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Statesville couple creates endowed scholarship at Lenoir-Rhyne
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Published: November 24, 2008
In 1950, Charles Sigmon, then a student at Lenoir-Rhyne College, took a class on investing from Professor George McCreary. The professor gave each student $100,000 in "play money" and assigned them to invest it in the stock market.
Because he was interested in airplanes, Sigmon invested his imaginary money in companies that made airplanes and related equipment. Shortly afterward, the Korean War broke out, causing the value of his portfolio to soar. "Professor McCreary thought he had a real genius in his class, but it was sheer luck!" Sigmon said.
However, that classroom experience taught him to invest real money in the stock market. "Back then, no one except the really wealthy invested in common stock," he said. Now some of the profits inspired by that long-ago class are being reinvested in Lenoir-Rhyne.
After retiring as a public school principal, Sigmon and his wife, Frances, of Statesville, have endowed a scholarship at Lenoir-Rhyne University with a gift of $100,000. She is a retired school teacher.
Preference for the Charles B. and Frances J. Sigmon Scholarship will be given to an undergraduate student in the Charles M. Snipes School of Business having a grade point average of 2.5 or higher.
Charles Sigmon grew up in Troutman, N.C. His father, Russell E. Sigmon, a 1924 graduate of L-R, was a public school principal. However, his son did not plan a career in education when he earned a business degree from L-R in 1951.
"I got a teaching certificate as an insurance policy — because my parents advised it," he said. The Korean War began while he was still in college, and after graduating and teaching for one year, he was drafted into the Army.
After completing his military service, Sigmon returned to the area and decided to teach a year or two before starting his "real" career in the business world. However, he decided he liked education and wound up working as a principal for 29 years. He also was a business and social studies teacher for a few years, and worked briefly in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools human resources office.
Sigmon was principal of Winterfield Elementary School in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools for 24 years before he retired in 1988. He and his first wife, Mary Belle Grayson Sigmon, previously endowed a music scholarship at L-R.
Approximately 90 percent of the students at L-R receive financial assistance, and endowed scholarships, such as the Charles B. and Frances J. Sigmon Scholarship, provide a major source of this financial aid.
Established in 1891, Lenoir-Rhyne University is a private, coeducational university located in Hickory, N.C. It is affiliated with the N.C. Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and is open to students from all religious backgrounds. Undergraduate degrees include bachelor of arts, bachelor of science and bachelor of music education in more than 60 majors and concentrations. Graduate degrees are offered in education, business administration, counselor education, occupational therapy and athletic training. The Web site is www.lr.edu.
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