Stovall Makes Planned Gift to Support UA Little Rock Nursing Students

A longtime Arkansas business owner has made a generous planned gift to support nursing students at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Bill Stovall III, a native of Blytheville who now lives in Charleston, South Carolina, has made a planned gift donation, currently valued at $300,000, to create the Bill Stovall Endowed Scholarship.

The fund will provide assistance for education-related expenses for undergraduate nursing students including tuition, books, fees, and room and board. The scholarship will be awarded to a student with at least a 3.0 GPA who demonstrates strong civic involvement, service, and aptitude.

"I see nursing as an extremely vital part of our culture and our society," Stovall said. "If I can help some deserving young person who wants to go into that field, I am glad to do it."

Stovall has always seen a great value in higher education. More than 40 years after graduating with a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Arkansas, Stovall pursued his dream of earning a Master of Business Administration in 2017.

"Higher education is our future," Stovall said. "Both my children have college degrees, and my daughter, Bonnie Stovall, is a Master of Social Work student at UA Little Rock. My parents both graduated from the University of Arkansas. I find education to be very important. At age 65, I went back to school and earned an MBA. All my classmates were younger than my kids, and it was quite a challenge. However, it was fun, and I had always wanted to finish my master's degree."

After finishing his undergraduate education, Stovall attended mortuary school and went on to run the family businesses of Cobb Funeral Home and Memorial Insurance Company, which grew from a small funeral insurance company into one of the largest privately owned insurance companies in Arkansas, for more than 30 years before moving to South Carolina. He is now the owner of Stovall Insight + Solutions, where he serves as an expert witness working with attorneys handling litigation matters involving funeral homes and/or cemeteries.