Planned Giving
Leave a legacy that lasts...
Meet Our Donors
On behalf of Earlham School of Religion, we would like to thank all of our current donors for their generosity and support. Here are some of their stories.
Glenn and Velma Reece
Glenn and Velma Reece were a Quaker couple who served God by serving Friends for many decades. Glen was a pastor for over 50 years, and also played an administrative role in Friends' organizations, including nine years as General Secretary of Friends United Meeting. This commitment brought the couple and their five children to Richmond in 1958 — just in time for the Reeces to be involved in the founding of ESR. Although Velma Reece was not a recorded minister, Glenn and many others referred to her as "co-pastor." Both Velma and Glenn passed away in the 1970s.
The Glenn and Velma Reece Endowed Scholarship was established in their memory by their children: Norval Reece (Pennsylvania), Lavona Reece Bane (Richmond, IN), Jerald Reece (Arizona), Leroy Reece (New Mexico) and Esther Reece Painter. It is given preferentially, although not exclusively, to second-year Quaker students who are preparing for pastoral ministry. Since its founding in 1980, the Reece Scholarship has been awarded to two students each year. That adds up to 44 scholarships — 44 women and men who have been supported as they discerned and developed their gifts at ESR, and who have gone on in turn to minister to churches, meetings and communities around the world.
The 1990-91 Reece scholars were Judith Dancy and Deborah Suess. Today, Deborah and Judith are dear friends whose lives continue in some ways to parallel each other. After several years during school as pastor of Friends Memorial in Muncie (IN), Judith ("a Tarheel gal who was yearning to go home") is now in her ninth year as pastor of Winston-Salem (NC) Friends Church. For her part, Deborah spent "a really good ten years" as pastor of West Branch (IA) Friends Church; she is just this month beginning an intentional interim ministry at Spokane (WA) Friends Church. Deborah comments, "It's really interesting that in our first pastorates, both Judith and I had positive experiences that laid the groundwork for our current ministries.
Walter and Viola Braxton
Viola Andrew Braxton was born in 1905, and grew up in a Friends’ Meeting in North Carolina. Both staunch Quakers, Viola and Walter began attending First Friends Meeting in Greensboro in 1928, the year they were married. From this long involvement, they felt the need to prepare young people for Christian service. With that thought in mind, they established an endowed scholarship in 1997 at the Earlham School of Religion.
Walter Braxton passed away in February 2001. Today, Viola and Walter’s commitment to Quaker religious education continues to nurture a new generation of leaders for the Religious Society of Friends.
As it happens, the 2003-4 recipient of the Braxton scholarship is a young aspiring writer named Sarah Peterson. Sarah was born in 1977, and was raised in an evangelical Friends congregation in Northwest Yearly Meeting in Washington State. Her undergraduate study was at Gonzaga University, a Jesuit school in eastern Washington where she studied political science to learn about grassroots activism and social change.
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