Anniversary Surprise Creates Ole Miss Scholarship
Children honor parents, support students with gift to university
OXFORD, Miss. – A gift to the University of Mississippi doubled as a surprise to alumni Sandy and John Black, honoring their 60 years of marriage while providing tuition assistance to Ole Miss students.
On their 60th wedding anniversary, the Blacks' children – Elisabeth Culbertson, of Flowood; Johnny Black, of Lexington; and Stefanie Nicholson-Black, of Denver – announced they established a scholarship with a $60,000 gift to the university.
The John Louis Black Family Scholarship Endowment will support eligible UM students from the Holmes County area.
Members of the Black family are (front, from left) Kris Kyser, Kyle Culbertson, Lila Burton Culbertson, Kate Culbertson Martinez holding Eleanor Martinez, John Black, Sandy Black, Ashley Farmer Culbertson holding Shepherd Culbertson, Jack Culbertson holding Charlotte Culbertson, and Elisabeth Black Culbertson, and (back, from left) Brady Culbertson, Caroline Black, Stefanie Nicholson-Black, John Louis Black, Madeleine Black, Mario Martinez, Amelie Black and Johnny Black. Photo courtesy Johnny Black
"We surprised them on the date of their anniversary with a huge poster – which they still have hanging at their house in Madison – and the initial documents from Ole Miss detailing what the gift was," Culbertson said. "We chose $60,000 as the amount in honor of their 60 years."
Sandy Black, herself a generous donor, called the gift "delightful." In 2019, she gave $500,000 to ensure all of William Faulkner's furniture would remain permanently on display at Rowan Oak, the Nobel Prize-winning author's Oxford home, operated as a museum by the university.
Together, the couple made a $10 million gift in support of Ole Miss athletics, which was acknowledged by the university naming its basketball arena The Sandy and John Black Pavilion at Ole Miss.
The Blacks also gave $11 million to the University of Mississippi Medical Center, the largest private gift ever received by UMMC in a single year. Since then, they also made a major gift to renovate the guest house at the chancellor's home on the Oxford campus.
"Our parents are obviously our very first role models and were terrific!" Johnny Black said "They have always demonstrated a spirit of charity in the various volunteer organizations they served in, whether that was in church, school, youth sports teams and civic organizations."
The gift also fulfilled a desire to help a Mississippi community, Nicholson-Black said.
"And every Thanksgiving, all family members take turns addressing the rest of the family and telling what they give thanks for and how they have served within their local communities," she said. "We wanted a scholarship, honoring our parents and the impact they have had on us, that would have a lasting, meaningful impact to the local Lexington, Mississippi, community."
The university honored the Blacks' support of its athletics programs by naming its basketball arena The Sandy and John Black Pavilion at Ole Miss. Photo by Srijita Chattopadhyay/Ole Miss Digital Imaging Services
John Black, who earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the university in 1961 and a master's degree in accountancy in 1962, said he and his wife were "shocked, delighted and obviously very pleased" by the gift.
John Black earned a Taylor Medal, the university's highest academic honor and was a member of Omicron Delta Kappa academic honorary and Phi Delta Theta fraternity. Sandy Black attended the university and was a member of Phi Mu sorority.
The couple, who met at a fraternity party, married in 1963.
After college, John Black joined Peat Marwick, now KPMG, as a CPA in Jackson. He later founded HCM Inc., which operated 53 nursing homes and assisted living facilities in seven Southeastern states.
In 1981, he sold the business to Beverly Enterprises and continued to find success as an investor in stocks and real estate. At one time, he owned all Courthouse Racquet & Fitness locations in the Jackson area, which he later gifted to UMMC to promote wellness.
The John Louis Black Family Scholarship Endowment is open to receive gifts from individuals and organizations. Those interested can click here or mail a check, with the fund noted in the memo line, to the University of Mississippi Foundation, 406 University Ave., Oxford, MS, 38655.
Top: John and Sandy Black have been generous in their support of the university and the University of Mississippi Medical Center over the years. The couple's children added to that support by establishing a scholarship in their honor to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary. Photo by Joe Ellis/UMMC