DATE: Saturday, November 15, 1997           TAG: 9711150382

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY JEFFREY S. HAMPTON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY                    LENGTH:   56 lines

SALE OF COOKBOOK HELPS TO FINANCE ENDOWMENT FRIENDS RAISING FUNDS TO HONOR THE MEMORY OF COA BUSINESS TEACHER

Proceeds from the sale of a 100-page cookbook will help finance a $10,000 endowment in memory of College of The Albemarle business teacher Marvenia White.

``She was such an inspiration to us and to her students that we wanted to do this in her memory,'' said Debra Williams, director of cooperative education and job placement at COA.

She and coworkers Vatress Williams, Jane Rossman and Nancy Farmer have raised money toward the endowment since White died of breast cancer in May 1995.

So far they have raised a little over $5,000. As soon as they reach their goal, the COA business department will offer a $500 scholarship to a worthy business student each year.

Until this year, the four have held only an annual auction. Vatress (pronounced vee-a-tres) Williams thought of adding the cookbook to the effort. They've already sold 200 advance copies, and the book isn't available until Dec. 5. The hefty 8-inch by 11-inch cookbook, filled with more than 200 recipes, sells for $5.

``We've all been getting hungry as we typed the recipes,'' Rossman said. The recipes came from the staff and students in the business department, and feature local and international favorites.

Vulcan Materials donated $500 to publish the book, so all profits go to the endowment.

White came to work at COA in 1980. Doctors diagnosed her with breast cancer in 1990, and she fought it for five years.

``She literally walked the floor all night in pain,'' said Debra Williams. ``Then she would come in the next day and teach her classes. She taught through February and died in May.''

In the late 1980s, White helped change Vatress Williams' life.

``For two years I came to COA, and I didn't know anybody,'' she said. Williams, 45, attended classes as a part-time student, and hardly spoke and asked few questions in class. She spent her free time at school sitting alone next to a window.

For six months, White talked with Williams and often invited her to join the business club. She finally did, and overcame much of her shyness and is now comfortable in front of a classroom full of students.

``It was just her example of speaking to me,'' Williams said. ``She always made a point of speaking to me and asking was there any way I could help you.''

Breast cancer is the second major cause of cancer deaths among women, according to records from the American Cancer Society. Only lung cancer kills more women.

In North Carolina, 1,245 women died of breast cancer the same year that White died. Twenty of those women lived in northeastern North Carolina. Experts estimate 44,190 deaths from breast cancer nationwide in 1997.

For information on the cookbook or the Dec. 5 auction at the COA student center, call Nancy Farmer at 335-0821.

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