Some time ago, I reported to the campus community the death of longtime faculty member Winifred Weter. Dr. Weter was a trailblazer in her time, earning a Ph.D. in classics from the University of Chicago at a time when few women had reached such accomplishments in the academy. She joined the faculty in 1935 and taught Greek, Latin, classical literature, and even coached intramural athletics at Seattle Pacific. One of her most famous students was Eugene Peterson, translator of The Message and author of so many books, a writer who pays wonderful tribute to his devoted teacher of Greek. Her legacy lives on with the annual Weter Lecture series, established more than 30 years ago with the support of Ross and Barbara Shaw, a series designed to celebrate and uphold the values of the liberal arts that were so important to Winifred. Weter Hall is named after her father, James P. Weter, a prominent attorney in Seattle during the early part of the 1900s and a significant contributor to SPU over those years.

Well, the Weter legacy will now live on in very meaningful ways! I am proud to announce that we just received the final cash payment of $4.83 million from Winifred’s estate. This ranks among the largest gifts of its kind given to the University. We are in the process of focusing the bulk of the Weter bequest to lead off our campaign for the performance hall/chapel/lecture hall (what I am calling these days the Grand Hall).

In addition to her cash gift, Winifred’s will also stipulates a significant part of her library collection and an original, commissioned painting of Alexander Hall to go to SPU.

My sincere thanks to any number of SPU presidents and advancement officers over the years that continued to extend the hand of friendship and partnership to Winifred. I want to thank Bob McIntosh, especially, and to others on the University Advancement staff, for the loving attention they gave to Winifred in her last years, some of which were difficult years for her. Bob extended a hand of love and care that was quite wonderful to watch.

This amazing gift is an important event in the life of SPU and will allow us to move forward with incredibly important pieces of our vision and our blueprint. This gift comes out of a lifetime of commitment to learning in this place, a true partnership with a remarkable woman who has shared so generously from her life and resources so that Seattle Pacific might flourish. We prize this legacy that stretches back for some 75 years.