For some teenagers, the choice of where to go to high school is a difficult one. That wasn’t true for Ned Valentine ’83. “There was never any doubt in my mind that I was going to Woodberry, and that was only reinforced during the four summers I spent at Woodberry Forest Sports Camp,” said Ned. “I idolized all the counselors and wanted to be just like them. So when the time came to apply and go to school, it was like falling off a log for me. Woodberry was the only school I considered.”
Ned’s eagerness to enroll at Woodberry surprised no one. His grandfather, father, two uncles, brother, and two cousins all preceded him as Tigers, and his father, Henry Valentine ’45, served as chair of the board of trustees.
“I had high expectations, even as a thirteen-year-old, and Woodberry proved to be transformational for me,” said Ned. “Because I had attended sports camp and was familiar with the campus, I thought I knew what to expect — but Woodberry is not sports camp. As a young boy, I was introduced to the concept of truly being part of a community for twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. And that is really powerful in a lot of different ways. It’s not only the friendships you develop and the life you experience with classmates, but it’s also the teachers with whom you share your life, whether it is in the classroom or seated meals or being invited to their homes to share dinner with their family. It’s a remarkable experience that leaves a deep and indelible mark, at least it did for me.” Ned has been a loyal Woodberry supporter for decades, and he currently serves on the board of trustees. The C. Braxton Valentine Scholarship, named for Ned’s grandfather who graduated in the class of 1915, has been particularly important to him. “The Valentine Scholarship was created by my dad and uncle,” said Ned. “It’s important first of all for me to recognize them and their love for the school. But what I truly love about it is what it represents — it provides scholarships to boys so that they might have the same life-changing opportunity that I did. Creating a pathway to the school for boys who need tuition assistance is important to me because it opens a door for the very best boys out there without regard to their ability to pay.”
Ned was also an early supporter of the recently established Harry W. “Red” and Cathy Caughron Scholarship Fund. Red and Cathy founded and directed the Woodberry Forest Sports Camp, playing a central role in Ned’s time as a camper. The couple also had an enormous impact on Ned after he became a Woodberry student. “I can remember being a young boy at sports camp, and each of them was so influential on me in different ways,” said Ned. “And then when I got to Woodberry, I played football for Coach Caughron. He was one of those guys who you would follow into battle without asking questions. The two of them modeled what it meant to be a good person and a Woodberry man, and they were not alone. There were so many Tiger legends who impacted my life’s trajectory positively: Jack Glascock ’43, Bob Gillespie, Dick Glover ’61, Nat Jobe, Paul Huber ’68, and John Reimers, just to name a handful. Supporting the school is the best way I know to honor their lives of service.” Although Ned graduated from Woodberry more than four decades ago, he thinks that the essence of the school and its priorities — qualities such as integrity, resilience, and curiosity — remain at the heart of a Woodberry education.
“The school has changed in important and positive ways in terms of its ability to deliver on its mission and vision in a way that reflects changing times,” said Ned. “But the school’s secret sauce is no different today than when I was there: it has a unique ability to create an environment for boys to flourish and that seeds their future success in life. As has always been the case, it is one hundred percent relational and ultimately rests on the skill of the faculty and staff. Doing this well has never been more important or relevant than it is today.”