Tom Perry announced that Noah James Jessup is the 2025 recipient of the Perry Family Scholarship, which was started in 2021 to honor Tom Perry’s parents, Erie Meredith and Betty Jane Hobbs Perry of Ararat. Erie was a teacher and principal in the Patrick County, Virginia, school system for nearly thirty years, starting in 1959 at Blue Ridge High School. His baseball team won the county championship in 1961. Perry became principal in the mid-1960s at Red Bank Elementary School before finishing his career at Blue Ridge Elementary School in 1988.
Noah Jessup is the son of Brian and Traci Love Jessup of Claudville, Virginia. He wrote a 1,000-word essay about James Ewell Brown “Jeb” Stuart and his birthplace in Ararat. The Jessup family has been involved with the preservation effort at Laurel Hill for many years. Noah noted in his essay, “Since before my birth, my dad has been a director and volunteer for the J. E. B. Stuart Preservation Trust, Inc.”
Noah was a four sport letterman in Patrick County High School: football, basketball, golf, and baseball. The latter won the Virginia 2A state championship in 2023. He was a member of the Beta Club since 9th grade and will receive an associate’s degree from Patrick Henry Community College when he graduates with honors from PCHS this year. He plans to continue his education with a Health and Exercise Science degree at Radford University, where Erie Perry received his master’s degree. Noah hopes to become a Doctor of Sports Medicine.
Rodney Boyd of Boyd’s Restaurant hosted a breakfast for Noah’s family on May 3 at 8 am, including his parents and grandparents: Dwight and Fay Gammons Jessup, Jerry and Rachel Hughes Love. Noah’s brother Luke Jessup, his fiancée Emily Chitwood, and family friend Susanne Errichetti were present when the scholarship was presented to Noah by Tom Perry.
Noah received $500, making $4,000 given by the Perry Family Scholarship and the Perry Family Scholarship book, and “The Dear Old Hills of Patrick” J. E. B. Stuart and Patrick County Virginia by Thomas D. Perry.
