DATE: Friday, October 3, 1997               TAG: 9710030843

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: STAFF REPORT  

DATELINE: MURFREESBORO                      LENGTH:   36 lines

CHOWAN RECEIVES BEQUEST OF MORE THAN $1 MILLION

Chowan College has received $1.15 million in scholarship money from the estate of the late alumna Susan Parker Kerr, the largest gift in the history of the college.

Longtime family friend and attorney J. Guy Revelle Jr. presented the gift to Chowan's president, Stanley G. Lott.

The money will establish the Susan Parker Kerr Memorial Scholarship.

``The recipients shall be chosen by the Scholarship Committee of Chowan College with scholastic ability and financial need the prime criteria for selection,'' Revelle said in a press release. ``It was Susan's desire that the scholarship would be the largest and most sought-after scholarship presented each year.''

Kerr was a native of Murfreesboro, but lived in Indian Lake Estates, Fla., for more than 30 years.

She was the daughter of Murfreesboro residents Elwood W. Parker and Elizabeth Sewell Parker.

``Although Susan spent more than 30 years as a resident of Florida,'' Revelle said. ``her heart remained in Murfreesboro and with Chowan College.''

Kerr was preceded in death by her first husband, Richard Bennett, son, Richard D. Bennett, and second husband, Andrew Judson Kerr. She is survived by her son, Elwood Parker Bennett, of Florida.

The Parker family has strong ties to Chowan College. Kerr's mother graduated in 1929 and her maternal grandmother served as a trustee.

Her father, who was instrumental in reopening Chowan after World War II, supported the college as a trustee and major benefactor. Chowan's eight-story, Parker Hall residence building is named in his honor.

Graduating from Murfreesboro High School in 1951, Susan Parker Kerr was among the first students to benefit from Chowan's reopening in 1949.

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