Established by his daughters and sons-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. J.W. (Bud) Walters and Mr. and Mrs. J.W. Word, Jr. It was created in May of 1985 as the 2nd endowment at the Beckley Area Foundation. Mr. Powers came to Beckley in the mid-1920’s and was a businessman here until his death on June 3, 1970. In addition to his serving as a director of a local bank for many years, he also was a member on the Board of Beckley College. This fund originally provided scholarships to Beckley College (renamed Mountain State University). Following the unprecedented closure of that institution and per directives of the fund agreement, it was transitioned to an unrestricted endowment supporting the Foundation’s annual community grant program.