Harper had been involved with establishing scholarships and partnerships with community colleges when he lived in Goldsboro and worked with Wayne Memorial Hospital. Currently Chief Human Resources Officer with Georgetown Hospital System in Georgetown, SC, he said it is a good partnership and hopes to do something in the South Carolina area as well.

The late Harper represented the seventh generation of Harpers since 1773 to live in the area. The proud son of a prominent community leader and farmer, he considered himself blessed to have grown up on a self-contained farm.

“Our father loved the family farm,” (Jan) Harper said. “He farmed for years until he leased it (the farm) and then began working for the U.S. Postal Service. He retired in 1982 after more than 40 years. He’d leave early in the morning, be home by lunch and in the afternoon work the farm. He was a great architect and a great chef. I don’t think there was anything he couldn’t do. He was truly a renaissance man.”

Malone said her father was brilliant and down to business. “It was mom who would want you to lighten up. They believed in making the most of what you had. She (mother) was the love of his (father) life. They complemented each other and were happy just spending time with family.”

In recalling fond memories of their parents, Harper and Malone said their father was the silent facilitator and their mother was the quintessential matriarch.

“She was such an advocate for LCC,” Harper said. “She took every flower arranging and ceramics course ever offered. We couldn’t get through the house for the ceramics in the 60s’.

Both Harper and Malone said their parents were devoted to family. “For me, as far back as I can remember, we always had aunts and uncles around. Our mother and father took care of everyone,” Malone said.

“We have so many of our family still in the area,” Harper said. “This scholarship is something that will continue to give long after we’re gone. We’re hoping it will strike a cord to others to resurrect memories of their own families. Our children are proud of their grandparents and this is something that their children, the next generation can continue.”

Pictured left to right are Jan Harper, his wife, Suraye A. Harper, Donna Harper Malone, LCC President Dr. Brantley Briley, LCC Director of Institutional Advancement Jeanne Kennedy and Malone’s husband, Wayne Malone.

When James R. ‘Doc’ Harper recently passed away, his children could think of no better way to honor him and their mother than to promote one of the things their parents instilled in them - education.

Jan Harper and Donna Harper Malone along with their families said there was no doubt that establishing a scholarship at Lenoir Community College in the name of their parents would be a fitting tribute.

Malone said that it was never a question if she and her brother would go to college. “It was just understood.”

The James R. Harper and Frances P. Harper Scholarship has been established in part with the LCC Foundation’s “Fifty for Fifty” campaign. The campaign was launched in conjunction with LCC’s 50th anniversary celebration in hopes of establishing 50 new endowed scholarships for 50 students during the celebration year that will culminate on April 3, 2008.