| |
MOVING FORWARD
Leaving a Legacy—A generous gift honors the wishes of a pastor’s late wife.
 Three years ago, as the Rev. Victor Myers and his wife, Bonnie, journeyed home from his 35th reunion at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg in Pennsylvania, they talked about ways to give back to the institution. The following year, in 2005, the couple from Barberton, Ohio, used Myers’ funds and annuities through Thrivent Financial for Lutherans to pledge $25,000 to his alma mater.
Shortly after the pledge, Bonnie died from cancer. But the Myers’ dream of supporting the seminary lived on in ways greater than either had ever imagined. Myers, 63, met with his Thrivent Financial representative, Stephanie McCarty, to talk about steps he could take to ensure future gifts for the seminary while also making certain his daughter, Heidi, would be taken care of after his death. With the assistance of McCarty, whose office is in Akron, Ohio, Myers created a $1.5 million life insurance contract that was placed into an irrevocable life insurance trust (ILIT). Twenty percent of his ILIT, plus his ELCA pension and additional assets, total $1.25 million and will be bequeathed to Gettysburg.
Myers wept when he learned that such a gift was possible. “Bonnie would have been truly amazed that our initial conversation and gift would lead to this kind of legacy for the benefit of the church,” he says.
—Holly O’Dell
|