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Fall 2003 Newsletter
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Boy's Fund Helps Students Reach Goals
.........................................................................
 Hunter
Davis
was
a
typical
12-year-old
Virginia
Beach
boy
who
enjoyed
all
water
sports,
especially
surfing
and
fishing.
He
loved
to
play
football
with
his
friends,
and
he
excelled
at
Thalia
Elementary
School.
Then
an
accident
ended
his
life
in
1974.
Hunter
would
have
entered
seventh
grade
that
fall
on
his
quest
to
become
a
graduate
of
Princess
Anne
High
School
heading
to
college.
Relatives,
friends
and
co-workers
grieved
with
Hunter's
parents
and
two
younger
siblings.
The
donations
that
poured
in
inspired
his
family
to
create
a
scholarship
fund
in
Hunter's
honor.
"The
funds
were
so
great
we
decided
that
was
the
best
way
to
handle
it,"
recalls
his
mother,
Marilyn
Davis
Evans
of
Smithfield.
The
Davis
family
decided
to
help
students
pursuing
the
same
path
Hunter
had
dreamed
of
following.
Recipients
are
graduates
of
Thalia
Elementary
School
and
Princess
Anne
High
School.
I
handled
(the
fund)
myself
and
did
the
scholarship
through
the
high
school
for
several
years,
but
it
got
to
be
too
much
to
handle,
“Evans
says.
In
1979
the
family
turned
the
funds
over
to
The
Norfolk
Foundation
to
create
Hunter
Davis
Memorial
Scholarship.
Since
then
10
Virginia
Beach
students
have
been
helped
by
the
scholarship.
Working
with
the
Foundation
"has
been
much
better,"
Evans
says.
"It
has
kept
us
involved,
but
the
Foundation
does
a
marvelous
job
of
knowing
how
to
administer
the
scholarship
and
invest
the
funds."
Through
the
years
the
Davis
family
has
added
to
Hunter's
fund
with
their
own
donations.
When
the
scholarship
becomes
available,
the
Foundation's
scholarship
staff
works
with
Princess
Anne
High
School's
guidance
office
to
identify
financially
deserving
students
who
meet
the
criteria
set
by
Hunter's
parents.
The
recipient
is
selected
from
qualified
applicants
and
can
renew
the
scholarship
for
up
to
four
years
of
undergraduate
study.
The
Davis
scholarship
is
one
of
45
scholarship
funds
administered
by
the
Foundation.
This
fall
Princess
Anne
graduate
Amanda
Hall
headed
off
to
Virginia
Tech
with
help
from
the
Davis
scholarship.
Hall,
a
freshman
business
major,
has
worked
for
years
to
save
money
for
college.
She
is
one
of
356
students
attending
school
this
year
with
$876,304
in
help
from
Norfolk
Foundation
scholarships.
The
Davis
scholarship
reduces
the
amount
of
loans
Hall
needs.
"The
scholarship
is
very
helpful
and
is
the
only
one
I
have
that
is
renewable,”
she
says.
For
Leslie
Spruance
of
Virginia
Beach,
Hunter's
sister,
it
is
comforting
to
know
"Hunter's
fund
is
helping
other
people
go
to
college."
Her
father
William
M.
Davis
of
Alexandria
agrees
that
"it
is a
pleasure
to
have
the
fund
honor
our
son
and
know
that
it
helps
students
in
need.
The
scholarship
fund
makes
us
feel
good.”
Today
Hunter's
legacy
lives
on
through
Amanda
Hall,
Megan
Alley,
Brent
Bowles
and
the
seven
Thalia
Elementary
and
Princess
Anne
students
touched
by
the
Hunter
Davis
Memorial
Scholarship.
All
of
them
have
benefited
from
the
generosity
born
of
one
family's
loss.
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