The University of Lynchburg has received a planned gift totaling more than $1 million from a member of the Lynchburg College Class of 1940.

The gift of $1,079,052.63, received from the estate of Sidney M. Bedford Jr. ’40, will be split between The Lynchburg Fund and the Sidney M. and Pearl H. Bedford Memorial Scholarship Fund.

Bedford, who died in 2008, established the Sidney M. and Pearl H. Bedford Memorial Scholarship Fund in memory of his parents in 1981.

“This is a wonderful example of how important planned gifts are, even decades after they were pledged,” said Shawn Wood, associate vice president of advancement. “Sidney’s generous estate gift … will significantly strengthen the University for generations to come.

“The Lynchburg Fund is the most needed and far-reaching fund at the school, benefiting and impacting every area on campus. I wish Sidney would have been able to witness the impact that his philanthropy will have on our beloved institution.”

As described in the gift agreement, Bedford intended that the memorial scholarship be awarded to students who are “preparing for the Christian ministry or other full-time Christian Work” or “children of Christian ministers or other full-time Christian workers.”

In the event there were no applications from students in either of the aforementioned categories, scholarship funds could be awarded to “any qualified student.”

Bedford was active in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The Protestant denomination was instrumental in the founding of Virginia Christian College, which became Lynchburg College in 1919 and later the University of Lynchburg.

His father, a Disciples of Christ minister, taught Bible classes at Lynchburg College. His mother was a teacher. The family also included a sister, Mary Ruth, a member of Lynchburg’s Class of 1943.

Bedford attended Lynchburg College for two years but left to pursue an engineering degree at the University of Colorado. He served in the U.S. Army’s Signal Corps during World War II and after the war spent 35 years as an employee of Western Electric.

After living all over the world — Colorado, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nigeria, Iran, and other places — he retired to El Paso, Texas.

Gene Frantz ’71, ’76 MEd, former vice president for external affairs at Lynchburg, had been in communications with Bedford and his sister since the late 1980s or early 1990s, but first met the siblings in person in El Paso in the early 2000s.

In addition to the recent planned gift and donations made to the scholarship fund established in memory of his parents, Bedford made what Frantz described as a “generous gift through a gift annuity” that established the Sidney M. Bedford Jr. Disciples Fund in 2007.

A $50,000 gift from Mary Ruth established the Bedford Family Service-Learning Fund in 2009. According to the gift agreement, the fund “supports undergraduate and/or graduate full-time students of the College who participate in a College-sponsored or approved service-learning program” in the U.S. or its territories or abroad. 

“Both Sid and his sister learned the importance of hard work, education, philanthropy, and commitment to family from their parents,” Frantz said. “That came through very clearly when I talked with them.”

Frantz further described the Bedford siblings as “very bright, inquisitive folks” and “extremely generous and thoughtful,” adding, “They were always focusing on others and never themselves.”

For more information on how to make a planned gift to the University, please contact Wood at [email protected] or 434.544.8450. For more opportunities to create your own planned gift, visit Lynchburg’s FreeWill website, our free online resource.

The Office of Financial Aid awards funds and scholarships based on fund criteria. You do not need to apply separately for this or any other scholarships when applying for admission to the University of Lynchburg.