
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, November 17, 1995                   TAG: 9511170081
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

COLLEGE GETS GIFT OF $2.8 MILLION

Averett College in Danville received a $2.84 million boost to its endowment Thursday - the largest charitable gift in the school's 136-year history.

The gift came from the estate of Roanoker Mary B. Blount, a former member of Averett's board of trustees, said Frank R. Campbell, president of the college.

Some of the money, $250,000, will be used for the renovation of Averett's Frith Chapel, and the remainder will be placed in the college's unrestricted endowment fund, which now stands at $10.7 million with Blount's gift.

The endowment totaled $250,000 in 1985.

A native of Franklin County, Blount moved to Roanoke with her family, where she was an active member of the community.

She died in 1994 at the age of 95.

Averett is a Baptist-affiliated college with an enrollment of 2,700.

by CNB