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| Planned gift funds scholarship for nontraditional students
Generosity was a way of life for Patricia Anderson, and now, even after her death, her benevolence is making a difference in the lives of students at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Anderson, who died in September 2001 at the age of 86, left nearly $85,000 from her estate to establish an endowed scholarship fund for nontraditional students at UW-Eau Claire. Her planned gift is recognized as a contribution to Fulfilling the Promise of Excellence, UW-Eau Claire’s ongoing comprehensive fund-raising campaign to secure $35 million in private support by July 2005 for the university’s people and programs. Applicants for the Patricia H. Anderson Memorial PEO Scholarship must show financial need and can be single parents or any nontraditional students trying to improve their situation through education, with preference to females. “Pat was always interested in what others were doing,” said Anderson’s longtime friend Missy Stepanek. “She was kind, thoughtful and always generous with everyone.” Stepanek’s connection to Anderson goes back all the way to second grade, when Anderson was her teacher at Chestnut School in Chippewa Falls. Anderson, who graduated in the 1930s from St. Cloud (Minn.) Teacher’s College, taught at Chestnut School for 28 years until her retirement in 1980, when she was presented with a distinguished service award from the governor and the state of Wisconsin. “Her love for teaching left a lasting impression on me,” Stepanek said. “She was always my favorite teacher.” Anderson also was committed to the mission of her chapter of the PEO Sisterhood, a philanthropic organization that promotes educational opportunities for women. In her will, Anderson stipulated that members of her PEO chapter make the final selection of recipients of her scholarship. “Before she died, she wanted to set up some type of scholarship fund that would enable her PEO chapter to further help women who might otherwise be unable to complete their college degree,” Stepanek said. Establishing the scholarship was important to Anderson for several reasons, including the fact that her own education allowed her to pursue a career she loved, Stepanek said. She added that Anderson’s generous spirit, desire to make a difference in the world and belief in what PEO does to help women all likely influenced her decision to make a provision in her will for the scholarship. “I wish every student who benefits from her generous heart could have known her,” Stepanek said. “She was, and still is, a very special person.”
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