Richmond and Virginia Calvin

Richmond and Virginia Calvin

For Richmond and Virginia Calvin, generosity grows out of gratitude—and a sincere desire to give back.

“We wouldn’t be where we are if someone hadn’t given us a break,” says Richmond.

Warmly, he recalls a professor, recently deceased, who mentored him and Virginia in graduate school. “He’d say, ‘Don’t worry about what I’ve done. I’m glad you thanked me, but now you go out and help someone yourself.’”

Both of the Calvins, who hold doctorates in their respective fields, are lifelong educators. Richmond was a faculty member in education and counseling at IUSB for 30 years and practiced part-time as a psychotherapist, and Virginia is the former superintendent of the South Bend Community School Corporation (SBCSC) and Chancellor of Ivy Tech North Central. They’ve created two scholarship funds with the Community Foundation: The Doctor Richmond E. Calvin Scholarship for African-American undergraduate students studying education at IUSB, and the Virginia B. Calvin Scholarship, which supports female SBCSC graduates studying at Ivy Tech. The Calvins were also the campaign co-chairs of the African American Community Fund, established in 1999.

Growing up poor in Louisiana, Virginia says, she had a hard time believing that higher education could be possible.

“When our parents told us, ‘You’re going to school,’ we kept thinking, where are they getting the money from? That’s the legacy that we want to leave to the community—That you can go to school.”