During the past nine years, more than 180 Elon students have had a portion of their education funded by the generosity of a Burlington woman they never knew. Details...
Eva Burke Clapp made a series of major gifts to Elon beginning in 1996, establishing the Marvin and Eva Burke Clapp Scholarship Fund in memory of her husband. Between 1996 and 1999, she gave a total of $1.5 million to Elon for need-based scholarships. She asked to be an anonymous donor until five years after her death. Clapp died at age 98 on Feb. 12, 2002.
Elon began making scholarship awards from the fund in 1998. Since then, 184 students have received assistance from the endowment.
Eva and Marvin Clapp wanted to give back to the institution that meant so much to them and the residents of Alamance County. Marvin attended Elon briefly and went on to achieve success as a manager at Burlington Industries.
“Elon was a great source of pride for them,” says Sam Hummel, Eva Clapp’s former financial advisor. “Eva made the gift in appreciation of what Elon has always meant to the people of Burlington, helping them to become educated and have good working opportunities that would not otherwise have been available. She felt the institution was worthy of people’s support.”
Clapp’s generosity extended to her church as well. She established an endowment at First Reform United Church of Christ in Burlington, where she had attended since she was 4. Clapp walked to church each week with her family, which owned and operated Burke Funeral Home. Eva met Marvin Clapp in the church youth group and they married in 1927, settling in Burlington.
Eva Clapp volunteered with the Red Cross as a young woman and continued to help with blood drives and other activities for more than 40 years. She attended secretarial school in Burlington before going to work in a law firm in town. Eventually, she became secretary to J. Spencer Love, the founder of Burlington Industries, where she worked for more than 30 years.
Clapp often accompanied Love to his offices in Greensboro and New York and to Florida, where Love vacationed. She was remembered as a conscientious, hard-working professional who had an uncanny ability to anticipate the needs of her boss.
“Spencer Love took Eva and the other secretaries wherever he went,” says Barry Leonard, executor of Clapp’s estate and her accountant and caregiver for many years. “He would be in the train station or at the airport dictating letters to Eva.”
Marvin Clapp also worked at Burlington Industries, where he rose through the ranks before retiring as an administrative manager. The couple moved to Greensboro when Love moved his offices there.
Marvin Clapp was a savvy investor and built a sizeable estate, Leonard says. Eva handled the couple’s financial affairs and filed their tax returns for years.
“They were very frugal with their money,” Leonard says. “They didn’t spend money on themselves. Marvin’s first gift to Eva was a pen and pencil set, and she carried that her entire life.”
Eva Clapp is survived by brothers, John Burke of Burlington, and Wallace Burke of Raleigh.