News from Lindsey Wilson University
Lindsey Wilson ‘a place where goals aren’t just dreams, they’re destinations.’
by Duane Bonifer
COLUMBIA, KY. (10/25/2025) Lindsey Wilson University adds a lot to Columbia-Adair County, and Columbia-Adair County gives a lot to Lindsey Wilson.
That was one of the observations Adair County native Michael T. Neal ’88 shared in his keynote address to a packed audience at the university’s annual Fall Trustee Appreciation and Endowed Scholarship Luncheon, held Friday, Oct. 24, in the Roberta D. Cranmer Dining & Conference Center.
“Lindsey Wilson University affects every business here locally with the people it has brought into this town — the real estate offices, the doctor’s offices, the pharmacies, the beauticians,” said Neal who is a member of the retail senior leadership team at Brown & Brown insurance brokerage. “It affects us all locally in every direction.”
Neal, who also leads the Brown & Brown of Kentucky office, said that Columbia-Adair County also provides a lot to Lindsey Wilson.
Now a Bowling Green resident, Neal cited several of the area residents who shaped his life, including middle-school teacher Lucretia Begley, who was also Lindsey Wilson first lady; middle-school teacher and coach Dean Adams ’78, who would go on to become Lindsey Wilson executive vice president; Betty Brown, longtime executive assistant to Lindsey Wilson presidents; and Adair County native and businessman Dan Antle ’71.
“People from Lindsey Wilson keep popping up in your life,” he said.
Lindsey Wilson President William T. Luckey Jr. told the crowd that although Lindsey Wilson had become a university, the school’s values remain unchanged.
“So while our name change may have happened, our hearts, and our mission, and our passion for helping our students has only been strengthened,” said Luckey, who has been Lindsey Wilson’s eighth president since 1998.
Luckey reported that the percentage of new undergraduates who enrolled this fall on the university’s A.P. White Campus increased, the value of the university’s investments sits at an all-time high, and the university will award a record number of diplomas in 2025.
Because of that good news, Luckey said Lindsey Wilson continues “to make this world a better place one precious student at a time.”
Changing lives
Student speaker Zachariah Lawson ’26 of Williamsburg, Kentucky, said that approach to educating students makes Lindsey Wilson “a place where goals aren’t just dreams, they’re destinations.”
“It’s a place where people believe in you, walk with you and help you become everything you were meant to be,” said Lawson, who is an English major.
Student speaker Whitley Gibson ’27 of Edmonton, Kentucky, said that she is an example of what happens when a student is embraced by the Lindsey Wilson community.
“I thought I knew what life has to offer, but Lindsey Wilson completely shattered that view in the best way possible,” said Gibson and media studies and human services and counseling double major. “Lindsey hasn’t just given me an education, it has given me vision. It has given me people who believed in me before I fully believed in myself.
“All these people saw potential in me that I hadn’t seen yet. I wanted to say yes to things I didn’t know I was capable of doing, and with that belief I started saying yes — yes to new challenges, yes to new opportunities, and to stepping outside of the life I thought I was supposed to live.”
Adair County native Michael T. Neal ’88 delivers the keynote address at the Lindsey Wilson University Fall Trustee Appreciation and Endowed Scholarship Luncheon, held Friday, Oct. 24, in the Roberta D. Cranmer Dining & Conference Center. At left is Lindsey Wilson President William T. Luckey Jr.
Lindsey Wilson University President William T. Luckey Jr., left, is joined by Whitley Gibson ’27 of Edmonton, Kentucky, and Zachariah Lawson ’26 of Williamsburg, Kentucky, who were the student speakers at the university’s Fall Trustee Appreciation and Endowed Scholarship Luncheon, held Friday, Oct. 24, in the Roberta D. Cranmer Dining & Conference Center.
Lindsey Wilson University student Whitley Gibson ’27 of Edmonton, Kentucky, speaks at the university’s Fall Trustee Appreciation and Endowed Scholarship Luncheon, held Friday, Oct. 24, in the Roberta D. Cranmer Dining & Conference Center.
Lindsey Wilson University student Zachariah Lawson ’26 of Williamsburg, Kentucky, speaks at the university’s Fall Trustee Appreciation and Endowed Scholarship Luncheon, held Friday, Oct. 24, in the Roberta D. Cranmer Dining & Conference Center.
Lindsey Wilson University President William T. Luckey Jr. speaks at the university’s Fall Trustee Appreciation and Endowed Scholarship Luncheon, held Friday, Oct. 24, in the Roberta D. Cranmer Dining & Conference Center.
Lindsey Wilson University is a vibrant liberal arts university in Columbia, Kentucky. Founded in 1903 and affiliated with The United Methodist Church, the mission of Lindsey Wilson is to serve the educational needs of students by providing a living-learning environment within an atmosphere of active caring and Christian concern where every student, every day, learns and grows and feels like a real human being. Lindsey Wilson offers 28 undergraduate majors, five graduate programs and a doctoral program. The university’s 29 intercollegiate varsity athletic teams have won more than 120 team and individual national championships.
(Duane Bonifer – Lindsey Wilson University)