Alumna Provides Emergency Funds and Angels

Bernadine “Bert” Dickison Robertson ’67 is always thinking about the current students at her alma mater. Recently, she asked the UMaine Foundation staff how she could help students who may have been impacted by the government shutdown and brutal weather. Inquiries to Student Financial Aid and Student Life staff confirmed an increased demand by students for food from the Bodwell Center’s food pantry, as well as for fuel and fire assistance, emergency travel funds and money to buy books. Bert immediately made an expendable gift online to provide some instant relief to UMaine students who are struggling this winter. Along with her recent “angelic” act, Bert makes angels for those who need encouragement. She provides an ongoing supply of angels to Foundation staff to distribute on campus. The angels come in all nationalities and a rainbow of colors. Bert says, she hopes students will feel accepted, and realize that alumni care and support their success. Bert and her husband, Jeff, are members of the Rochester, NY alumni chapter, and winter in Florida.

Coach/Teammates Influence Giving

Dick and Maureen Todd

In his University of Maine football career, Walter Abbott led his UMaine Black Bear team to greatness on and off the field.

For Dick Todd ’72, “[Walt] had a tremendous positive influence on my development as a young man. It was time to do something that would help other future students and also to recognize Walt” Dick and his wife, Maureen, now live in Maineville, Ohio, but Dick remembers growing up in the University of Maine culture. “My dad grew up in Freedom, Maine, and my grandmother was always taking art classes in the summer,” said Dick. His family’s influence led him to attend the University of Maine in 1968.

Maureen and Dick lived in Hancock and Gannet Halls, respectively, for their first years. Dick became a walk-on UMaine football player and Maureen matriculated in the speech pathology program in the College of Arts and Sciences. Dick was number 73 on the football team, and looked forward to his training camp every summer, “Walt seemed to greet me each year at preseason camp with a new challenge. He knew my skill set and it didn’t include any position where I had to handle the ball. I was destined for the line,” said Dick. Aher just one year of high school football, Dick’s passion for the sport was drawn out by Walt Abbott, as well as his teammates.

When it came time to decide how Dick and Maureen would give back to their alma mater, Dick was again influenced by his coach and teammates: “I met with two of my former teammates who were active donors. We were all at Maine when the Athletic Department was recognizing Walt for his 50 years of service. Gene Benner (’70) and Rod Sparrow (’71) had been generous contributors and offered me some excellent perspectives,” Dick said.

In addition to their generous giving and alumni status, Maureen and Dick are also a Bear Pair; a couple who met at UMaine, and who have stayed together ever since r Dick recounts the day he met Maureen: “Maureen and I met when Walt asked several seniors to take some prospective players to a basketball game. She was sitting in the bleachers next to a mutual friend. We have been happily married for 42 years and are blessed with two children and six grandchildren.”

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None of the information on this website should be considered legal or financial advice. We encourage you to consult with your own legal counsel or financial/tax advisor before deciding whether or not to proceed with a gift or change to your estate plan.

Donor Inspiration – Jane ’77 & Kelly ’76 Littlefield

Jane ’77 and Kelly ’76 Littlefield have given year over year to the University of Maine in a very unique way. Their donations are prominently displayed throughout the University of Maine campus–landmarks across the landscape. Through sculpture, the Littlefields give creatively and generously to their university. In 2014, Jane and Kelly’s initial contributions of sculpture were four works in honor of the late Nat Diamond ’63, Jane’s father. These pieces can be seen in the gardens at Buchanan Alumni House in Orono.

At their Littlefield Gallery in Winter Harbor, Maine, Kelly and Jane diligently curate and display collections of art by Maine artists. Through their many connections in the art world, the Littlefields have created fresh relationships between artists and UMaine. In addition to their donations of art to the university, in 2015 Jane and Kelly created the Littlefield Gallery Sculptor-in-Residence program, which helps fund visiting sculptors to lecture and teach at the University of Maine.

Hugh Lassen was the most recent sculptor to visit the UMaine campus through this program. He brought with him his completed work, Rhino, which was carved from granite found in the Lassen’s blueberry field. Rhino was finished at UMaine so students could watch Hugh’s process.

“What we hope to do is bring sculpture to the campus, to encourage support for it here. We are unabashedly going out to encourage people to embrace the idea. We think UMaine is extremely well placed for sculpture and, in particular, stone sculpture. In doing so, it promotes the campus itself,” said Kelly.

“We want people to engage enthusiastically in the conversation in hopes that maybe the so called third phase – the creation of a new sculpture building near the Collins Center for the Arts – would be possible. Keeping the energy in the conversation, keeping it in the forefront of people’s minds, is what we have been attempting to do for years and we will continue to do that.”

In 2016, Jane and Kelly’s generous annual donation earned them membership in the Stillwater Society. For years to come, their contributions will grace the UMaine campus and lives of students, faculty, staff and visitors to UMaine.

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None of the information on this website should be considered legal or financial advice. We encourage you to consult with your own legal counsel or financial/tax advisor before deciding whether or not to proceed with a gift or change to your estate plan.

Gift Annuities Ensure Support

Larry Wade graduated from Maine Maritime Academy after coming to Maine from his home state of Massachusetts. He and his wife Deanna joined Kiwanis Club Orono-Old Town after moving to the area in the early ’90s, and met Dr. Winston Pullen, professor emeritus and former dean of the College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture. This was the catalyst for a new chapter in Larry and Deanna’s life at the University of Maine. Dr. Pullen invited Larry to join the board of the Page Farm & Home Museum, and a long-term interest in the museum began.
Since that time, Larry and Deanna have made great efforts to ensure their strong and continuous support of the Page Museum. In 2013, upon planning for retirement, Larry and Deanna were informed about an opportunity in planned giving, and created a series of gift annuities at the Foundation. “Don’t be afraid to seek financial planning help,” said Larry, “I would recommend the resources available at the University of Maine Foundation. There are plans to fit everyone.” Now, five years later, Larry and Deanna have created a number of charitable gift annuities that will ultimately support the Page Museum. Because of these gifts, they are members of the Stillwater Society of the University of Maine.

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None of the information on this website should be considered legal or financial advice. We encourage you to consult with your own legal counsel or financial/tax advisor before deciding whether or not to proceed with a gift or change to your estate plan.

Creating a Legacy Through Estate Giving

When Sylvio Normandeau matriculated at the University of Maine, he scraped together everything he and his father could gather to pay for his first semester. “I had enough money for the first semester between my father’s and my money. So some nice people — I don’t know who they were — somebody paid for my second semester,” said Sylvio. Although that semester was his last at the University of Maine, that gesture inspired Sylvio to give back to the students here. Years after he left the university, Sylvio and his late wife decided to pass on the goodwill he received as a student. “We had a family get-together, and I told my wife that this was a good time to tell the kids what we’re going to do. We’re going to start a scholarship — it’s not much — at the University of Maine. Somebody paid for me, so I wanted to pay for somebody else. In the meantime, I’d given $10,000 and set it up for a child in need.” Sylvio’s generosity manifested itself in his life in other ways, too, through constant fundraising for the Maine Children’s Cancer Program. In 2016, Sylvio reached his goal of $500,000 donated to the program, mostly gathered through collecting change in his cans at local businesses. It was through these efforts that Sylvio became known as the “hot dog man.” By that time, he had worked his way up the ladder at Joseph Kirschner Company, including driving a delivery truck. But whenever he got the chance, Sylvio would set up shot at an in-town market, and hand out Kirschner hot dogs. He would tell people about the Maine Children’s Cancer Program and say: “Give them a donation, I’ll give you a treat: a thank you, and a smile.” As a member of the Charles F. Allen Legacy Society, Sylvio has ensured his legacy of philanthropy will continue in his scholarship support at UMaine.

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None of the information on this website should be considered legal or financial advice. We encourage you to consult with your own legal counsel or financial/tax advisor before deciding whether or not to proceed with a gift or change to your estate plan.

Record fundraising and $1 million pledge announced by University of Maine Foundation at annual luncheon

Record fundraising $1 million pledge announced by University of Maine Foundation at annual luncheon

The Wards stand with Dana Humphrey and Foundation President Jeff Mills for a photo

On hand for the announcement of the $1 million pledge for the University of Maine Engineering Education and Design Center are, left to right, College of Engineering Dean Dana Humphrey; donors Debbie Lipscomb and Dr. Denham Ward of Bowdoinham; and University of Maine Foundation President Jeff Mills.

Orono, Maine — Over 230 University of Maine benefactors gathered to celebrate a record-breaking year of fundraising at the annual University of Maine Foundation luncheon on campus Oct. 26 during Homecoming weekend.

Foundation President Jeff Mills announced gifts and pledges totalling $36.9 million for fiscal year 2018. That total is up 115 percent over the previous year and brings the total collected during the current Vision for Tomorrow comprehensive campaign to over $160 million — 80 percent of the campaign goal.

“2017–18 was a tremendous year for fundraising at the University of Maine,” says Mills. “As a result, UMaine’s endowments are now at an all-time high of over $327 million. Private support is providing UMaine students, faculty and staff with crucial resources that enhance their UMaine experience.”

To kick off 2018–19 fundraising, College of Engineering Dean Dana Humphrey announced a $1 million pledge from the Abbagadassett Foundation to support the Engineering Education and Design Center, UMaine’s top capital priority for the Vision for Tomorrow comprehensive campaign.

“We are pleased to invest in this attractive new engineering center which includes significant space for biomedical engineering,” said Debbie Lipscomb, who co-directs the Abbagadassett Foundation in Bowdoinham, Maine with her husband, Dr. Denham Ward ’69. “That program is close to our hearts and we’re excited to be able to support it.”

Ward and Lipscomb have a long affiliation with the University of Maine. Denham, a native of Clinton, Maine, was an Honors College student who graduated with a degree in electrical engineering. He earned a Ph.D. in 1975 from the University of California, Los Angeles, and an M.D. from the University of Miami in 1977. Ward is an emeritus professor and chair of anesthesiology at the University of Rochester where they were active members of the UMaine Alumni Rochester Chapter.

Lipscomb is a graduate of Occidental College. The couple also supports scholarships for engineering majors in the Honors College.

For more information about giving to the University of Maine, contact the University of Maine Foundation, 207.581.5100.

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None of the information on this website should be considered legal or financial advice. We encourage you to consult with your own legal counsel or financial/tax advisor before deciding whether or not to proceed with a gift or change to your estate plan.

Alumna Provides Emergency Funds and Angels