On Monday, Sept. 9, the Town of Farmville and Longwood University communities united to honor the one year anniversary of Associate Professor and Interim Chair of Communication Studies Dr. William B. Stuart’s death.
Dr. Bill Stuart worked at Longwood University for 12 years and was affectionately known as “Dr. B.”
Amy Stuart, Dr. Bill Stuart’s wife, decided to honor her husband by creating a new annual event in the community, titled, 44 for Bill. The event allowed those who remember Dr. Bill Stuart to promote service within the community by committing to 44 acts of kindness that day. The reasoning for the number is that Dr. Bill Stuart died at the age of 44.
Amy Stuart said, “I was trying to think about what I was going to do today because sitting here and just crying by myself did not seem like a really good idea.
“If I went and did stuff that was positive, if I went and helped people, at least it would make me feel better, it would be helpful and I wouldn’t just be sitting here sad by myself. I could at least be sad out in the world, helping people,” Amy Stuart said.
For the 44 for Bill event, Amy Stuart took off time from work to get involved in the community. In preparation for the event, she asked for help from Associate Professor of Communication Studies Pamela Tracy and Associate Professor Communication Studies and Department Chair Naomi Johnson, asking if they thought the community at Longwood University would be interested in the event.
By making a Facebook page, a Twitter account (@44forBill) and getting featured on the 5 Decisions Away podcast, Amy Stuart took her idea to honor her husband to a whole new level.
By the end of Monday, Sept. 9, over 475 people liked the Facebook page and there were almost 50 followers on the Twitter page.
“It just kind of snowballed from there, from me to 800-something people doing it,” Amy Stuart said.
Amy Stuart plans to make 44 for Bill a regular annual event on Sept. 9. She adds, “Obviously, people can do random acts of kindness when- ever they want.”
Amy Stuart said, “It’s not like we can forget that he died, and he’s gone and how much we miss him, but [this] just gives us something positive to do with some of our time, [and] gives us something to look forward to, and it always feels good to help other people.”
Amy Stuart commented that many professors handed out baked goods, flowers and inserted money into various drink machines around campus to provide free drinks and snacks to students.
She added that she knew one person put money in parking meters that were soon to expire.
Other services to the community included paying for groceries of those behind them in line, paying for coffee for whoever is behind them, donating to food pantries, volunteering at schools as well as helping out with the homeless in the community.
On 44 for Bill, Amy Stuart listed some of the activities that she did to honor her husband. She brought 44 cans of food in the food bank collection container, brought breakfast for her youngest son’s school for the teachers and at- tempted to buy coffee for others at Starbucks.
“But nobody came in,” she laughed. “I stood there for 10 min- utes.”
Amy Stuart described the best part of her day. While driving, a person honked at her and waved to her and told her that one of her taillights was out.
At the time, she was on her way to Walmart to find someone to assist in buying their groceries, and luckily her mechanic is right next to the store.
While with her mechanic, she noticed an elderly woman who was told of repairs needed for her car.
“You could tell she wasn’t expecting them, and he [the mechanic] started telling her how much the stuff was going to cost, and she just had this look on her face like ‘There’s just no way,’” Amy Stuart said.
After the mechanic left the woman to herself to make her decision, the woman began praying, while Amy Stuart watched the whole conversation take place.
“I heard Bill say, ‘We got this.’ So, I walked over to her, and I said, ‘My name is Amy, and my husband died a year ago today, and we are doing acts of kindness in his honor today, and you’re going to be one of mine. So, go ahead and get the repairs. I got it,’” Amy Stuart said. “She started crying, and I started crying, and everybody’s crying.”
After the woman and she exchanged hugs and cried, Amy Stuart’s mechanic, who had seen the transaction repaired Amy Stuart’s car for free.
“I said, ‘No, no, no, I have to pay you.’ And he said, ‘No, you don’t. You don’t have to pay me at all,’” she said.
Dr. Bill Stuart has been honored in the past through the renaming of room 204 in the Center for Communication Studies and Theatre (CSTAC) as the Dr. Bill Stuart Memorial Classroom. There is also a memorial bench outside of CSTAC.
The Dr. William B. Stuart Memorial Scholarship will begin being rewarded to students in the Communication Studies department in the 2014-2015 academic school year.
Applications will be open to the scholarship during the spring semester of 2014. Amy Stuart noted that there are still discussions on the specific requirements and parameters of the scholarship.
Describing her husband, Amy Stuart said, “I always used to say that he was the most fabulous person I ever knew, just wicked smart [with a] wonderful sense of humor. [He] loved his students, absolutely loved his students [and] did everything he could to help them and encourage them and give them a kick in the pants when they needed it ... He just really loved being a professor. He loved Longwood.”
To those who participated in the 44 for Bill event, Amy Stuart said, “I thank everybody at Longwood for everything they did today. I think we had a great turnout, and I hope it helped in some small way. I think that was my intent.”
