As is the case with most universities in the United States, Samford is dependent on the gifts of alumni and friends for the support of our people and programs, but the stories of those gifts too often fade into the background. Among Samford’s many friends are Sue and Lon Vance, retired school teachers from Eutaw, Alabama. Their daughter, Katherine Victoria, known as Kavi to family and friends, earned a pharmacy degree from Samford in 1998. Their son, Dean, graduated from Samford in 1995. In September of 1999, the Vance family lost Kavi in a tragic car accident. A few months after the loss, Sue and Lon, joined by those who love them, began to make gifts to Samford to establish a scholarship in Kavi’s memory. Each December, Sue and Lon place luminaries in the cemetery at Eutaw in memory of the “saints gone before,” and each year since 1999 more than 100 of their friends have made gifts to Kavi’s fund, which now exceeds $160,000. Kavi’s legacy is alive in the dozens of pharmacy students who have benefited from these precious scholarships.
The world is better because of Kavi Vance, her family and friends.