Ellington

Longtime educator and school board member Everett Fairchild may be retired from school service, but his legacy will live on through the Everett Fairchild Scholarship, being presented for the first time this May.

“I want to thank the Chamber for not only recognizing Mr. Fairchild, but also for the benefit it will provide the student recipient in education,” said Hixson High School principal Lee Sims.

Denzel Swain is the first to receive the scholarship. He received $500.

“It is strictly for a Hixson High School graduate,” said HHS Parent Teacher Student Association vice president Kay Billingsley. “Amounts of the scholarship will vary each year based on donations. We want people to know we will continue to accept donations.”

Billingsley said the fund received $2,000 in donations this spring toward the scholarship startup. According to Friends of Hixson Everett Fairchild Scholarship Committee chair David Queen, of Hixson, the donations came from individuals in the Hixson community, the Hixson Chamber Council and Hamilton County Commissioner Mitch McClure.

“We hope the community continues to support the scholarship,” he said. “Everett Fairchild is an example of a good leader in the Hixson community. We are looking for that same leadership quality in the student that receives the scholarship.”

Winners are chosen by an independent committee of community members.

“The Everett Fairchild Scholarship Committee selects the winner,” explained Billingsley. “They are not teachers here or connected with the school. The number of winners each year could vary based on the number of applicants and what’s in the fund.”

A Hixson High School graduate himself, Fairchild said he is humbled and feels honored to have a scholarship in his name. He started teaching in 1951, beginning at Dickinson Junior High and then Red Bank Junior High. He spent his last 25 years in administration at Hixson Junior High.

“I never got out of middle school,” he said. “I would not have swapped that job for anything.”

After retiring from the Hamilton County School System in 1992, he joined the Hamilton County School Board in 1993.

“At the reception [for his school board retirement] he said no gifts, so I thought this would be a great way to honor him,” Billingsley said.

Hixson Chamber Council Education Committee chair Marv Martin said the scholarship is evidence of the Chamber’s concern for public education.

“The Hixson Council of the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce is pleased to be able to contribute to the Everett Fairchild Scholarship Fund,” said Hixson Chamber Council president Tammy Zumbrun. “Mr. Fairchild has served on the Hixson Council for many years and his commitment to the Hixson schools as well as the Hixson community is commendable. He is a man of great character and an excellent role model for students.”