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“Thank you so very much for these scholarships. Oh,
I’ll be able to keep my girls close to home. This is so
wonderful!”
Faith Tipton-Smith was tearful, but with an ear-to-ear smile,
as she learned from Dr. J. Thomas Isherwood that her two
daughters had been awarded full tuition scholarships to
Reinhardt College. She shared a heart-felt hug with Isherwood, the
Reinhardt president as he handed her a Reinhardt sweatshirt and
a Reinhardt Mom mug.
Only eight days before, her family had been greeted by the
crew from Extreme
Makeover: Home Edition with the news that their home was
going to be completed as they enjoyed a vacation in California
for a week.
The day before they had helped shout, "Move That Bus," and
saw their completed home. Countless teams of workmen with
the support of literally thousands of volunteers had worked
around the clock for almost seven days to complete the project.
At the press conference, she also already learned that
RBC Centura had led a successful fund raising drive and would be
paying off her mortgage and Cherokee State Bank was opening a
checking account in her name. All this after thousands of
volunteers and countless work crews had completed building her
dream home.
 “There were two families affected by this tragedy, yours and
your good friend Elaine Yurewich,” Isherwood said to
Tipton-Smith during a press conference on Friday, Jan. 19, 2007.
Isherwood was referring to the car accident almost two years ago
which resulted in the death of Tipton-Smith’s son and Yurewich’s
son, Alex. Alex was a familiar face on the Reinhardt campus
because his mom has worked in the campus bookstore for many,
many years.
Isherwood then announced a new scholarship and asked the
community to help expand its impact. “It is my pleasure today to
announce the formal creation of the Alex Yurewich and Ransom
Tipton Memorial Scholarship Fund.” The first recipients of these
scholarships will be the Tipton-Smith daughters, Missy and
Emily, and Ms. Yurewich and her daughter, Corinne. “The
scholarship will benefit your two girls, but it is our desire to
have a fund available for years to come for families who have
had their lives disrupted by tragedy,” he said.
The Tipton-Smith daughters, Missy age 16, and Emily age 8,
will have years before they can enroll at Reinhardt, but the
Yurewiches will begin receiving assistance this summer. Elaine
is a senior at Reinhardt majoring in art. She hopes to continue
her studies on the master’s level and to someday work in art
therapy. Her daughter, also an art major, attends Kennesaw State
University.
As Tipton-Smith answered questions from the media, she talked
about the importance of attitude and how she tried to be an
example for her daughters. “I try to be strong for my girls,”
she said, “but it’s been a tough two years. This will be a new
start for my family.”
Tony Perry, the owner of Oakood Homes, LLC, the builder
leading the Extreme
Makeover project, ended up being the catalyst for the
scholarship request. “I rode up with my good friend Mark Gibbs
to see what I was getting into, and on the way back past the
College, he said, ‘You should go ask the College to give
scholarships to those two girls,’ Perry said. “I didn’t know how
to get that done so I called my good friend Marguerite Cline and
she said she would get with her friend Edna Cook, and they would
go see the [Reinhardt College] president.”
Cline and Cook, both Reinhardt alumnae and closely connected
to the College, visited with President Isherwood, and he quickly
agreed to their request.
Enthusiasm for volunteering at the build site has been high
on the Reinhardt campus, but the many who know the Yurewiches’
connection to the featured family have also quietly expressed
concern. “I’ve heard from a number of students, faculty, staff
and alumni who know Elaine’s story,” said Reinhardt
communications staffer Marsha White. “My prayer is that the
assistance that she and her daughter, as well as many others,
will receive from the new scholarship will help them know that
they are cared about by people both near and far. Though nothing
can change the past, if we join together, we can make their
future more secure.”
See
more details on how to support the Alex Yurewich and
Ransom Tipton Memorial Scholarship Fund.
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