The Melvin and Dollie Younts Conference Center
Melvin K. Younts ’50 and his wife Dollie Isgett Younts made the naming gift for the Younts Center in 2001. The Yountses also have made significant gifts to the Paladin Plaza, Paladin Stadium, John E. Johns Hall and Timmons Arena. In 1972, they provided Furman’s first endowed football scholarship.
Melvin is retired from the law firm of Younts, Alford, Brown & Goodson. He is an active participant at events at Furman and in his community. He currently serves on the President’s Advisory Council.
Dollie Younts passed away on July 20, 2018.
Shaw Hall
A native of Mullins, South Carolina, Frank R. Shaw ’61 and his wife Susan Etheridge Shaw named Shaw Hall in memory of his parents, Norvelle and Charlie Shaw. The Shaws also have funded an endowed scholarship in memory of Susan’s parents, Ernesteen B. and W. Victor Etheridge.
Frank is the owner and CEO of Shaw Executive Services, Inc. and Canton Convalescent Center, Inc., long-term health care companies. Frank Shaw is Trustee Emeritus, and Susan Shaw is a past member of the President’s Advisory Council. They live in Dawsonville, Georgia.
Desantis Pavilion
Blaine J. DeSantis ’75 and his wife Magdalina B. DeSantis named the DeSantis Pavilion in memory of Blaine’s father, Joseph E. DeSantis. In 1977, the DeSantis family established the Bernice J. DeSantis Endowed Scholarship in memory of Blaine’s mother.
Blaine retired from the law firm of DeSantis, Essig, Valeriano, and Fudeman in Reading, Pennsylvania. He is a member of the Advisory Council, a former member of the Paladin Club Board, and a member of the Order of the Paladin. He and his family live in Greenville, South Carolina.
Mary Frances Edwards Garrett
A longtime Furman supporter, Mary Frances Edwards Garrett graduated from Furman in 1937 and received her master’s degree in 1947. A lifelong resident of Fountain Inn, she taught high school in Honea Path, as well as at Greenville, Hillcrest, and Mauldin high schools. She was a member of Zetosophia, the academic honor society of Greenville Woman’s College, which later became known as the Woman’s College of Furman University. She was also a member of Delta Kappa Gamma honor society for women educators.
The Mary Frances Edwards Garrett and T. Lloyd Garrett Scholarship is also named in honor and memory of Garrett and her husband, T. Lloyd Garrett.
C. Kemmons Wilson III
A class of 1998 Furman graduate, C. Kemmons Wilson III currently serves as Principal for the Kemmons Wilson Companies, which he joined in 2005. He has a Master’s of Management in Hospitality from Cornell University and an MBA from Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management.
Kem is actively involved in philanthropy as the Chairman of the Board for Repairing the Breach and a board member for the Gifted Education Foundation.
His professional associations include serving on the boards of Imagineer Technology Group, Evaporcool Solutions, Wilson Investment Management and Orange Lake Resports).