Giving Stories

Alumnus follows his own advice for retirement planning and charitable giving

Nearly 25 years ago, Christopher G. Fines was looking for a college that would enable him to play baseball and help launch a potential career in business. After graduating from Stafford High School, he chose Mary Washington.

“At the time, I didn’t realize how important that decision would be,” he says. “While I majored in business administration, I now see how Mary Washington’s superior academics and the whole liberal arts and sciences experience broadened my perspective and helped prepare me for life.”

After graduating in 1999, Chris worked at what was then Union Bank & Trust and eventually became a financial advisor. With 16 years of advisory experience, he now has several official abbreviations behind his name including CFP and RICP, meaning he is a Certified Financial Planner and a Retirement Income Certified Professional. He and his business partner own Community Financial Group, which currently has 22 employees and offices in Fredericksburg, Richmond, and Roanoke.

“I spend every day meeting with people older than me talking about financial strategies and retirement and estate planning,” says Chris. “One day I decided to solidify my own plans to provide for my wife and four children and also for Mary Washington.”

Chris then notified the Office of Gift Planning that he had designated UMW as a beneficiary of a specified percentage of his 401K.

“Mary Washington did some great things to help me develop as a person and as a professional,” he says. “I stay connected by serving on the UMW College of Business Advisory Board and by speaking to business classes. This estate gift is just one more way I can give back and show appreciation to my alma mater.”

If you wish to make UMW a beneficiary of any of your accounts, please specify that gifts be directed to the University of Mary Washington Foundation. Contact Jan Clarke at 540-654-2064 for more information.

 

Article written by Donna Harter, Executive Director of Advancement Initiatives

Alumna’s estate gift to provide educational opportunities for students west of the Blue Ridge

Perseverance, determination, and a degree from Mary Washington – Susan Orebaugh Nicholson ’64 has mastered the blending of these three hearty ingredients to create a successful career as a dietitian, entrepreneur, cooking show guest, syndicated columnist, and author.

It all started in the fall of 1960 when a bright-eyed, small-town girl came over the Blue Ridge mountains to attend a state college in Fredericksburg. Having never seen Mary Washington until the day she moved into Virginia Hall, her main goal was to become a college graduate and pursue a career.

“I knew specifically which careers I didn’t want to follow, so I was open to actively exploring majors that might offer unique opportunities for the future,” she says. “I ended up taking a foods class that first semester, and I guess the die was cast. It was a hard major with lots of science courses – plus science labs and food labs – but I persevered and conquered them all.”

That life choice led to two summer jobs in Veteran’s Administration (VA) hospitals within the Commonwealth of Virginia and then a dietetic internship in Houston, Texas. This experiential learning led directly to a position as staff dietitian at the VA hospital in Houston. Susan continued to learn and look for new challenges and soon became the first female pharmaceutical company representative with Mead Johnson. There she trained dietitians and created a model for new positions that was used nationally. She later moved to Atlanta to work with the Marriott Corporation.

Always at the forefront of technology and looking for unique opportunities, Susan opened a microwave store in Atlanta in the 1980s. With her extensive background in nutrition, it was a natural progression for Susan to teach classes and share recipes and tips for using the new-fangled devices. One thing led to another, and she began sharing these recipes with a national audience on CNN, which led to her first book, Save Your Heart With Susan: Six Easy Steps to Cooking Delicious Healthy Meals in a Microwave.

By 1995, with one book under her belt, Susan was writing a column, the “7-Day Menu Planner,” for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. It became syndicated and was carried by newspapers across the nation. In fact, this year marks the 25th anniversary of that popular column. Eventually, Susan added another column; a new book titled, 7-Day Menu Planner for Dummies; and the blog, “Making the Menu.”

From her strict upbringing in Shenandoah County, Susan learned early to push boundaries and how to overcome unexpected obstacles, including cancer. Today, she and her husband, Nick, call Atlanta home, and they enjoy traveling across the U.S. and around the world.

With her decades-long background in nutrition, Susan continues to offer advice about cooking, and she proudly credits her Mary Washington experience for playing a key role in her life and career. As a way to pay it forward, Susan recently notified the University of a bequest in her estate plans to create an endowed scholarship for UMW students from designated counties along I-81 from Winchester to Bristol.

“Before I came to Mary Washington, I’d lived a small-town life, even though I was a city girl by heart,” says Susan. “Looking back, I now know that getting away was the only way for me. My college coursework, internships, social interactions, and extended travel experiences all helped broaden my horizons.”

Asked about expectations for the need-based scholarship, she adds, “I am proud of my Mary Washington degree, and I want deserving students from the all-too-often underserved western counties of Virginia – and all the way south to Appalachia – to have a real chance at higher education so they, too, have hope for a better future.”

Make Your Bequest Personal
Bequests to Mary Washington can support a variety of programs that have direct impact on student success. Contact the Office of Gift Planning at 540-654-2064 to discover how you can leave a legacy in a way that is meaningful to you.

 

Article written by Donna Harter, Executive Director of Advancement Initiatives

In the early 1970s, a young college student arrived at Mary Washington with tuition and spending money saved up from her summer jobs on the Jersey Shore. She moved into the basement of Marshall Hall and planned to party and study – in that order. However, after several reprimands from housemother Mrs. Prassy for not honoring curfew, the young student certainly faced probation.

As it turned out, a newly implemented key system and an appreciation for the Mary Washington Honor Code saved Pamela J. White ’74 from probation and eventually led her to study law.

“With the Honor System and the new key system, an element of trust quickly began to permeate virtually everything we did on and off campus,” says Pam. “Every time I took an unproctored exam and signed the honor oath, I felt trusted—by my professors and my classmates.”

Pam majored in political science at Mary Washington and continued her education at Washington and Lee University, where she received a J.D.  After practicing as a lawyer in federal courts across the country for 30 years, Pam was appointed Circuit Court judge for Baltimore City.

For the past 12 years, she has been the one in a position of authority, and she has had to trust lawyers appearing before her to act honorably. “Good lawyers and judges understand the quality of their reputations depends on their characteristic integrity,” says Pam. “I learned in law school, and in practice over the years, that the search for truth in a courtroom may, indeed, be subjective. But I also know, in life, in law practice, and in the courtroom, that honor is unequivocal.”

Pam credits her liberal arts and sciences education and her experience with the Mary Washington Honor Code for providing a solid foundation for her legal profession. She has given back through service as a member of the UMW Alumni Association, by serving as member and Rector of the UMW Board of Visitors, and by becoming a member of the UMW Heritage Society.

“It’s important to me that Mary Washington’s strong reputation is preserved and enhanced. I now support the University through deferred gift annuities, and I have discovered it to be a win-win,” says Pam. “I am investing in the UMW endowment now, so Mary Washington can use the funds over the next several years. Once my annuity payments begin, I will have flexibility to utilize funds in my retirement or possibly reinvest some of those payments back into my regular charitable contributions.”

Pam also has similar gifts set up at Washington and Lee. “My education has been the foundation for my life, so I do what I can to promote, pay back, and advocate for both my alma maters,” she says. “For me, it’s a way to honor—to celebrate – the integrity of my educational experiences.”

For information about charitable gift annuities or other forms of estate gifts, contact Jan Clarke at jclarke@umw.edu or 540-654-2064.

 

Article written by Donna Harter, Executive Director of Advancement Initiatives