Kenneth Wheeling, the former director of the Shelburne Museum, has established a new UVM scholarship exclusively for Vermont students from Monkton, Vt.
The generous gift was made in honor of Wheeling’s late parents, Kenneth John Wheeling and Loretta Marie Wheeling. The estimated value of this endowment is $1 million.
“I owe them. I owe them big time,” Wheeling says of his mother, and his father -- a doctor who practiced obstetrics and gynecology at Saint Francis Hospital in Port Jervis, N.Y. “They saw that I got educated and my brothers and sisters. And who remembers?”
Wheeling, the zoning administrator for the town of Monkton for over 40 years, with more than 30 years as Monkton’s town moderator, feels strongly about giving back.
“I hope some deserving students from Monkton will benefit,” he says. “Maybe not just yet,” he smiles knowingly, “but some day.”
Wheeling received his own degrees from St. Bonaventure and Fordham University and earned a master’s of education at St. Michael’s College. The 76-year-old retired educator spent the early part of his career as a teacher in public and private schools in New York state and Vermont, including several years on the faculty of the University of Vermont, teaching in the historic preservation program.
He was director of Vermont’s iconic Shelburne Museum from 1968 to 1971. And he is one of the world’s foremost authorities on horse-drawn carriages, having amassed a library and archives on the subject and travelled the world lecturing and adding to his passion for 18th and 19th century horse-drawn vehicles.
Wheeling loves Vermont, and specifically his home in Monkton, which he built himself. He has decided that on his death, his estate is to be liquidated and the proceeds used to establish a scholarship for a UVM student or students from Monkton.
The Kenneth John Wheeling and Loretta Marie Wheeling Scholarship will give first preference to a student of the College of Medicine. If no such candidate exists from Monkton, it will be awarded to an undergraduate student from Monkton in any of UVM’s schools or colleges.
UVM President Tom Sullivan thanked Wheeling at a campaign planning meeting today on campus. “We need more of the Kens among all of us,” Sullivan said to the crowd of alumni and friends of the university. “Ken, thank you for this inspirational investment in our students.”