Roger Staley Scholarship Fulfills Thank You Wish to Former Teacher

November 23, 2020 – The family of the late Roger Staley recently established a scholarship in his name at Richmond Community College.

His wife of 59 of years, Sankie, said this scholarship is a way of saying thanks to a former high school teacher of Staley’s who wanted him to go to college. At the time, however, the young Staley was not very interested in college, but he would soon find out the importance of education.

Staley was born Feb. 16, 1940, the son of Malcolm and Dessie Staley of Asheboro. He grew up in very humble surroundings. His home was actually a shack, where he slept on mattresses stuffed with straw and he could see the ground through the cracks in the floor. When Staley was 9 years old, his father committed suicide leaving his mother with three children to raise. 

“This was something that affected Roger very strongly, and he spent most of his life being ashamed of letting anyone know what his father had done,” Sankie said.

His mother was able to provide for them by working in a hosiery mill. As for Staley, who was the oldest of the three, he worked in carpentry with his grandfather when he was 12 and then at an automotive body shop as a teenager.

In high school, Staley was an average student and gave furthering his education very little thought.   

“One of his teachers, Mr. Branson, saw something in Roger that impressed him, and they drove to NC State one day where he wanted Roger to enroll. Roger gave this some serious thought but decided that college was something he just could not financially afford,” Sankie said.

He met his future bride, Sankie, in the eighth grade, and they were together until his death on March 19, 2019. After their marriage in 1960, they moved to Greensboro, where he joined the new cadet program with the Greensboro Police Department.

“He really loved being a policeman and doing all that it took to be good at that profession,” Sankie said.

Working in law enforcement has a way of making someone mature quickly. It made Staley realize that if he ever wanted to really do something with his life, he had to get an education. He enrolled in the night program of what was then Woman’s College (now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro). He later enrolled in Guilford College and graduated in 1964.   

His son, Tony, was also born in 1964, followed by his daughter, Angie, in 1965, another event that makes a man mature quickly. 

Staley’s father-in-law was starting a One Hour Martinizing dry cleaners in Rockingham’s new shopping center and needed someone to run it for him — namely his son-in-law! So six months after his daughter was born, Staley moved his family to Rockingham. It was here that Staley joined the Jaycees, a junior leadership program, which was just the start to Staley’s long history in civic affairs and community service.

Staley was a chairman of Richmond Community Foundation and longtime board member, chair of the FirstHealth Richmond Board of Advisors, chair of FirstHealth Richmond Foundation Board and longtime board member, a safety officer for the Sandhills Harley Davidson Owners Group, and chair of several boards at First United Methodist Church of Rockingham. He was also the lead teacher of Morrison Disciple Prison Ministry at Morrison Correctional Facility for 20 years.

“Staley looked back many, many times to those years in high school and the teacher who took an interest in him. He wished he could thank that person for his faith in him,” Sankie said. “This scholarship will fulfill that wish.”

The Roger Staley Memorial Scholarship is a $1,000 scholarship for a full-time student at RichmondCC. To apply, students must complete a scholarship application and submit a letter of reference from a teacher or community member who can attest to the student’s leadership abilities.

“The Foundation is extremely proud to announce the Roger Staley Memorial Scholarship,” Dr. Hal Shuler, Associate Vice President of Development, said. “Roger and his wife, Sankie, have been dear friends of the Foundation for many years. We believe this scholarship will make a difference in the lives of many RichmondCC students for years to come.”

For more information about applying for a RichmondCC scholarship, visit www.richmondcc.edu/scholarships or call (910) 410-1700.