Donors

Albert Edward Winemiller, Sr., son of Jacob and Lucretia Cooper Winemiller, was born August 14, 1916 near Sheridan, MO.  He was also the nephew of Albert H. Cooper. He was a graduate of Sheridan High School and Northwest Missouri State Teacher’s College in Maryville, MO.  In 1937, while students in college, Albert and Virginia were married. Albert graduated in 1940 with a teaching degree in Business and Agriculture.   He taught 3 years in a one room school and was Superintendent of the Grandview, McFall and Dearborn, MO Schools before entering the U.S. Navy in World War II.  He served in the South Pacific as a Lieutenant Jr. Grade.  After the war, Albert and Virginia moved to Kansas City, Missouri and Albert worked for the Veterans Administration and the Federal Aviation Administration where he was a Division Chief 24 of his 31 years in government.  

Virginia Ina Needels, daughter of William and Minnie Wall Needels, was born October 21, 1915 at the family homestead near Parnell, Mo.  She graduated from Ravenwood High School and Northwest Missouri State Teacher’s College.  Virginia graduated in 1940 with a teaching degree in Home Economics, English and Social Studies. She taught in one room schools in McFall and Dearborn, Missouri, and in Kansas City.  She was an active member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Albert and Virginia loved caring for family and volunteering in Scouts and Broadway Methodist Church where they were members for 58 years. They were loving caring religious hard working patriots and examples of God's very best.

Denny Sapp, a 1968 Northwest graduate who became a Naval aviator and served as a Blue Angels solo demonstration pilot for two seasons, established the Anne Morgan Sapp Dream Team Scholarship through the Northwest Foundation.

“She was just always there to do something for somebody else,” Denny said. “The empathy that she had was unreal. I just never knew anybody like her. I guess that’s why I wanted to be part of her life.”

The scholarship will assist students who qualify for the Northwest Promise, previously known as the American Dream Grant. The inaugural scholarship of $1,000 was awarded for the 2023-24 academic year.

Denny told Anne about the scholarship’s creation on her birthday, July 29, just weeks before she died on Aug. 14, after a three-year battle with multiple myeloma.

“She was incredibly tickled about it, knowing that it was going to be a scholarship for people who were in need,” Denny said.

Anne was born and raised in Elliott, Iowa, and graduated from Northwest in 1969 with a bachelor’s degree in English. She was an active member of Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority and served as its president. She also was voted Northwest’s Tower Queen.

Denny was born and raised in Red Oak, Iowa, and graduated from Northwest with a bachelor’s degree in secondary education with an emphasis in industrial arts. He was active in the Phi Sigma Epsilon fraternity and met Anne while he was serving as the Phi Sig house manager.

As a member of the U.S. Navy, he made three deployments to Vietnam, recording 367 combat missions and receiving numerous decorations. He then was assigned duties as a test and evaluation pilot at the Naval Weapons Center in China Lake, California. From there, Denny was selected to join the Blue Angels in Pensacola, Florida, where he flew as a solo demonstration pilot in 1975 and 1976.

Sapp retired from the Navy after 23 years of service with the rank of captain. He then flew for Western Airlines, Alaska Airlines and Delta Air Lines.

Due to Denny’s Naval service, the couple moved frequently and Anne carried her passion for education with them. Anne’s first teaching position was in a north Florida high school with more than 4,000 students on the heels of racial integration, which sparked her advocacy for social justice.

When the couple moved to Thousand Oaks, California, in the early 1980s, Anne started a learning assistance program at California Lutheran University. She finished her career teaching at Gig Harbor High School in Washington, where she taught for five years and was voted favorite teacher three times by the senior class.

“She was an educator at the top of the board,” Denny said. “She was always concerned about students not having funds to go to college.”

Once retired, the couple traveled extensively, including multiple trips to Cambodia, where they worked with a non-government organization (NGO) to help rescue trafficked children and open a school.

“I wanted people to understand what kind of a person she had been and the accolades that she had received her entire life,” Denny said. “She was always willing to step to the background and not be in the limelight. She liked to sit in the front row of class, but she never wanted to be in the limelight.”

Bill was born at home in Nevada, MO on Oct. 27, 1923.  Bill or Billy (as his family often referred to him) was the first-born son to Paul and Zelma (Rider) Winters.  The family then moved several times in Bill’s life residing in Metz, Rich Hill, and then in Raytown, MO. Bill was a fantastic athlete from a very young age.  As a thirteen-year-old freshman, he beat out a junior to start quarterback.   As a fourteen-year-old freshman, he beat out the senior pitcher on the baseball team.  Bill started and lettered all four years in Football, Baseball and Track. Bill graduated from Raytown High School in 1941.  Upon graduating, Bill was awarded a Full Ride Scholarship for Football to Northwest Missouri State Teachers College located in Maryville, Missouri.

The summer before college, Bill (a seventeen-year-old) tried out and made the roster of the St. Louis Cardinals minor league baseball team.  He played pitcher/1^st base. After a summer of baseball, Bill packed up and headed to NW Missouri State in the fall 1941. Although Bill may have been a better baseball player, he opted to play football in college, Bill claims that it was more fun.  Bill played for nearly two seasons.  The positions that he played in college were Right Halfback and Left Cornerback. The team earned the title of Conference Co-Champs Bill’s freshmen year.  Bill’s sophomore year the team won the conference again.

Bill enlisted in the Navy Jan. 14, 1943.  Bill said once, “Join the Navy and see the world, thousands of dollars wouldn’t pay for all the places I’ve been.”  Bill was assigned to the #48 USS Dobler, a brand-new ship whose purpose was to be a Destroyer Escort. Bill traveled across and back over the Atlantic Ocean twenty times.  Bill’s job was on a deck gun, he was the 1^st loader.  There were four shells at a time, the job required a tall person, and Bill stood at 6ft 1 and a half.  Bill finished his service with the title, Boatman’s Mate 1^st Class. When the war ended with Germany, Bill still had four years left to serve.

Bill was then sent to US Navy Camp 815 located in Terceira, Azores, a Providence of Portugal.  Bill and four others were to replace eighty sailors that had been running the docks.  Bill was in charge of it all, the four other sailors and the Portuguese hired to help. It was here that Bill met his bride, Maria Gorgita through her dad who was a Port Captain. During their courtship, they would sight see and go to the beach a lot.  They would often be found spending a whole day tooling a cabin boat around the island.

The base was shut down in December of 1946, but, because Bill still had two years left to serve, he was to fly to Exeter, England, to get new orders. This became a very long adventure where Bill saw a lot of Europe.  During this time, word came around that the Navy would let you out on request if you served four of a six-year contract.  Bill was discharged in February of 1947.

Bill and Maria returned to KC and had a courthouse wedding June 12, 1947. Bill and Maria had five children which they resided with in the Kansas City, Hickman Mills and Grandview areas. After returning from the service, Bill worked as a Union Commercial Carpenter at the Sugar Creek Oil Refinery.  Bill also did carpentry work with his father on and off. Next, Bill worked doing light commercial construction as a superintendent.  While employed there he put footings in for the Western Auto sign downtown. Bill eventually gave up commercial construction and decided to go into residential housing.  Bill worked in this capacity for forty years as a superintendent building houses.  Finally working for his son, Bill Jr. for two years before retiring in 1990.

Maria suffered from poor health the majority of her life in the US.  She lived to celebrate their 56^th wedding anniversary and then died in Sept. of 2003. After Maria’s death, Bill busied himself at Bill Jr’s farm, where Bill cared for the cattle, helped with the haying and did farm maintenance.  Bill loved listening/watching baseball and football. He was a sports nut and a KC fan to the core. He liked to travel, always the driver. In his later years, he spent time reconnecting with family and researching his roots. Bill loved his family, he traveled countless miles to visit with many of them.

Bill passed away February 21, 2022.

“I wanted to give back to Northwest because I felt like I got an excellent education there and, being from a small town in Kansas, I wanted to find something for students in states around Missouri to encourage them,” Wolfe said.

A native of Hiawatha, Kansas, Wolfe was attracted to Northwest for its education programming, which prepares students to become effective teachers and leaders in pre-kindergarten through grade 12. The Northwest School of Education’s nationally-accredited programs are founded on innovative, profession-based clinical experiences in diverse school settings.

In addition to playing with the Bearcat softball team for three years, Wolfe focused on preparing herself to become a secondary education teacher with specializations in physical education and mathematics.

After completing her bachelor’s degree at Northwest, Wolfe taught a variety of age groups during a career of nearly 20 years in Missouri and Texas. Her career spanned teaching elementary physical education to teaching senior citizens while she coordinated a college intramural program, in addition to substitute teaching.

“It totally prepared me,” she said as she reflected on the education she received at Northwest. “Even before we did student teaching, we were out in the classroom quite a bit. It prepared you for what was going to go on in the classroom.”

Now retired from teaching, Wolfe’s advice for students entering the field is to stick with what they enjoy doing.

The Craig L. Bassett Scholarship was established by Craig L. Bassett, a graduate of Adair-Casey High School in west central Iowa. Craig graduated from Northwest in 1974 with  BS degree in Finance and Insurance. Craig went on to work for the Principal Financial Group in Des Moines, Iowa for nearly 37 years. Craig retired in 2011 then holding the position of Vice President and Treasurer.

The Craig L. Bassett Scholarship is to be awarded to a full time student who shall have declared a major in the Melvin D and Valorie G Booth School of Business and will maintain a 3.0 GPA. First preference will be given to a student who graduated high school from one of the following counties: Adair, Adams, Audubon, Cass, Clarke, Dallas, Decatur, Fremont, Guthrie, Harrison, Madison, Mills, Montgomery, Page, Polk, Pottawattamie, Ringgold, Shelby, Taylor, Union or Warren.

Assistant professor of dance Ann Brekke and Dr. Jerry Brekke, political science professor, share much in common.  In fact, the husband and wife duo have shared many memories through the years at Northwest.

Both from dirrerent backgrounds and with different goals, somehow they ended up at Northwest and spent a combined 69 years teaching on campus.  Jerry came to Northwest from Minnesota in 1964 to teach, while Ann was in Jefferson City earning her master's degree.  The couple met during registration in Lamkin Gym in 1965 and were married in 1966.  

The couple continued to teach in their respective departments, Jerry focusing primarily on constitutional law and Ann on modern, social, aerobic and recreational dance.  Through the years, the Brekkes have seen many changes, both in the students and on the campus itself.

Although the Brekkes never had children, they have definitely seen their share of college students.  Jerry alone taught over 8,000 studen

Dr. Leslie K Doyle is a Bearcat (graduating in 1997), servant leader and educator. She has used her considerable skills and leadership to work for equity in education for the underserved and underrepresented. She is known for her spirituality and unique ability to relate to all stakeholders as we strive for diversity, equity and inclusion. One of her favorite quotes: “If serving is beneath you then leadership is beyond you.”

Edna Viola Goodman Sutton was born August 11, 1921 on a farm near Grenola, in southeast Kansas.

She attended College High School in Maryville, MO, a training school for Northwest Missouri Teachers College, now Northwest Missouri State University. Classes were taught by college seniors, and classes were held in the east wing of the College Administration Building, first floor.

She began her college courses September 1937, receiving a 2-year teaching certificate of 60 hours credit in May, 1939. Her graduating class had 49 graduates, the largest class up to that time. Her first teaching position, beginning August 1939, was Maple Grove School near Barnard, MO at a salary of $70.00 a month.

Returning to Northwest in 1944, and continuing to teach, she finished requirements for a major in Music education, and a minor in Social Studies in August 1945.

FCS Financial believes in the future of our next generation. As a member-owned cooperative, we also believe in giving back to the communities we serve. This scholarship was established to help future agriculturists pursue higher education in order to reach their goals.

For more than 100 years, FCS Financial has been providing a full range of loan products and financial services helping thousands of Missouri farms and farm-related businesses succeed. Scholarship programs along with grants, internships and career opportunities are part of our commitment to help Missouri’s youth succeed, too.

A pair of retired Northwest Missouri State University faculty have established a $50,000 endowment to award scholarships to students seeking an American Chemical Society (ACS) accredited chemistry degree.

Dr. Harlan Higginbotham and Dr. Ed Farquhar, who are alumni of the University in addition to their longtime service as faculty, created the Higginbotham-Farquhar Chemistry Scholarship through the Northwest Foundation.

The scholarship fund will award two $1,000 scholarships annually to juniors or seniors who maintain enrollment in at least 12 credit hours during the fall and spring semesters at Northwest. Preference will be given to students pursuing the University’s ACS-accredited Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry and who may be considering post-graduate studies.

Higginbotham, a 1959 graduate, and Farquhar, a 1958 graduate, chose to pursue their bachelor’s degrees at Northwest because of its affordable tuition cost and proximity to their hometowns in northwest Missouri. After graduating from Northwest, the pair went on to earn their graduate degrees together at Iowa State University and eventually returned to Northwest as chemistry faculty in 1964.

Higginbotham retired from Northwest in 1999, and Farquhar retired in 2001 with service that included 15 years as chair of the chemistry and physics department. Both men also were instrumental in obtaining ACS accreditation for the Northwest chemistry degree in 1967.

Dr. John W. Jones was the first Northwest president to hold a Ph.D. and came to Maryville in 1938 as dean of faculty after holding a similar post in Indiana. His term as president was marked by increasing demands on the physical campus created by a rapidly growing student population in the years following World War II.

The myriad of improvements made during this period comprised seven residence hall additions, the expansion of Wells Library and two additions to the old Industrial Arts Building. New construction included Lamkin Gymnasium, Colden Hall and Rickenbrode Field and Stadium. The DeLuce Fine Arts Building was under construction, but not yet finished, when Dr. Jones retired in 1964.

Of all his contributions to the physical plant, Dr. Jones was perhaps proudest of the student union, "the house that Jack built," which was dedicated in 1956 and named in his honor.

Beyond bricks and mortar, Jones - ever the scholar - was determined to improve Northwest academically. In addition to helping create the first administrative handbook and increasing faculty salaries, he reorganized the faculty into divisions and helped introduce Northwest's first graduate-level courses, which were established in 1955. Other accomplishments included the institution of the faculty rank system and tenure. His efforts led, in large measure, to an enhanced mission for Northwest, which was re-named Northwest Missouri State College in 1949.

James Robert Gregory (1920-2007) was a student, athlete, teacher and administrator at NWMSU for over 40 years. "Bob" first came to Northwest as a student in 1939 and excelled as an athlete under the mentorship of both Coach Ryland Milner and Coach Wilbur "Sparky" Stalcup. As a senior, he received the coveted Howard Leech scholastic athletic award and was selected to an All-Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association team.

After serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, Bob returned to Northwest to earn an additional degree and to teach basketball theory. He later received a master’s degree from the University of Indiana. He was a teacher and coach at Shenandoah (IA) High School (1946), Maryville High School (1947-51) and Grand Island (NE) High School (1951-1954).

In 1954 he was hired as the head basketball coach at Northwest. He coached or assisted with just about every sport during his long career at the university. He also served as assistant athletic director starting in the early1970s until his retirement in 1986.

More importantly, Bob was a teacher and mentor. He enjoyed his years in the classroom immensely. Along with his coaching and administrative duties, he continued to teach health and safety. He successfully developed a driver training program that provided summer workshops and hands-on experience for high school driving teachers. The scholarship in his name specifically honors his dedication to scholarship and teaching.

Bob was inducted into the M-Club Hall of Fame in 1987. After retirement, he continued to support the university as an athletic booster and volunteer. He and Coach Milner were instrumental in establishing the motto, "Once a Bearcat, Always a Bearcat," and Bob definitely lived up to this expression of loyalty for the rest of his life. He loved the university and he loved being a Bearcat.