The Custer Foundation Bolsters LFCC’s Nursing Program

The Monford D. and Lucy L. Custer Foundation contributed $20,000 to the LFCC Educational Foundation Inc. to establish the Monford D. and Lucy L. Custer Nursing Scholarship Fund at LFCC in January 2005. But that was only the beginning.

The Custer Foundation pledged to donate an additional $10,000, helping this scholarship to promote the study of nursing students at LFCC.

And in October 2005, the children of Monford D. and Lucy L. Custer — Danny Custer, Ellen Morgan, Linda Russell and Herb Sanders — hosted a scholarship fund-raising event at the Russell home in Winchester, leading to almost $10,000 in additional contributions.

Guests included Bill and Nancy Sutton of Leesburg, Virginia. “When I saw what this [Custer] foundation was doing, I knew I had to be a part of it and support their efforts. I have worked in the operating rooms (O.R.) of almost every hospital on the East Coast over the past 25 years. I have witnessed firsthand the tremendous need for nurses, both in the O.R. as well as in recovery and on the floors,” said Mr. Sutton, director of the Vitruvian Institute of Surgical Training and Anatomy in Baltimore, Maryland.

Ms. Russell stated, “The need for scholarships and the ability to help students was brought to my attention by Ann Wiltshire [an LFCC Foundation Board member] a year or so ago. As a result, our family started the Custer Nursing scholarship. We decided to host this event because all of my siblings happened to be here at the same time, and we felt we could enhance our scholarship by having a party. Another factor was that if others could see how easy it is to start a scholarship in honor or in memory of a loved one, perhaps more scholarships would be established.”

The scholarship honors Dr. Monford D. Custer Jr. and his wife, Lucy, for their passion for the community, education and philanthropy. The couple moved to Winchester in 1947, where Dr. Custer launched a successful medical career that spanned 34 years. He helped establish both the Free Medical Clinic in Winchester and, with his wife, the Eleanor Wade Custer School of Nursing at Shenandoah University. In addition, he encouraged and helped implement the Operating Room Technicians program, which is now taught at LFCC.

“We established the scholarship in memory of my parents, because they were both prominent, philanthropic and well loved by many, many people in Winchester and across the country. We will never know all of the people they quietly helped during their lives,” Ms. Russell said.

“Winchester and the surrounding areas are so lucky to have LFCC. Many of the traditional and nontraditional students would not have the ability to receive a quality education if it were not for LFCC,” Ms. Russell said. “In addition, the College resources available to the community are phenomenal and utilized by many who are not students but are looking for ways and means to continue mind enrichment.”

“It is the commitment of community members such as Linda (Custer) Russell and her family that make educational opportunities available to meet the growing and changing needs of our workforce, especially in health care,” said John J. “Ski” Sygielski, president of LFCC. “By hosting this event, not only did the family raise money to assist worthy LFCC students, they also helped inform individuals about the College and its tremendous impact on the community.”

“We all have talents, time and even financial means to help others, but until you make that first step to put these attributes in motion, nothing happens. I am confident that this scholarship program will produce nurses who, because someone gave them the opportunity, will take their studies to heart and be a true asset to their patients and their community,” Mr. Sutton said.

The scholarship is awarded annually to full- and/or part-time LFCC nursing students. Not only have the first scholarship recipients received financial assistance for tuition, they also received gold-plated bandage scissors engraved with “Custer Nursing Foundation 2005” and donated by Mr. Sutton.

Please donate to the Monford D. and Lucy L. Custer Nursing Scholarship Fund or contribute to LFCC through other means by clicking here.