A Legacy of Adventure

A portrait of the Summeys

John Hood Summey ’62 and his late wife, Edith “Edie” Shuford Summey ’62, met as high school classmates in Gastonia, North Carolina. They both attended Carolina as undergraduates and began courting their junior years.

Despite being “Tar Heel born and Tar Heel bred,” John and Edie didn’t limit themselves to the Old North State, traveling extensively throughout their lives. They went to every continent and subcontinent, visiting over 80 individual countries.

John and Edie’s passions for travel and education are reflected in their accrued $4 million gift, which endowed the John Hood and Edith Shuford Summey Honors Carolina Scholarship Fund and the John Hood and Edith Shuford Summey Honors Carolina Study Abroad Scholarship Fund at UNC-Chapel Hill. The Honors Carolina Scholarship Fund will provide four years of support to undergraduates in the College of Arts & Sciences. The Study Abroad Scholarship Fund will support undergraduates who participate in Honors Carolina summer programs in international locations.

“We greatly valued the high quality of education we received and the experiences we had at Carolina,” John said. “It is our hope that the students who experience the opportunities provided by these scholarships will also value their education, become loyal alumni and alumnae, and perhaps someday establish a scholarship program of their own.”

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