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PRINCETON —Four community organizations this week were each gifted with a generous donation from the Georgia M. Fay Trust.
During an open house event at Perry Memorial Hospital, Rex Piper, Fay’s executor, handed out donations each in the amount of $195,000 to St. Matthews Lutheran Church, Perry Memorial Hospital Foundation, Princeton Public Library and the Illinois Valley Community College Foundation for a scholarship fund for Bureau Valley graduates.
Fay passed away in 2017 and left $805,000 in her estate, which was to be divided up among the organizations that were most important to her.
Piper said $25,000 was already donated to the Blue Raider Foundation earlier this year, which is a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering a community center to continue the memory of Walnut High School. Fay was a 1964 graduate of Walnut High School.
Aside form the Walnut community, Piper said Fay’s Christian faith, education and community hospital were all a big part of her life.
In a press release handed out during the open house event, it stated Fay lived for community, music, dinners and conversations.
“Over the course of her life, Georgia set roots in Bureau Township and the City of Princeton. Friends and family distinctly remember her singing with her church choir, volunteering at family picnics and cheering on the Bureau Valley Storm basketball team.
“All along the way, Georgia’s life journey was guided by doctors at Perry Memorial Hospital.
“She was fiercely loyal and committed, and nothing could stop her from making it to her scheduled doctor visits … Georgia had a special place in her heart for the connections she made with people throughout her life. She loved being with people and connecting at community events, and she valued the importance of local health care supporting the people and community she loved.”
Following the presentation, Sue Spratt, board chair of the Perry Memorial Hospital Foundation, announced Fay’s donation kicks-off the Living Legacy Campaign, which plans to raise $500,000 for the new family health clinic.
Library board president Carolyn Schafer and trustee Lani Swinford
were on hand along with director Julie Wayland to accept the donation Wednesday at Perry Memorial Hospital.
As a result of Fay’s generosity, the library will be able to sustain services to the community well in to the future and adapt to technological advances as they become relevant, said Schafer, who added: “This gift will benefit the library patrons of the community for years to come.
“We will always be grateful for Georgia Fay’s thoughtfulness in remembering the library. The library is humbled to be acknowledged in such an unexpected and heartfelt manner.”