Waters-Brock Endowed Scholar Grant

This endowment honors the inspirational legacy of Rev Hosie & Mary Louise (Brock) Waters, the late Mary Ruth Brock, the late Rev Champ & Ida Mae Waters, and the late Odice & Ruby Brock.

Rev. Hosie and Louise Waters served over 30 years in the educational field. Rev. Hosie Waters, a Fort Valley State College, University of Oklahoma, and Troy State University graduate, served as an educator (mathematics, sciences), asst. superintendent, and school superintendent. He was the first African American School Superintendent in Middle Georgia. He also was one of the first two African Americans to graduate from the graduate natural science program at the University of Oklahoma in the 1960s. He followed his father’s footsteps in the ministry and served as pastor of six churches (four at a time) over 44 years in Middle Georgia. Before he entered the ministry, he also sang in a gospel group which included one of his older brothers. His wife Louise Waters, a Spelman College, Fort Valley State University, and Troy State University graduate also served as an educator (history, economics, geography, civics). They participated in professional and/or community organizations. Though they were a few classes short of their PhDs, they opted not to move their family, especially his mother whom they assisted, to northern Georgia, which then was the only available location to obtain their PhDs in the 1980s. Their sacrifices for their family members and teamwork still resonate today.

Rev. Hosie Waters died in February 2025. He was honored by the Georgia state legislature with a moment of silence and was honored with resolutions. He was mourned by his dutiful wife, his children, a host of other relatives, former students, friends, and mentees who forever will treasure his memory, compassion, joy, and teachings.

Mary Ruth Brock, an older sister of Mary Louise Waters, also served over 30 years as an educator (language arts). She taught in a small Georgia town (Marshallville) but remains in the hearts of her former students and her relatives. She was a graduate of Jarvis Christian College and Fort Valley State University. She and her sister Mary Louise (Brock) Waters were close, which is not coincidental since Mary Ruth Brock named her sister ‘Mary’ so that they could have the same (first) name.

Their respective parents (Rev Champ & Ida Mae Waters and Odice & Ruby Brock) were instrumental in their successful journey by stressing family, knowledge, hard work, dedication, integrity, and faith. J. Maria Waters, the daughter of Rev. Hosie and Mary Louise Waters, endowed this scholarship to honor and support the dedication of women who are working to better themselves, their families, and their communities through education, which the Waters-Brock families feel strongly about.