The Wabash Valley Community Foundation has received its largest gift ever from an individual donor. Walter L. “Walt” Kindrick, upon his death in early 2014, gave more than $1.2 million to the Mary Kindrick Memorial Fund.
The fund, established in 1995 through the Community Foundation by Walt to honor his late wife Mary, recently received the remainder of a charitable trust. In 1997, the Wabash Community Foundation was taking part in the second phase of Giving Indiana Funds for Tomorrow, an initiative of Lilly Endowment.
As a result of GIFT, Walt Kendrick leveraged matching unrestricted endowment funds for use in Vigo County for the good of the community.
Walt and Mary’s sons, Charles and Steven, emphasized that their father set up the Mary Kindrick Memorial Fund to honor their mother and to continue to support the organizations dear to their parents’ hearts.
“My father was a man of strong faith who recognized how richly he had been blessed by the Lord,” Charles said. “During his life he gave freely of his time and treasure, serving our church, the Kiwanis Club of Greater Terre Haute, the United Way and many other needs.”
Steven Kindrick regards his father’s life as a marvelous, silent story. “He was 19 years old on June 10, 1944 when he landed in Normandy, and he spent the next 10 months doing his duty for our country,” Steve said. “He came home, got a degree, married, and became a father and a successful businessman.”
Steven explained that his father’s success as a businessman allowed him to become a humble, multi-millionaire philanthropist. “It is not at all surprising that he chose to leave a substantial portion of his wealth to two entities he had come to love: the Catholic Church and the Wabash Valley Community Foundation,” Steven said. “Similarly, it is not surprising that he allowed his children to become self-sufficient. That was certainly the way he lived his life. He led a life that we should all be thankful for and that we should try to emulate.”
“He has always been an example of good stewardship for me to live up to,” Charles said. “I hope that others will choose to follow that example and leave a legacy.”
According to the fund agreement, five entities will benefit from annual grants:
• St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church in Terre Haute
• United Catholic Appeal of the Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis
• Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
• Sisters of Providence at St. Mary-of-the-Woods
• St. Meinrad School of Theology in St. Meinrad.