Scholarships
Gertrude "Betty" Ward Scholarship
English teacher Gertrude "Betty" Ward lives forever through a scholarship in her memory for Virginia Beach students from Princess Anne High, where she taught, or those studying her field of English.
Frederick Ward, a retired Navy officer, left no surviving family members when he passed away in Virginia Beach in 2011 at age 92. His wife Gertrude, a long-time teacher best known as Betty, had died 15 years earlier. His only child and grandchild also suddenly passed away before him. Thanks to a contingency bequest Fred Ward tucked into his estate plans, today there are three scholarship recipients in college in his wife's name.
He specified that should no heirs outlive him, a scholarship for Virginia Beach students be established at the Hampton Roads Community Foundation. He asked that it have a preference either for graduates of Princess Anne High School where Betty taught or for students studying English, which was her field.
Because of Fred's foresight he and his wife will always help Virginia Beach students lead better lives as Ward Scholars following in Betty's footsteps. Daja Askew, one of the first two recipients in 2015, is a Bayside High School graduate studying at Virginia Tech to become an English teacher.
"I feel honored to have been one of the first to have received the scholarship! It was a big surprise and definitely will help to me to pursue my dream of going to college, and furthering my education." Daja Askew
