The Village Education Foundation is pleased to announce a
$24,500 gift in honor of the late retired Toccoa-Stephens County educator, Dorothy “Dot” Hay.
This is the largest single donor gift The Village Education Foundation (VEF) has received to
date. The funds will be used to provide scholarships, application preparation, college visits, and
other support to local students in pursuit of higher education.
A staunch advocate for education access, Mrs. Hay was a graduate of the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill and taught school in Kannapolis, NC. Upon moving to Toccoa in 1953
with her husband, Dr. Sam H. Hay, she initially worked locally as a substitute teacher for Toccoa
High School and then as a full-time mathematics teacher. Following school consolidation, she
taught mathematics at Stephens County High School where she was named Star Teacher several
years. After retiring from teaching, she served on the Stephens County School Board of
Education for several terms. She and Dr. Hay were the parents of four children, Sam, Jr.,
Dorothy, Fred, and Dick. In 1982, she and Dr. Hay moved to Davidson, NC where they lived
until her death in 2019.
Additionally, while living in Toccoa, she was quite active in the Toccoa Presbyterian church
serving as Sunday School teacher, Deacon, Elder, President of the Athens Presbytery, and
Commissioner to the General Assembly meeting in Atlanta. After moving to North Carolina, she
continued to be active in her church and with charities and local residents.
The Village Education Foundation is the brainchild of Marilyn Woodruff. When taking an
overall view of the future of the students in the Toccoa-Stephens County area, she became
concerned with their preparation for college success and decided to do something about it. The
foundation was established in June of 2014 by the Woodruff family. Board members include
Marilyn Woodruff, Willie J. Woodruff, Jr., Marina Woodruff, Amber Woodruff, and William
Woodruff.
The Village Education Foundation is a 501c3 non-profit organization and seeks a world where
zero students miss the opportunity to attend college due to financial set-backs or lack of
knowledge of the process. To this end, since 2014 the VEF has given out 5 scholarships to
deserving seniors at Stephens County High School. Scholarship recipients have attended
Alabama A&M University, Columbus State University, Kennesaw State University, Spelman
College and Toccoa Falls College. Additionally, the foundation has implemented an academy
and bootcamp to help direct students through the application for admission and other scholarship
processes.
“The Village Education Foundation is grateful to The Hay Family for their generous gift. It is a
wonderful way to promote the legacy of an educator. Incidentally, she was the Algebra II
teacher of my husband, Attorney Willie Woodruff. It is also a way to give back to the
Toccoa/Stephens County Community. The funds will be used to continue to support
scholarships and various educational needs of students,” according to Marilyn Woodruff.
Anyone wanting additional information or desiring to contribute to the foundation can visit
www.thevillageeducationfoundation.org or email thevillageeducationfoundation@gmail.com.
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