by Larry Chowning –
On January 9 Rappahannock Community College (RCC) held a 50th birthday party celebration of the school at the Chesapeake Inn in Urbanna in the same room where the first planning meeting was held in 1970. The business in the building then was called the Vacationer, a restaurant and motel.
The event honored several local educators and people who have been a part of Middlesex County history. RCC President Dr. Shannon Kennedy recognized the late Pat and Bert Perkinson, and former Middlesex and Essex counties school superintendent Eldon Christopher, as key players in bringing RCC to the Middle Peninsula.
Dr. Kennedy said in a written statement that Governor Mills E. Godwin Jr.’s inaugural speech stated, “Knowledge is the great equalizer of our time . . . if there is a main root to our excesses and to the inertia which get in our way, if there is a handmaiden to poverty and failure, it is ignorance. Let us marshal our resources against it.”
That same year Gov. Godwin created the Virginia Community College System, financed by the state’s first sales tax, said Dr. Kennedy.
Dr. Kennedy said one of the main leaders who helped bring the college here was Pat Perkinson. “She was extremely well placed to advocate for this region at the state level,” she said. “Pat and her husband Bert . . . both had a passion to give the average person a chance to higher education.
“Pat helped to organize the first board for RCC and she and Bert attended the Glenns Campus ground-breaking in 1970. She served on the local board as well as the RCC Educational Foundation Board. Her family endowed The Pat Perkinson Memorial Scholarship that supports RCC students from Middlesex County.”
At the January 9 event, the Perkinson family was represented by Bert and Pat’s daughter, Jean Holman.
Dr. Kennedy said that Eldon W. Christopher was credited “in helping lead the college in those early years.” Christopher was superintendent of schools in Essex and Middlesex counties. In those days, one superintendent served two counties.
Christopher was the superintendent during public school integration. He was a strong leader and smoothed the way during those trying times. He served on the first RCC local board and as the fourth chairman.
“Eldon Christopher provided Dr. (John) Upton with sage advice during those early years as new programs were being developed and the college was just taking root,” said Dr. Kennedy.
At the meeting a Governor’s Proclamation was unveiled acknowledging RCC’s 50 years of service in education to the community.
