowles had grown up in Fluvanna County and went on to make a fortune in successful business ventures. The remarkable thing was that Bowles only connection to the Academy was that his cousin, Julia Seay Snead, was one of the original sponsors who had pledged $ 50 to start the school. Mr. Bowles sizable bequest to the school was instrumental in helping the school survive those early lean years.
Now, at the turn of the twenty-first century, another benefactor has stepped forward to help underwrite the schools future. His only connection to the Academy was the invitation of a friend and the desire to help educate young people; but Guy Beattys legacy of leadership by example and generosity of spirit will live on through the young men he has helped achieve to their own educational success.
My grandfather had a great philosophy, says Beatty, with characteristic modesty. Take a little, and leave a little.
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