Tom Dingledine

To the Madison community, Tom Dingledine's name has a familiar ring. His grandparents literally shaped Madison and the lives of thousands of students. After graduating from Madison, Agness Stribling ('15) married Madison professor Raymond and together they made the first recorded financial gift to JMU. Later she became known affectionately among students as housemother "Mama Ding" and served Madison well into the 1960s. Today grandson Tom continues his grandparents' legacy. He and his family have established the Agness S. Dingledine Memorial Scholarship and Raymond C. Dingledine Sr. Endowment for Leadership Scholarship. Recently, Tom made an additional gift of $2 million to the Madison Century capital campaign, bringing his campaign giving to $2.6 million. His latest gift establishes the Thomas A. Dingledine Endowed Scholarship for Achievement in Academics and Service to create the university's first privately funded four-year, student-recruitment scholarship. Of course, Tom has heartfelt reasons for creating student scholarships at Madison:

"To me, it's making a difference in the lives of others," he told his scholarship recipients, Megan Bellino ('06), Bethany Elam ('06) and Heather Stewart ('06). "And I think that we need so many people like that. In recognizing and honoring that, I believe that you all will do that with others. It's paying it forward."