Germanna Educational Foundation honors Bruce and Sandy Davis

The Germanna Community College Educational Foundation honored longtime supporters Bruce and Sandy Davis Friday night, unveiling a plaque naming the atrium of the Dickinson Building on the Fredericksburg Area Campus in Spotsylvania for the couple.

Bruce and Sandy Davis

Bruce Davis is a former co-owner of Freeman Beverage who recently bought 18 Beltone Hearing Centers in Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland. He has also served as chief liaison to the president at Germanna.

GCC President David A. Sam praised the Davises for their generosity in giving back to the community, both in terms of  funds and time

After their hard work paid off in business success, he said. “they decided to invest in Germanna and our students.” 

Davis noted that the definition of “atrium” is any chamber that’s connected to other chambers or passageways and that “all kinds of students pass through here.”

Another definition, he said, is the upper chamber of the human heart.

Davis said that he and his wife, in their time in Fredericksburg since coming here in 1989, have tried to invest in the community not only here at GCC, but through the Germanna Historical Foundation and the Lions Club.

“It’s part of our heart,” he explained.

Davis said community colleges are making a difference today, “transforming lives in a way never seen before…

“It used to be that if you graduated from high school you did OK, but if you got a four- year degree you could do a lot better,” he said. “Now, companies don’t always want someone with a four-year degree. They often want someone with an associate’s degree they can train and immediately get into their workforce.”

Davis said Germanna “helps transform so many lives of young people who don’t necessarily always have the advantages some of us have. That’s why we’ve invested in the college and in other things as well.
“Because the heart pumps blood out into the body,” he said, “and the body’s the community.”