{"id":30161,"date":"2016-11-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-11-08T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.tarleton.edu\/news\/vietnam-veteran-donates-500000-to-support-tarleton-nursing-scholarships\/"},"modified":"2022-05-10T08:26:06","modified_gmt":"2022-05-10T14:26:06","slug":"vietnam-veteran-donates-500000-to-support-tarleton-nursing-scholarships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/vietnam-veteran-donates-500000-to-support-tarleton-nursing-scholarships\/","title":{"rendered":"Vietnam veteran donates $500,000 to support Tarleton nursing scholarships"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Gift<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gift to Support Nursing Scholarships<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, November 8, 2016<\/p>\n\n\n\n

STEPHENVILLE, Texas\u2014In concert with last week\u2019s 40th anniversary of Tarleton State University\u2019s nursing program, retired U.S. Air Force Col. Charles Leigon deeded farmland near Morgan Mill to provide financial assistance for students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ninety percent of the funds from the eventual sale of the property\u2014expected to be more than $500,000\u2014will provide scholarships to nursing students, while 10 percent will benefit students enrolled in Tarleton\u2019s College of Liberal and Fine Arts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Representing Col. Leigon was Russell Leigon, who said his father is genuinely concerned about the education of young people, especially those who can\u2019t afford to attend college.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe wants to ensure that they receive an opportunity to get the kind of solid education that ensures a successful career and an improved quality of life,\u201d the younger Leigon explained. \u201cThis has been his dream for the past 25 years. Now, it\u2019s a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Col. Leigon, 97, currently lives is Austin. When his father died during the Great Depression, his mother moved from the family farm into Stephenville, buying a 12-bedroom, two-story house on McIlhaney Street and turning it into a boarding house for students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy father remembers those difficult years,\u201d Russell said. \u201cHe has a lot of memories of the students who rented rooms at the boarding house\u2014students from rural Texas who had to work hard to pay for a college education\u2014and he remembers his own financial struggle to earn a degree.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During visits back to Tarleton for alumni reunions, Col. Leigon took a special interest in the school\u2019s nursing program and the vision of university leaders to help meet North Texas\u2019 need for highly-qualified registered nurses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy father recognizes the need for more highly-skilled nurses,\u201d Russell said, \u201cand he believes the program at Tarleton offers some of the best education and training in the state. Deeding the family farm to the university not only benefits nursing students but helps meet a critical need for health care professionals throughout the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the kind of win-win that does my father proud.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tarleton, a member of The Texas A&M University System, provides a student-focused, value-driven educational experience marked by academic innovation and exemplary service, and dedicated to transforming students into tomorrow\u2019s professional leaders. With campuses in Stephenville, Fort Worth, Waco, Midlothian and online, Tarleton engages with its communities to provide real-world learning experiences and to address societal needs while maintaining its core values of integrity, leadership, tradition, civility, excellence and service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contact: Harry Battson, Assistant Vice President for Marketing & Communications
254-968-1620
battson@tarleton.edu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In concert with last week’s 40th anniversary of Tarleton State University’s nursing program, retired U.S. Air Force Col. Charles Leigon deeded farmland near Morgan Mill to provide financial assistance for students.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":30164,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[423,425,427],"tags":[432,440,439],"class_list":["post-30161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics-research","category-campus-community","category-science-health","tag-alumni","tag-college-of-liberal-fine-arts","tag-division-of-health-sciences"],"acf":{"image":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"keegan","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/author\/keegan-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2021\/11\/image-2016-300x200.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Academics & Research<\/a>","Campus & Community<\/a>","Science & Health<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Academics & Research<\/span>","Campus & Community<\/span>","Science & Health<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["Alumni<\/a>","College of Liberal & Fine Arts<\/a>","Division of Health Sciences<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Alumni<\/span>","College of Liberal & Fine Arts<\/span>","Division of Health Sciences<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 9 years ago","modified":"Updated 4 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on November 8, 2016","modified":"Updated on May 10, 2022"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on November 8, 2016 12:00 am","modified":"Updated on May 10, 2022 8:26 am"},"featured_img_caption":"Elderly man in a suit with a neutral expression.","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}