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Jack Neal, in front of Campbell Memorial Presbyterian Church in Weems holding a portrait of George and Cornelia Verlander on their wedding day.
George Verlander’s cardigan and cap hang on a coat rack in Jack Neal’s office in Kilmarnock, as if his old friend had left them there yesterday. In fact, Verlander died in 1994 .
Born and raised in Weems, Verlander grew up poor while attending Lancaster County public schools. After his high school principal encouraged him to further his education, he graduated from the Merchant Marine Academy, serving on Merchant Marine ships in World War II and theKorean conflict. While employed by Exxon Oil, he married Cornelia, his Holland-born wife, inBaltimore, but because of sterility, they had no children.
“George’s biggest income was $12,000, but he began investing while he was on the ship,” explains Neal from his Wells Fargo Advisors office. “He was a very shrewd investor who built his wealth and preserved it for the benefit of young people in Weems.”
After Cornelia’s death in 2001, George’s estate created the George and Cornelia Verlander Memorial Foundation, with the goal of providing financial assistance toward education for students in Weems. It was important to George that no distinction be made about students’ race, creed or ability to pay, so no family income restrictions were placed on the scholarships. The first were awarded in 2001.
“George was a very shrewd investor and I feel like he’s been sitting on my shoulder ever since he died,” says Neal, who is manager of the Foundation and administers it with devotion born of his friendship with George
The program works years in advance, with a network of local school officials identifying students in the fifth through seventh grades so they can begin talking to youngsters about the possibilities of higher education. All the Foundation asks is that they be good students and good citizens.
“For a lot of these kids, college is the last thing on their minds and we want them to know we have funds here to help them,” Neal says. “Many of these kids would otherwise have low paying jobs with little chance of doing better.”
Currently, the Foundation is planning for the 2025 and 2026 graduating classes of Lancaster High School. Funds are placed in an educational savings account for each child for accessing when they go to college. Even when a graduate opts out of college, the funds stay in savings in hopes that they change their mind. Average scholarships are about $2,000 per student from one of the Verlander-funded University endowments, with a $7,000 Foundation scholarship for a Weems student.
Then there’s the partial or full funding of the Early College Academy, which starts in tenth grade. Students are dual-enrolled at high school and community college, so they can graduate with an associate’s degree and transfer their credits to a four-year university. The program not only saves two years of schooling but allows them to graduate with far less debt.
Permanent Verlander endowments have been established at many Virginia schools, including the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, Radford, Old Dominion University, Christopher Newport University, Virginia Commonwealth University and James Madison University, with the greatest number of scholarships going to Rapphannock Community College students. Those not interested in college coursework can use foundation scholarships to become certified in various trades. Overall, scholarships have assisted over 600 students and total over a half million dollars a year.
Sarah Pope, executive director of Rappahannock Community College’s Educational Foundation says that Verlander funding provides brighter futures for county residents by helping make higher education possible at Rappahannock Community College through affordable tuition.
“Verlander also helps cover the costs of enrolling in credential programs such as welding and CDL truck driving through the RCC Workforce Development program,” Pope says. “Getting credentialed in a certain line of work can get the students directly into the workforce and earning higher wages.”
Neal recalls a scholarship student who went to community college for two days before giving up. When the young man said he had a learning problem, Neal tried to suss out what he might like to do instead. His response—that he’d enjoyed building a wooden skiff—led to a call to the Lancaster High School career coach to locate a boat-building school. The result?He’s now happily employed building luxury yachts.
Another student managed to miss the school bus so often that Neal began picking him up and driving him to school. After losing interest in photography classes at community college, he enrolled in the welding program and was hired at a Newport News shipyard. He’s since gone on to work in New York and Australia, places Neal says he’d likely never have gone except for the skill set learned in the Northern Neck with Verlander Foundation funding.
If all that seems like an inordinate amount of contact between Neal and Lancaster County students, it’s because of how important the Foundation’s work is to him. “It’s been a wild ride, but it’s so rewarding. They’re al my kids.”
For the Fall 2018 academic term, 107 scholarship awards from the Verlander Fund were given to students attending Rappahannock Community College. Pope says many of the students wouldn’t be in college if not for Verlander foundation assistance.
That assistance is sizable. Over the course of the past 17 years, the Foundation has provided over $7 million dollars to students from Weems and Lancaster County. As president of the Foundation, Neal says his goal is to ensure that the Foundation outlives him to continue for the next 150 years. He’s not shy about admitting he’d like to see other Northern Neck counties set up something similar since Verlander Foundation funds are only available to Lancaster County students.
According to Neal, “It used to be when we asked students what they wanted to be when they grew up, they’d say some kind of sports player. Now they say they want to be an accountant or own their own business.”
George Verlander, who accomplished what he did with education, would be proud.
For more information contact Jack Neal at Neal Wealth Management of Wells Fargo Advisors at 804-435-1636.