The Chuck and Jo Eaton Endowed Nursing Scholarship

Charles Eaton was born in Radford, Va., on Jan. 21, 1932. He played basketball for Radford High School and was a member of the 1949 team that won Radford its first basketball state championship. In 2010, he was inducted into the RHS Hall of Fame. He attended Virginia Tech on a basketball scholarship and graduated with a degree in accounting. Chuck, an avid lover of all things Virginia Tech, was a ?Golden Hokie,? a member of the Virginia Tech President?s Circle, a distinguished alumnus of Pamplin College of Business, and an honorary life member of the VT golf team.

Chuck married his high school sweetheart, Mary Jo Kinder, on Sept. 15, 1951. He joined General Electric as a traveling auditor, and worked at GE in various locations and positions for 21 years. In 1976 he joined Rocky Mountain Energy Corp (a subsidiary of Union Pacific Railroad) in Denver, and was subsequently promoted to senior vp of strategic planning and external affairs at Union Pacific?s corporate headquarters in New York City.

He retired in 1987 and moved to Cary, where his full-time job became golf. Loving the game, he and Mary Jo moved again to Pinehurst, where they resided for more than 18 years.

In 2012, Mr. Eaton established The Chuck and Jo Eaton Endowed Nursing Scholarship to be awarded to a first or second-year, fully enrolled Associate Degree Nursing student. Student must demonstrate financial need, and maintain a 2.5 GPA. If a first-year student is selected and student remains qualified, recipient may receive a second-year scholarship.