Dr. Mamie Patterson, Investing in the Future

“I am not wealthy.  But if I have some money to give, most certainly one of the places that I would donate to would be Roanoke College.” – Dr. Mamie Patterson

Once again, Dr. Mamie Patterson is investing in the future of Roanoke College.  As a professor of Spanish from 1962 until she retired in 1988, Dr. Patterson was one of the people who worked to make Roanoke College what it is today.  Now, through a planned gift, she is doing her part to help future generations of students.

“I taught at Roanoke College for 26 years, and they were the happiest years of my life.  I loved the students and they kept me young.  I really did enjoy it.”

Dr. Patterson’s classroom could often be found by following the sounds of raucous laughter through Lucas Hall.  But she says that what she remembers most is not the craziness inside, but outside, of the classroom.

“I wish you could have seen some of the students that were [in school] then.  They were in fights and things, and now have become solid citizens.  That’s why I always laughed, because back then I thought that in a few years nobody would remember that they did anything bad and the would just laugh about it.  I think eight or nine of the trustees were my students!  And I thought – look at that… scholars they were not, but they turned out very well!”

In the ‘60’s and ‘70’s, Dr, Patterson invested her time and her knowledge in Roanoke; now she is making a different kind of investments.  Se has decided to give Roanoke College a planned gift.  She says this is just her way of giving back to the school that gave her so much pleasure.

“I am not wealthy.  But if I have some money to give, most certainly one of the place that I would donate to would be Roanoke College.”

Dr. Patterson says that her gift is simply her way of contributing to the quality of the leadership that our country will experience in the years to come.

“For somebody who has a little extra money, I would ask them to think about the future.  The future is in the people who are getting educated now.  If you give for that, you are taking care of the future.  The future is in the hands of the young people, and the better the education they get, the better the country will be.