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Frances Fawcett was not planning to move to Columbia, South Carolina. Born in Lake City, S.C., in 1922, as a young woman she had her heart set on attending Furman University. As she writes in her self-published memoir, however, a conversation with her father changed those plans.

“On the night before I was to go to Furman, at the supper table my Daddy announced that I would not be going to Greenville but would be going to Columbia to Draughon’s Business School,” Fawcett writes. “I had never heard of the school and didn’t know anyone in Columbia.”

She needn’t have worried. More than 80 years after this dinnertime directive, when asked about her favorite memories from her time in Columbia — a city that Fawcett called home for over 70 years — Fawcett has a swift reply: “Well, I suppose it’s the people that I met there.”

One of the people she met was William Harvey, whom she first encountered at the bank in 1941. “Do you realize you’re going to marry me?” she asked him. “I left the bank knowing I had just met my future husband,” she writes in her memoir, and the premonition would prove to be correct. The two were married in 1942, and their marriage would last for 40 years.

Throughout her memoir, Fawcett mentions her affinity for predicting the future. But could she have had any idea of the impact that she would have on generations of University of South Carolina students?

A lifetime of service

Following her husband’s passing in 1982, Fawcett continued to be engaged with the Columbia community. She volunteered at Washington Street Methodist and Trinity Episcopal churches specifically working on projects to assist unhoused people and offer grief support. Fawcett would also remarry three times, and each of her husbands shared her dedication to service.

“My four wonderful husbands had a lot in common,” she writes. “They all had character. You could always depend on their word. They were intelligent, ambitious, successful and generous.”

Fawcett made her first donation to the Honors College in 1999 to establish the James A. Morris Carolina Scholar Fund, named in honor of her third husband. Later that year, another of her donations created the A.T. & Frances Chalk Carolina Scholarship, the name of which recognizes her second husband. Her gifts to the Honors College total over $500,000, and many of the students who have received these awards share Fawcett’s passion for community engagement.

“I felt that it was the one program that I was truly interested in,” says Fawcett, speaking of the Honors College. She’d long admired the University of South Carolina, noting that she was “impressed with all of the classes and all the teachers.”

This is an opinion shared by Chuck Redmond, a Carolina scholar whom Fawcett impacted. “My Honors College classes were by far my favorite classes,” says the 2008 international business and finance graduate. “They allowed me to explore my interest in music and music history without declaring a music minor or taking all of the basics. I was able to do a class on the history of jazz and a jazz improvisation class that are still my most memorable courses at USC.”

For Redmond, receiving the James A. Morris Carolina Scholarship was an integral part of his decision to attend USC. He had been planning to attend college out of state, but the Carolina Scholarship “made the decision easy.”

Throughout his time at USC, Redmond made sure to explore every opportunity — and even create a few. He founded a Black Honors student group, participated in the mock trial team, and “kept an open mind and went to whatever piqued my interest.” Redmond’s involvement did not go unnoticed by the student population, which elected him Homecoming King in 2006.

During his time as a Carolina scholar, Redmond had the opportunity to meet Fawcett. He recalls feeling “a great sense of gratitude and surprise that it was an individual donor that sponsored my scholarship. I had always thought it was a large pool of donors, but it was humbling to meet an individual who really single-handedly changed my life before she even met me.”

Redmond now serves as BCAP Alliance leader for Amazon Web Services. He credits his Darla Moore School of Business coursework for providing an educational foundation that has served him throughout his career. “While I attended Harvard Law School, all of my jobs have been related to business, finance and other topics I learned at USC,” he says. “I have spent time in both the social sector and private sector. In general, I like to find ways to use my career to improve the lives of others. When I am able to do that, I'm happy.”

Funding enriching opportunities

Sophomore A.T. & Frances Chalk Carolina scholar Carlynn Rychener is ready to engage with the USC community, as well. “I was drawn by the supportive and collaborative community, as well as the funding to participate in enriching opportunities such as study abroad and research,” she says.

In only her second year on campus, the biochemistry and molecular biology major has made it a point to become involved with undergraduate research, a Maymester opportunity in England, sports and several student organizations. She currently researches in professor Susan Richardson’s lab, investigating the formation of drinking water disinfection byproducts.

“Thanks to (Fawcett’s) contribution, I have (had) the opportunity to study abroad more than once and immerse myself in other languages and cultures, which has been one of my biggest dreams since I was young. I also have the flexibility to explore my academic interests without feeling rushed to finish college early. It is hard to find the words to express how grateful I am for everything Ms. Fawcett has made possible for me,” Rychener reflects.

Outside of the lab and the classroom, Rychener says that she has formed meaningful relationships, stepped into leadership roles and sought out new experiences. But the engagement doesn’t stop there. Rychener already has her eye on starting an independent research project with another Top Scholar, as well as two more study abroad programs. As she tackles these new initiatives, she says that she not only plans “to remain involved with the various organizations I am a part of, but to deepen my connection and role in the clubs.”

Throughout her remaining time at USC, Rychener wants to continue exploring all that the university has to offer. It’s difficult for her to pinpoint one specific career: “I have so many interests that I am trying to gain experience in all of them to narrow down my future career path.” She has a promising lead, though. “One of my main areas of interest is ecotoxicology,” she says, “which is a combination of health, chemical and environmental research.”

Investing in the future

It would have been difficult for Frances Fawcett to imagine, sitting at her dinner table in 1939, that her moving to Columbia would impact students who would pursue a career in internet business or engage in ecotoxicology research. Could she have predicted that, though she did not yet know anyone in Columbia, one day, she would be known and appreciated by so many? That her impact would span generations and turn students’ aspirations into realities?

She knows that now. Fawcett has had the opportunity to meet some of her scholarship recipients, and in her words: “Well, I was impressed.”

For these students, Fawcett hopes that they will continue to flourish and contribute to their communities in a positive way. “I hope they will do something that’s really outstanding,” she says, “use their education to do something that’s outstanding for them as well as for the university.”

No doubt they will continue to do just that. Frances Fawcett has a knack for premonitions, after all.