December 2, 2003

Scholarship Established at NCSU College of Engineering to Exceed $1.5 Million

The James Wayne and Mozelle Rose Thompson Memorial Scholarship has been established at North Carolina State University. The gift in excess of $1.5 million will benefit students in the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering. This bequest represents the single largest endowed scholarship in the College of Engineering.

Dean Nino A. Masnari of the College of Engineering said, “The James Wayne and Mozelle Rose Thompson Memorial Scholarship will allow some of the brightest and most energetic students to attend NC State and will strengthen the University’s ability to attract top scholars to the College of Engineering. We are extremely grateful for the Thompson’s vision and support of engineering education through their estate.”

James Wayne Thompson was born August 3, 1917, in Pine Level. Flora Mozelle Rose was born November 15, 1919, a handful of miles away on a small tobacco farm near Kenly. Service to their country and a connection with NC State brought them together almost 25 years later.

Wayne attended NC State from 1935 to 1940 then served in the Army during World War II. Following graduation from Kenly High School, Mozelle attended and graduated from a business school in Richmond, Va., then accepted a job with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C. In 1942, due to concern over potential bombing raids, the Federal Government decentralized many of its offices to outlying areas of the country, sending Mozelle to the Department of Agriculture’s office on the campus of NC State.

While at NC State, she met Wayne. They were married on March 28, 1944. Following his discharge from the Army in 1946, Wayne and Mozelle moved to Florida, where Wayne attended the University of Miami. After graduation they returned to North Carolina, this time, to stay. Wayne worked the majority of his career with a textile company in Gastonia—at his retirement he was Purchasing Director for Threads USA. Both were active in local civic organizations.

Wayne died on April 29, 1984. Mozelle died on December 28, 2002. They are buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Charlotte.

— pishney —

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