New Developments

Stanley Pigman ’81
Seeing blue and
making a difference...

UK grad achieves entrepreneurial
success and transforms the lives
of Kentucky engineering students

“If it hadn’t been for an engineering scholarship, Stan Pigman would never have been able to enroll at the University of
Kentucky in 1977,” observes Mike Richey ’73 ’79 AFE, UK
vice president for Philanthropy. “And if it hadn’t been for his
persistence in study and special help from his professors, Stan
would never have graduated with a degree that prepared him
for the extraordinary success he has experienced.
“Today, Stan is keenly aware of the difference a scholarship
can make in a young person’s life, and the impact that mentoring can make. He and his wife Karen are not only providing scholarships for many first generation college students
from Kentucky, they are also sponsoring innovative leadership
training opportunities and personally investing themselves in
the lives of the young people their philanthropy touches.”

Growing up in eastern Kentucky

L. Stanley Pigman was born in Knott County and grew up in
this rural coal mining area of the state. He was the sixth of eight
children. His father and uncle worked together in highway construction and his father supervised a small crew. Pigman worked
on this crew in the summers during his high school years.
He also became an entrepreneur at an early age. His family
grew vegetables, and he was allowed to market part of the green
bean crop each season and keep the proceeds. During the school
year, he was a contract photographer, taking and developing
pictures for special functions and the high school yearbook.
He recalls, “My father was very influential in my life. He
was all about work, work, work. I get my task-oriented approach to things and my work instinct from him.”
Pigman also had other mentors in his early life. “Sally

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Summer 2016

Patterson was a missionary at Scripture Memory Mountain
Mission in Knott County. She was instrumental in getting
me involved in the community and church from first grade
on. She ran Cub Scouts, and I was a part of that. She thought
that a man should direct the Boy Scouts program, and she
asked Jim Miller, a young faculty member teaching German
at nearby Alice Lloyd College, to do that.”
This professor became more than a Boy Scout leader to
Pigman. When Pigman and several of his fellow sixth-grade
boys asked Miller to teach them German after school, Miller
agreed. Pigman explains that eventually all the other boys
dropped out, but he did not. Consequently, Miller had him
come to his classes on the Alice Lloyd campus and study
languages alongside the college students.
Miller’s wife Anna also taught at the college. “I almost
became their kid,” Pigman says. “I took a bus to campus four
days a week. They opened my eyes to learning, and I knew I
wanted to go to college.
“And from working with Dad’s highway crew in the summers, I knew I wanted to become an engineer. I realized that
the most respected person on the job was the engineer who
could solve problems and do things that others couldn’t. I also
wanted to build things and be involved in projects.”

Attending UK on a scholarship

“Dad worked for the R.R. Dawson Bridge Co. for 20
years,” Pigman continues. “I applied for the college scholarship the company offered, but I didn’t receive it. Then one
day, the guidance counselor at my high school came to me
and said, ‘Will you study mining engineering at the University

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