What a way to honor a loved one!
According to QCityMetro, Hellena Tidwell honored her late husband with quite the donation to their alma mater, North Carolina Central University.
Tidwell, along with the couple’s two sons, pledged a total of $500,000 in honor of Isaiah Tidwell. The funds will help to support the historically Black university’s accounting program.
A Strong Foundation
In the mid-1960s, while attending NCCU, an HBCU located in North Carolina, Isaiah Tidwell pulled out what was his “last thin dime,” to purchase his Hellena a double-stick popsicle, which was all that he could afford at the time.
“They split it and shared it,” read the story in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC), which also announced Isaiah’s passing. The article also mentioned that decades later, the popsicles still held value in the couple’s lives as they sat within a frame inside of the couple’s Atlanta home.
Continuing A Legacy
Fast-forward to now, and Hellena Tidwell has honored her late husband with a huge contribution to the school where he once served as a trustee.
According to the university, the donation was “the largest single contribution to date toward naming opportunities for the university’s new School of Business building.”
Thanks to the move made not only by Hellena, but the couple’s sons William DeVane Tidwell and Damion Lamar Tidwell, the school’s first named academic program will honor their loved one.
“Our family honors his memory with this gift which we hope will strengthen the School of Business as it strives to become a stellar program that provides opportunities for students seeking careers in business,” said Hellena in an official statement.
The Isaiah Tidwell Accounting Program will include a 76,000-square-foot business school set to be complete by the fall. The donation will also help to fund a new curriculum along with faculty resources and scholarships.
