The late Jim Webb

Community Foundation Fund Honors Memory
of Point of Rocks Ruritan

July 5, 2007: When Point of Rocks resident, Jim Webb, was a child he knew the community where he lived was special. At age 12, Jim contracted polio and the Point of Rocks community rallied around him during his recovery, even providing money to send him to a camp for young people with physical challenges.

Although polio created challenges for him physically, Jim was an enthusiastic student who valued education. He knew that furthering his education would open the door to a successful career, one that enabled him to provide a good life for his family. Jim graduated from Strayer University with an accounting degree and worked his way through the ranks of the Treasury Department where he retired from the Executive Service in 1993 after a 34-year career.

“Education was everything to Jim,” says Karen Webb, Jim’s wife of 42 years. “He knew the value of a good education because it allowed him to have a wonderful career and wonderful life.”

When a chance mailing from the Point of Rocks Ruritan Club caught Jim’s eye during its 1963 efforts to purchase an old school building for a Community Center, he knew he had to become involved as a way of giving back to the community that had given so much to him.

“Jim never forgot how the community rallied around him and his family when he was a child. The Ruritan Club offered a way for Jim to help the Point of Rocks Community through fellowship, goodwill, and community service, which is the Ruritan Club’s mission,” says Mrs. Webb. She noted that he became a lifelong member of the Ruritan Club after that.

When Jim Webb passed away in February, 2005, the Point of Rocks Community lost a dedicated, exemplary citizen. To honor his memory, Karen Webb turned to the Community Foundation to establish The Jim Webb Memorial Point of Rocks Ruritan Scholarship Fund to provide scholarships for post-secondary education for those students living in Point of Rocks and Tuscarora and who are under the age of 21.

“Jim had a dedication to the Point of Rocks community and a strong commitment to the value of higher education. Scholarships from the Fund will allow others to gain an education so that they can have a career that gives them a chance to give back to their community, just as Jim did. I can think of no better way to honor Jim’s memory,” says Mrs. Webb.

The first scholarships from The Jim Webb Memorial Point of Rocks Ruritan Scholarship Fund will be awarded for the 2008-2009 academic year.

With its experienced reputation for helping caring Frederick County residents fulfill their charitable dreams by establishing funds to provide grants to nonprofit organizations and scholarships to students, the Community Foundation creates a positive impact on the lives of others -- an impact that is for good, forever, for Frederick County.

To donate to The Jim Webb Memorial Point of Rocks Ruritan Scholarship Fund, click here, or call the Community Foundation at 301-695.7660.