Retired local doctor establishes VGCC Scholarship in memory of his parents

Dr. Richard “Dick” Taylor of Oxford has endowed a new scholarship at Vance-Granville Community College in memory of his parents, the late Dr. Rives Williams Taylor, Sr., and Martha “Patty” Lewis Taylor. Both lifelong Granville County residents, Rives Taylor, Sr., died in 1967; Patty Taylor, in 2002.

Dr. Richard Taylor, who practiced family medicine in Oxford until retiring in 2000, described his father as “an old country doctor,” who served local patients from the 1930s until his death. He started his higher education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill before completing his medical degree at Tulane University in Louisiana, because UNC’s medical school only offered two years of instruction at the time.

Mrs. Taylor attended St. Mary’s Junior College in Raleigh and then UNC-Chapel Hill. She was a homemaker, raised three children and was active in the Oxford community. The Taylors were members of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church.

According to Dr. Richard Taylor, the “Dr. Rives Williams and Patty Lewis Taylor Memorial Academic Achievement Award” scholarship is intended for students majoring in the VGCC Health Sciences programs, which he said have a strong reputation. Preference will also be given to students from Granville County. He and his wife, Julia Ann, are longtime supporters of the VGCC Endowment Fund. Julia Taylor has served on the endowment board of directors for many years. Dr. Taylor is also a leader in the Granville County Historical Society. Both Taylors received the John Penn Citizen Award from the Granville County Chamber of Commerce in 2015.

“We greatly appreciate Dr. Dick Taylor’s generosity and leadership, and we know that this scholarship will support students of today and tomorrow who are continuing his parents’ tradition of excellence in health care and community service,” said VGCC Endowment Director Eddie Ferguson.

Through the Endowment Fund , VGCC has awarded more than 8,500 scholarships to students since 1982. Scholarships have been endowed by numerous individuals, industries, businesses, civic groups, churches and the college’s faculty and staff. Tax-deductible donations to the VGCC Endowment Fund have often been used to honor or remember a person, group, business or industry with a lasting gift to education. For more information about the Endowment Fund, call (252) 738-3409.