Family Establishes Trucking Scholarship in Memory of Father

February 7, 2022

Community Giving Foundation: Danville is pleased to announce the creation of a new scholarship award to benefit students pursuing a career as a truck driver. The Stanley B. Gum Memorial Trucking Scholarship Fund was created by the Gum family to honor the legacy of patriarch Stanley Gum, who proudly worked 40 years as a truck driver to provide for his family.

Mr. Gum was born in West Virginia to parents of very humble means. After the death of his father at a young age, the Gum family moved to Millville, PA. As the oldest male sibling, Mr. Gum left high school to work as a farmhand to help support the family. He began working on the dock of Fullmer Trucking in Danville at just 17 and began driving the following year. After a dedicated and successful trucking career, Mr. Gum retired from North Penn Transfer in 1991, at the age of 57. He enjoyed 29 years of retirement, many spent restoring his antique tractor collection.

“If we think back to our parents and their friends and neighbors, we see a lot of hard-working people that provided essential services to our community. Our father represents many people from his generation who worked hard all their lives to support their families. These people are really the backbone of our communities,” writes Joel Gum, son and fund advisor.

Mr. Gum’s job as a truck driver allowed him to proudly provide for his family and retire at a reasonably young age. Although he was not able to finish high school or pursue higher education, he strongly encouraged it for his children and others. His commitment to this was evident as his children graduated from college debt-free due to his many hours of overtime. The Gum family felt that creating a trucking scholarship award was the perfect way to honor Mr. Gum’s legacy and hard work in this field, especially in a time where truck drivers are desperately needed.

“At the time of our father’s passing a year ago, we began to hear more and more about the truck driver shortage that continues today. We think there is an opportunity for students who are not interested in pursuing a degree program to make a good living by entering this career field. If we can help supply locally owned and operated trucking companies with qualified employees through this scholarship award, we will see the benefits returned to our local communities,” explains Joel Gum.

The Stanley B. Gum Memorial Trucking Scholarship Fund will support Montour County residents attending/graduating from Danville High School or Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech pursuing a career as a truck driver at an accredited/licensed Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) training program. Consideration will be given to students who carry on a tradition of being a hard-working and responsible individual. An award up to $5,000 (not to exceed program cost) will be provided to support tuition.

Contributions can be made to the Stanley B. Gum Memorial Trucking Scholarship Fund online here, or mail to the Community Giving Foundation, Attn: Gum Memorial Trucking Scholarship, 725 West Front Street, Berwick PA 18603. You can tell your community giving story by giving to a fund at the Foundation. It’s a wonderful way to honor a person or business or carry on the memory of someone important to you. Leave your own legacy of giving here.

Danville is an affiliate of the Community Giving Foundation, which manages over 300 charitable funds and makes grant investments throughout the region to improve the quality of life in the Central Susquehanna area.