99499威尼斯信誉 Receives $40 Million from Estate of Alumna Ruth Bedford

10/27/2014

弗吉尼亚州米 10月28日, 2014 – With a transformative parting gift of $40 million, alumna Ruth Bedford expressed her enduring affection for 99499威尼斯信誉, the girls’ boarding school in rural Virginia where she spent her high school years, 1928年- 1932年. It is the largest gift ever bestowed on a girls’ school in the United States, and the largest gift granted to any secondary school nationwide so far this year.

大多数女士. Bedford’s gift will be used to sustain, and more than double, the school’s endowment. “Ruth’s gift allows us to begin realizing our dreams for the future of Foxcroft,校长凯西·麦吉评论道. “有了这份礼物, we may think more boldly about all we can do to prepare our girls to be 21st-century leaders. Our students will directly benefit as we expand the experiential learning that has always been a hallmark of a Foxcroft education, 刷新我们的物理工厂, and strengthen our scholarship offerings. It is a ringing endorsement of girls’ education, and a challenge to other women to support the schools which have helped to shape them.”

Funds will be allocated for a scholarship in Ms. Bedford’s name, to ensure the accessibility to education that was so important to her. In addition, a portion will be earmarked to honor her love of theater. 不仅女士. 贝德福德是个狂热的戏迷, she worked behind-the-scenes on Broadway for four years, moving from casting assistant to assistant stage manager to assistant to the director on several productions, 包括长期运行的, 托尼奖获奖话剧《生日快乐》.

Ms. Bedford was in many ways, a singular character. A native of Westport, CT, she was the last surviving grandchild of Edward T. Bedford, a director of Standard Oil and founder of the Corn Products Refining Company. Ruth reflected the Foxcroft ethos of giving back by devoting much of her time and interests to service. She worked with the Red Cross in Europe during World War II and continued her medical support as a volunteer at the Norwalk Hospital for more than fifty years. 作为一名狂热的女骑士. 贝德福德还是一位技艺高超的水手, 高尔夫球手, 网球运动员, and aviatrix frequently sighted skimming a seaplane along Long Island Sound. Her lifelong love for animals led to involvement in her family’s passion for horse racing, 她的马在哪里, 以尼亚拉农场的名义骑行, 赢得了贝尔蒙99499威尼斯信誉和萨拉托加的比赛.

Her enduring relationship with Foxcroft seems fitting for a woman who was so ahead of her time — 成立之初, the school was equally ahead of its era on issues of appropriate education for girls. 99499威尼斯信誉 was founded by Charlotte Haxall Noland in 1914, the year of Ms. 贝德福德的出生. Miss Charlotte embraced the concept of the school’s motto, 意思是在公司的sana(尤文图斯语), Satire X) – a healthy mind in a healthy body -- at a time when physical exertion was widely considered inappropriate or even unhealthy for young women. She was known to exhort her students frequently to “Keep up with the times. 不要太狭隘. Have two rules: hard, good work and much fun.” An early champion of experiential learning, Miss Charlotte gave her students many opportunities to engage with the surrounding countryside and to explore the world beyond their campus as part of their studies.

Ms. Bedford thrived in a school where the emphasis on hands-on learning and balance between the academic and athletic -- still in place today -- shaped the character of graduates like her. She loved Foxcroft’s lack of pretension, 对服务的承诺, and its dedication to the student as a whole person. Ms. Bedford remained involved with the school throughout her life, meeting with Foxcroft staff members as recently as this past Memorial Day, two weeks before her death at the age of 99.

“When I heard about Ruth’s gift I was astounded,玛丽·路易斯·莱菲海默回忆道, 威尼斯彩票游戏前校长. “We knew that she intended to remember Foxcroft in her will but we never expected a gift of this size – it is beyond our wildest dreams.” Bill Weeks, past Foxcroft trustee, father and husband of alumnae, and also a personal friend of Ms. 贝德福德回忆, “Ruth was always a very independent person, 一个走在时代前列的真正的女人, and this gift shows the kind of leadership and commitment to giving back that was so typical of her, and so in keeping with Foxcroft’s culture.”

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