Endowed Scholarship Fund - Football

NANCY PETERSON BOUIS MEMORIAL
ATHLETIC SCHOLARSHIP
Represented by Dr. Paul A. Bouis '67 of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
 

This scholarship was established in 2005 by Dr. Paul A. Buois '67 in memory of his wife, Nancy Peterson Bouis, who died on November 24, 2004, of cancer.

The Nancy Peterson Bouis Memorial Athletic Scholarship at the Virginia Military Institute will provide grant-in-aid xannually to a cadet-athlete who is a member of the VMI football or basketball team, with preference given to an athlete who is a psychology major and/or is a member of the VMI cross country/track and field team.

Nancy Peterson was born and raised in a tough New York City neighborhood. She met a young man named Paul Bouis shortly before he was to leave New York to attend VMI. They dated long distance for the four years of his cadetship, surviving on one letter a day to each other. As Dr. Bouis ’67, a former Keydet track athlete and coach, puts it, “Nancy fell in love with VMI athletics as part of the deal of falling in love with me.”

After graduating from Hunter College with a degree in educational psychology, Nancy and Paul married and settled down in Lexington where he was coaching track. The new Mrs. Bouis soon became the unofficial mom of the football and track teams. She nourished many of the players including Russ Quay ’70, Bob Habasevich ’69 and Lee Moon ’70, who in that fall of 1967 would pull off the upset of VPI down in Roanoke’s Victory stadium. 

Nancy spent her career helping young people, including being a guidance counselor at the middle school level. She provided marriage and family counseling, as well. She was a competitive tennis player throughout her life and won several mixed and women’s titles in Texas, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. 

Nancy had a special place in her heart for VMI football. Even after being diagnosed with cancer, she would accompany her husband to Lexington to see games—sometimes, in the later stages of her illness, remaining in the car but present in full VMI Spirit. Nancy Peterson Bouis died on November 24, 2004, but she will be remembered by several generations of VMI football and track athletes for her love and interest in their VMI experience.

Cadet A. Joseph Robinson '09 VMI Football,  is recognized in the name of the Nancy Peteraon Bouis Memorial Athletic Scholarship for the 2007-08 school year. He is shown here with Dr. and Mrs. Paul Bouis '67.