Jeremiah Scholarship

Betty Nemes Pilcher, BBA’74, and her husband, Russell, created this scholarship as a continuation of a commitment of past and present generations of Nemes and Pilcher families who were dedicated to providing opportunities for higher education. They want young people to have the opportunity to experience the excellence of The University of Texas at Austin.

During their oldest daughter’s first year of college, one of her best friends lost her father unexpectedly. What made this tragedy even more profound was that her mother died of cancer when she was in elementary school. At 18, she was an orphan coping with loss and the newness of being in college and all that that holds. Russell and Betty were deeply moved by her situation and decided to create a scholarship based on Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” and James 1:27, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

It is the family’s desire for this scholarship to be like a stone skipping across a pond, rippling for generations to come.