Thinking About Wills

I was 18 when I wrote my will, leaving all my possessions, including future royalties, inheritance and payments for service, to the Sisters of Loretto. What I knew when I was 18 was that Loretto had a future, and I wanted to be part of it, heart and soul. That’s what writing my will meant. And really that’s the meaning of wills, identifying the future that you want to help build, using what you have now.

This last year Loretto received a $4 million bequest from an alum. We don’t name donors and list their gift amounts at the same time, so I’ll just say that for 25 years she was an annual donor, beginning with $500, then increasing her gifts until she had given about $50,000 before she died, a major donor, no doubt. But $4 million is the largest single gift Loretto has ever received. It was designated for the sisters’ retirement fund. Wow! We had no idea this might be coming.

Lillian Moskeland, as one of the Interchange editors, asked me to write about this gift to share the good news and to inspire us. She wrote, “I think the work of Loretto and its outreach is so important, and this gift is a good reminder for each of us.”

We mostly don’t have much money to leave to children, grandchildren, to the causes we’ve worked on, or to Loretto. But leaving a little in your will sustains Loretto’s mission and charism. Together these gifts from us add up way past $4 million. Just this year, aside from that big bequest, individual donors, making gifts of many different sizes, gave over $1 million. Over the years that we’ve had a little box at the Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe to collect quarters and dollar bills, the Chapel management has sent us $396,851.94 — and that doesn’t count personal checks that visitors put into the box. Little bits of money do add up. Loretto has a future. We all make an investment in Loretto every day, and we are Loretto’s greatest asset. If you have a little money to leave in your will to build Loretto’s future, the future will be grateful.