Larry Neal
Northwest students who are employed by Maryville Hy-Vee or are dependents of employees at the local store are eligible to receive scholarship assistance through the newly established Larry Neal Memorial Scholarship Fund.
The Neal family provided a cash gift of $10,000 to set up the scholarship fund, which remains open and capable of receiving additional contributions at any time. A selection committee that includes the manager of the Maryville Hy-Vee store and Northwest staff members will award one $1,000 scholarship annually, with academic achievement and financial need as the leading criteria.
Neal, who passed away in August, was employed at Hy-Vee for 46 years as a meat cutter and shared a special connection with the company, its customers and its employees, many of whom are Northwest students. He embodied the five fundamentals Hy-Vee asks its employees to reflect – friendliness, dedication, honesty, employee ownership and helpfulness.
Larry was especially proud of the connections he established with Northwest students through his work. For that reason, the Neal family made sure Northwest students would benefit from the scholarship.
Although Larry did not earn his degree from Northwest, Connie and the couple’s two children did. Connie earned her degree in 1990 as a non-traditional student. Their son, Kevin Neal, earned his bachelor’s degree in geography in 1994. Their daughter, Nicole Neal Shields, earned a bachelor’s in elementary education in 1995 and a master’s in educational leadership elementary in 2005.
The Neals lived three stints in Maryville, beginning in 1973, as Hy-Vee transferred Larry to work at stores in other locales. The friendly Maryville community and the environment at Northwest kept pulling the family back.
Scholarships associated with Larry Neal