Help Nomee Landis Empower Military Spouses' Education

Todd and I arrived in Fayetteville, NC, in the early '90s as a young Army couple with two small children, Gerik and Zoe. We didn't know then that the community around Fort Bragg would be our home for the next 17 years--and would become home to me in the truest sense of the word.

At the time, Todd was working on his career as a young green beret, and I was working on my college degree. I had already taken classes at six colleges and universities in various states and countries, and I desperately wanted to finish school. I applied to and was accepted at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and we moved into married student housing there in December 1995.

Gerik and Zoe attended classes with me on snow days, Todd deployed to Haiti for what seemed at the time like an eternity. We roamed the campus, formed wonderful friendships, hosted dinner parties on picnic tables in our communal backyard, hung laundry out on the communal lines in all weather, and window-shopped at Wellspring (what would become Chapel Hill's Whole Foods) because we couldn't afford much--a pie here or a stuffed chicken breast there. I studied well and graduated in 1997 with a bachelor's in journalism.

We returned to Fayetteville and, after a year of living on post, bought a sweet little home in Haymount. I worked as a cub reporter and columnist with the infamous Donnie Douglas at The Robesonian in Lumberton and then began working at The Fayetteville Observer, which was a wonderful, family owned newspaper full of genuinely good people. I got to know the people of Fayetteville and the surrounding communities one story at a time. Our family grew to five with the arrival of Olin, who was born at Fort Bragg's old Womack Army Medical Center. Todd's Army career advanced in various positions around Fort Bragg and around the globe. Our Christmas newsletters at the time included a full page "Todd Tracker" to let everyone know which countries he'd worked in each year. The children grew. We lived simply through many good times and weathered tough moments during long deployments in peace time and then war time after 9/11. Fayetteville was home.

We ultimately left Fort Bragg when Todd's career took us to Hawaii, then Washington state and finally to Tampa, Fla., where he retired in 2018 after a 31-year Army career. We now live in Park City, UT, where I work as a nurse and Todd works as a program manager for the National Ability Center. Our kids are grown, and we have a granddaughter, Penelope, who has stolen our hearts.

After having a stroke last year, from which I have recovered, I began thinking of how I might better help other people in this second half of my life. I decided that it would be a worthwhile endeavor to assist other young military spouses obtain their college degrees because that was something that was so important to me as a young woman. I have always been a proponent of community colleges, having attended several on my path to UNC and earning my nursing degree from Hillsborough Community College in Tampa in 2018. Zoe and one of our bonus daughters, Jessica Schroer, both earned their nursing degrees from Fayetteville Technical Community College, FTCC, in Fayetteville.

I have chosen to start an endowed scholarship at FTCC. It is called the Nomee Landis Friend to Friend Scholarship for Military Spouses. It is a way to help young spouses make their way in a sometimes difficult life and to help the Fayetteville community, which gave so much to me and my family through the years. I hope you will consider helping me help others like me to reach their goals and achieve their dreams. It takes $15,000 to start an endowed scholarship, but it will live on in perpetuity to assist generations to come. Thank you!

If you would prefer to donate directly to my scholarship on FTCC's website, please visit the FTCC Foundation's website

You can click on a link called "Give Now." Then you will find a drop-down menu in a box labeled "I want to support." You'll then find the scholarship listed alphabetically. Thank you again for your support!