Mattie Marshall Foundation honored as TCFA Benefactor of Year

November 7, 2018

Larry Paulk, Chairman of the Technical College Foundation Association, is shown above (l to r) with South Georgia Technical College President Dr. John Watford, Duncan Beard and Ellen Marshall Beard who accepted the Benefactor of the Year award for the Mattie Marshall Foundation, along with SGTC Vice President of Institutional Advancement and Foundation Executive Director Su Ann Bird and Technical College System of Georgia Commissioner Matt Arthur.

SAVANNAH, GA – The Mattie Marshall Foundation, Inc., was selected as a Technical College Foundation Association (TCFA) statewide Benefactor of the Year for 2018 recently.
The Mattie Marshall Foundation, Inc., was nominated for this honor by the South Georgia Technical College Foundation and was recognized for this honor at the annual Technical College System of Georgia Leadership Conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Savannah in front of over 250 individuals from around the state.
“The Mattie Marshall Foundation and its individual members have been consistent donors to the South Georgia Technical College Foundation since 1991. They have donated funds for state-of-the-art equipment for new and existing programs, scholarships, textbooks, and building renovations,” said South Georgia Technical College President Dr. John Watford. “The support of the Mattie Marshall Foundation has had a tremendous impact on the students, faculty and staff, and the communities we serve. We are very appreciative of their support. We also are pleased that they were selected to be recognized at the statewide Benefactor of the Year celebration.”
Mrs. Ellen Marshall Beard, one of the trustees of the Mattie Marshall Foundation, along with her husband, Duncan, accepted the award on behalf of the other trustees. Dr. John Watford, President of South Georgia Technical College, and Su Ann Bird, Vice President of Institutional Advancement and Executive Director of the SGTC Foundation were also recognized for nominating the Mattie Marshall Foundation.
“We are so honored to be recognized as a Benefactor of the Year,” said Ellen Marshall Beard. “We are very pleased to be able to support South Georgia Technical College and its students. We do plan to continue our support in the future and we are humbled by this recognition.”
Each of the 24 Technical College Foundations in Georgia were given the opportunity to submit a recommendation for the Benefactor of the Year award. The TCFA Benefactor of the Year award is a way to recognize outstanding contributions that individuals and companies make to their local technical college foundations. The recipients of this award embody the ideals of philanthropy and leadership in the service to Georgia’s technical colleges. Benefactors are important advocates who help to build strong support for the college in its region and throughout the state and nation.
“The South Georgia Technical College Foundation has enjoyed tremendous growth over the past 18 years thanks to the support of the Mattie Marshall Foundation and our other benefactors,” said SGTC Foundation Vice Chairman Sharad Patel. “We are very appreciative of the support that we receive from the Mattie Marshall Foundation and from others in this community. This support is helping to make great things happen for the students, faculty and staff, and the communities served by South Georgia Technical College.”
The Mattie H. Marshall Foundation was established by Mrs. Mattie H. Marshall on December 26, 1963. The Marshall family is a renowned family in Americus and Sumter County. The Marshall family was one of the first supporters of the South Georgia Technical College Foundation when it was created in late 1989. Judge T.O. Marshall invested in the South Georgia Technical College Foundation’s first capital campaign. The President’s Conference room is named after Judge T.O. Marshall in the John M. Pope Center. After Judge Marshall’s death, his wife Angie, continued sending annual gifts to the SGTC Foundation until she passed away in 2012.
Since that initial gift, the Marshall family members and the Mattie Marshall Foundation have helped South Georgia Technical College renovate buildings, provide scholarship opportunities, purchase equipment, and allowed South Georgia Technical College to be the first college in Georgia to provide the use of textbooks at no cost to its students through their support of the South Georgia Technical College Foundation.
Judge George Peagler, Jr., a retired Superior Court Judge in Sumter County, is married to Anne Marshall Peagler, a granddaughter of Mattie Marshall. Judge Peagler is a member of the South Georgia Technical College Foundation Board of Trustees. The entire family is active in the community and works with South Georgia Technical College to support student success through credit programs as well as adult literacy and economic development activities.
The Technical College System of Georgia Leadership Conference is held once a year and brings together the members of the State Board of the Technical College System of Georgia, the Technical College Directors’ Association and the Technical College Foundation Association, as well as the Technical College System of Georgia Commissioner, his senior staff, the technical college presidents and their institutional advancement staffs.
The Charles L. Mix Memorial Fund was the recipient of this state-wide award for South Georgia Technical College in 2016 and SGTC President Emeritus Sparky and Allene Reeves received the award in 2015. The only other local recipients were Roy Lee and Susan Smith who were recognized in 2007. Debbie Smith and Jimmy Whaley accepted the honor on behalf of their family.