Mills receives Louise Kidwell Scholarship | Eastern North Carolina Now

    An accounting student at Beaufort County Community College has received a scholarship established in honor of local accountant and business woman Louise Proctor Kidwell.

    Latisha Mae Mills, 29, of Engelhard, has been chosen for the award. A graduate of Mattamuskeet High School, Mills plans to pursue her accounting studies and pursue a bachelor's degree after completing her studies at BCCC. She is the daughter of Charlie and Ida O'Neal of Swan Quarter. Mills and her husband, Fred, have four children.

    "Thank you for giving me this award," she said. "You made it possible for me to buy books and supplies."

Latisha Mills is the latest recipient of the Louise Kidwell Scholarship to attend Beaufort County Community College. Pictured above, left to right, are Keith Kidwell, Mills and Mary Lou Woolard. Kidwell and Woolard are the franchisees of the H & R Block offices in Beaufort County.

    In addition to the BCCC scholarship, Mills has also received a scholarship to attend the H&R Block Income Tax Course, offered annually at the 15th Street office in Washington. The next class, which is open to the public, will begin on September 1, 2011. Students in this class cover filing requirements and status exemptions, income and wages, interest and dividends, tax credits, tax deductions (itemized and standard), capital gains, self-employment income and deductions, depreciation, amending returns, penalties, retirement planning and income, rental income, and tax payments and tax planning.

    The scholarship is funded by annual gifts as well as an endowment created in memory of Louise Kidwell. The endowment was established by her children - Keith D. Kidwell and Proctor Kidwell of Washington, Ronald M. Kidwell Jr. of Granite Falls, Mark E. Kidwell of Woodbury, Minn., and Mary Lou Woolard of Grimesland; with support from Kidwell's friends

    Kidwell was born in Aberdeen, Maryland, and attended Mount St. Agnes High School in Baltimore. After graduation, she attended night school at McCoy College, a part of Johns Hopkins University, which did not accept women at the time. She applied for work with the FBI but received a rejection letter from J. Edgar Hoover informing her that is was not their policy to hire women.

    Before moving to Washington, Kidwell lived in New Jersey where she raised her children and worked for 17 years in New York City as an accountant for Van Riper Schmitt & Co. In January 1969, she began working for H & R Block in Rutherford, N.J., and in 1974 she passed the Internal Revenue Service Enrolled Agent exam, an accomplishment of which she was very proud. In September 1979, she bought the local H & R Block franchise, established what would become LPK Accounting Service Inc., and relocated to Washington.

    All of her children and many other family members have worked with her in the family businesses.

    For more information about establishing a memorial scholarship, contact the BCCC Foundation at 252-940-6326, or visit the college Web site at www.beaufortccc.edu. To learn more about the tax course, please contact H&R Block at 252-946-0497, stop by the office, or sign up online.