Alumni Scott and Linda Roach create scholarship for student-athletes

Nearly 40 years after graduating from Shepherd, alumni Scott ’80 and Linda ’81 Roach remain active members of the campus community. Both natives of the Eastern Panhandle, the couple met as students at Shepherd and are still highly engaged with their alma mater today. Now they have chosen to establish a deferred named endowment to provide scholarship support for Shepherd student-athletes into perpetuity.

At Shepherd, Scott majored in business administration and Linda double majored in health and physical education. After graduation, Scott joined his family’s Martinsburg-based business, R.M. Roach & Sons, Inc., for which he eventually served as president before his 2010 retirement. He also served on the board of directors for numerous local civic organizations. Meanwhile, Linda enjoyed sharing in the young lives she encountered during her 25-year career as a physical education teacher in her hometown of Berkeley Springs.

“Having no children of our own, we became very invested in our jobs and community,” said Scott.

As alumni, Scott and Linda remain active in the Shepherd community. Scott is a former member including Shepherd’s Board of Governors, on which he served as vice chair, and Linda is a sustaining member of Women Investing in Shepherd (WISH). The Roaches are also members of the President’s Club.

The couple enjoys supporting Shepherd athletics, which led them to endow the D. Scott and Linda Hottel Roach Athletic Scholarship to benefit student-athletes. The gift was made through a bequest, qualifying them to join the Joseph P. McMurran Society, a special group of donors who have chosen to share their lifelong financial achievements with Shepherd through estate and other planned gifts.

“We both paid our way through college but have since been blessed with opportunity and success,” said Linda. “We felt that if we could help students in their efforts at Shepherd, then we could help share and pass on the great experiences we had there.”