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Wlaf1450Isaac Jones and Bella Lester are honored
TOP PHOTO: The Campbell County Rotary Club awarded Isaac Jones and Bella Lester with scholarships on Tuesday. Pictured left to right is Rotary Club President Debbie Petree, Bella Lester, Isaac Jones and Rotarian David Hickman who is on the scholarship committee.
By Charlotte Underwood
LAFOLLETTE, TN (WLAF)- Two “very worthy” Campbell County High School seniors received scholarships from the Campbell County Rotary Club at its luncheon on Tuesday at the LaFollette Methodist Church.
Both Isaac Jones and Bella Lester received $1,000 scholarships each. Jones and Lester attended Tuesday’s meeting to say thank you to Rotary Club members and to speak briefly on their upcoming collegiate plans.
Isaac Jones spoke first, saying he planned to attend John Gupton Mortuary College in Nashville this September and that he will be working in Nashville at Woodbine Hickory Funeral Home and living in their apartment,
“I get to work there and live there, which is very convenient as a student,” Jones said.
Jones said he plans to come home to Campbell County and visit on the weekends and hopes to work here after school.
“Hopefully, I will one day return to Campbell County and serve the community that has served me so much,” Jones said.
He was inspired to go to mortuary college and work in the mortuary industry because since Jones was three years old, his “papaw has worked at Cross Smith Funeral Home.”
“I’ve always been around it, and I have always found it interesting,” Jones said.
Bella Lester said she plans to go to nursing school at Lincoln Memorial University or the University of Tennessee, but first she will attend Roane State Community College.
When she was little, she said people called her “Helpful Bella” because of how much she liked to help others, and that’s why she has chosen to attend nursing school.
“I plan to start at Roane State in their nursing program and probably transfer to LMU or UT, depending which I decide on at the time,” Lester said.
She shared that when she was little, she helped her papaw Mike Stanfield campaign and that he is who also helped give her the nickname of “Helpful Bella.”
“I ran around with him my whole life, I wanted to help him too. I helped campaign for him my whole life and talked to everyone since I was just little,” Lester said.
Rotary Club President Debbie Petree said both “would make great Rotarians” after completing school and echoed the sentiments of Tennova LaFollette Medical Center CEO Mark Cain that “Campbell County is “a great place to live, a great place to be educated and a great place to come back to after college to work.” (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-05/21/2025-6AM)