Last fall Loris Habegger, our Dad, died, having outlived Evelyn, our Mom, by just two years. Both our parents lived long and productive lives. They chose to live modestly, spending little, saving and investing, but always giving too. Over the years, local community agencies as well as the Mennonite church and its institutions were beneficiaries of their generosity. During his later years, Dad commented that he and Mom were thankful for continued opportunities to give, to invest in a future that extended beyond them. Both had long ago learned that the return gifts of joy and purposefulness were the best part of giving. In their will, our parents chose “Charity” as another child, requesting that this child receive an equal share of their estate. When queried on specific causes, Dad had simply said, “I trust you to decide.”

Thus my brothers and I found ourselves sitting in the warm sunshine on an early November day, deciding for our sister, Charity. Knowing how our parents valued higher education, gifts to Mennonite colleges were an assumption. Somewhere in the conversation, I described the dream for a Math-Science scholarship at Hesston College.

Since neither of my brothers is personally familiar with Hesston College, I was unsure of their response. Without missing a beat and almost simultaneously, they said yes. Both agreed that providing seed money for a Math-Science scholarship fund would be the best way possible to honor our parents’ ongoing commitment to scholarship funding.

Now, nearly a year after that November conversation, the Math-Science Scholarship Endowment Fund is a reality. Thank you Mom and Dad, and thank you, Arman and Richard, for helping make it happen!

—Lorna Habegger Harder (for Arman J. Habegger and Richard W. Habegger)