A Scholarship for Western Piedmont Community College Student Was Inspired By The Lives Of Two College Employees
Donna AuBuchon, chair of the scholarship committee of the Quaker Meadows chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, led the effort to establish the Quaker Meadows Chapter NSDAR Scholarship with the Western Piedmont Foundation, a nonprofit organization that develops public and private support for WPCC beyond that provided by government funds.
NSDAR is a worldwide organization comprised of women who can trace their ancestry back to American Revolutionary War patriots. The group has more than 3,000 chapters around the world, and members are dedicated to preserving history, supporting education and promoting patriotism.
The scholarship created by the Burke County-based Quaker Meadows DAR chapter awards $500 annually to students who complete WPCC’s American History course and demonstrate financial need.
Morganton native AuBuchon said she initiated the scholarship because of her family ties to the college. Her mother, Betty Whitaker, was the first controller at WPCC, and her husband, Hans, taught in the Continuing Education department.
“I wanted to honor my family’s involvement and accomplishments at WPCC,” AuBuchon said.
Whitaker grew up in the Oak Hill community of Morganton and started out working in the accounting office of Burke County government in 1955. A decade later, as the first buildings were being constructed on the WPCC campus, she was hired as a bookkeeper for the college.
“She eventually took classes in accounting, and her job was later reclassified as the controller,” AuBuchon said. “She thoroughly enjoyed working at WPCC and worked there for 26 years.”
Whitaker retired from the college in 1991, but remained active after retirement. She served as treasurer of the board of directors of the History Museum of Burke County for ten years. Staff at the museum were proud to present her with a North Carolina Order of the Long Leaf Pine Award for her achievements in March 2015. The award is the highest civilian honor bestowed by the state.
As Whitaker worked for WPCC, AuBuchon met her husband, Hans, at Western Carolina University, and the couple married in December 1973. They traveled together as Hans’ Army career took them to South Korea and West Germany until 1980, when he left the military. He attended WPCC and earned an associate degree, and started working as an instructor in the Continuing Education department in 1981 while also attending Appalachian State University.
“He thoroughly enjoyed working with adults and was committed to assisting anyone who expressed a desire to learn when they came to the Continuing Education department at WPCC,” AuBuchon said. “He actually continued to work in Continuing Education until he was hired as
the Director of Continuing Education at Catawba Valley Community College after obtaining his master’s degree at ASU in 1986.”
Donna enjoyed a career in social work and became involved with the local DAR chapter in 2010. Her mother had joined the year before.
“I wanted to join the local chapter of DAR because I am proud to have a relative who fought in the Revolutionary War, and also because the national tenets of DAR are ‘Patriotism, Education and Historic Preservation,’” Aubuchon said. “I share a strong legacy with my family members who have worked at WPCC and attended school there. These reasons were very important to me, and I am extremely proud to be a part of this non-partisan patriotic group.”
She calls the DAR scholarship her “legacy project” and explained how it aligns with the organization’s mission.
“I think it is very important for our DAR Daughters to support students at WPCC who are potential recipients of the DAR scholarship,” AuBuchon said. “Our scholarship committee agreed that it would be vital for students interested in studying American History as a qualifying requirement.”
For more information on the scholarship or how you can support students at Western Piedmont Community College, visit the Western Piedmont Foundation’s website at wpcc.edu/foundation, or call the foundation at 828-448-3123.
For more information on the NSDAR or the Morganton Quaker Meadows chapter, visit DAR.org, https://quakermeadows.ncdar.org/ or https://www.facebook.com/QuakerMeadowsDAR/. The chapter invites women interested in joining to get in touch to discuss membership.