David Pearsall

My father established the scholarship in 1993. He had grown up in the small town of Rocky Point, about 20 miles north of Wilmington, where his father had a general store. My father graduated from NC State in engineering in 1940. He became an aeronautical engineer in the Air Force and was on the team that designed the X-1, the first plane to fly faster than sound. He later worked with rockets and early guided missiles. He loved to fly. When I was young we lived in Germany and later France where my father worked. My parents later moved to Los Angeles, but finally came back to NC toward the end of their lives. My father loved NC State and the field of engineering. He valued education, and he wanted to give something back to the young people of eastern NC. For these reasons he established scholarships at NC State (engineering), UNC-W (liberal arts), Cape Fear Community College (non baccalaureate degree), and ECU (German language study abroad). My parents got pleasure from giving these scholarships, and I have enjoyed my involvement since then.