Education was of supreme importance to Robert Churchwell Sr. and his wife, Mary, a lifelong schoolteacher. A pioneering journalist at the Nashville Banner and the first full-time Black journalist hired by a Southern newspaper, his first assignment was the education beat. The Churchwells’ achievements and commitment to furthering educational opportunities for others were so profound that a local elementary school in Nashville is named after Robert.
To honor their legacy, their son Kevin Churchwell, MD’87, and his wife, Gloria Respress-Churchwell, established the Robert Sr. and Mary Churchwell Undergraduate Scholarship, a fund that will provide generations of students with the gift his parents valued most of all: a Vanderbilt education.
“To my parents, an education was not so much a way to achieve goals, but rather, was part of the joy one has in being a human,” Kevin says. “They very much loved the opportunities that a school like Vanderbilt provides to its students as they seek to fulfill their dreams through education and the college experience.”
The Robert Sr. and Mary Churchwell Undergraduate Scholarship is also a unique reminder of the positive social change that has taken place on campus and in Nashville since the 1930s. Robert Sr.’s grandson, John Churchwell, BA’21, JD’24, explains, “While my granddad was a big Vandy football fan, he couldn’t even go sit in the stands. He would watch the football games through a fence. It’s cool now for my dad to have been the former CEO of the Children’s Hospital here, and for me to have attended Vanderbilt for my undergraduate degree and law school. That progression of my granddad watching games from outside of the fence, to my dad and me now being inside the fence and part of the decision-making apparatus—that’s awesome.”
“I would not be where I am today without the support of philanthropy. I’ve been helped along the way with my education. This scholarship is important to us because we want to make sure we give back in ways we were helped,” says Gloria, an award-winning author and documentarian who wrote a children’s book about her father-in-law and directed and produced a documentary about him. All are part of Robert Sr.’s permanent collection at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
The couple hopes that awareness of the scholarship will become more widespread to inspire others and honor the special place that Vanderbilt held in the hearts of “Mom Churchwell and Daddy Churchwell.”
“Our family’s story is one where Vanderbilt has been an important part of the development of our future,” Kevin says. It began with Robert Sr. and Mary’s oldest son, André, BS’75, followed by twin Kevin, granddaughter Crystal, MBA’13, and now continues with John, a Double ’Dore. “In many respects, Vanderbilt has become part of the family—a part that we very much cherish.”
—Addy Crosby
