Thursday, May 15, 2008
May 16, 2008 09:52 am
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Louise Thomas spent her childhood in Oakboro and intends to give back to the town in which she grew up.
Thomas has named the Oakboro Regional Museum of History a beneficiary of a planned charitable gift.
Now residing in Winston-Salem, Thomas established a charitable remainder trust at Foundation For The Caro-linas that will be used to provide a future contribution to the the Oakboro Regional Museum of History.
The gift will support a part-time curator/director and potentially provide funds for additional programs or expansion efforts.
Thomas was honored for her contribution at a reception April 26 in the Fellow-ship Hall of the Oakboro Presbyterian Church.
Family members, friends and classmates joined the board of directors of Oakboro Regional Historical Founda-tion in expressing appreciation for her generosity.
A pioneer in international marketing, Thomas was the first female to hold the position of Senior Vice President of Thalhimers and led the movement to develop cottage industries in impoverished European countries.
When asked why give the gift to the Oakboro Museum, Thomas replied: “I had been to Oakboro only a few times after Stanly Knitting Mills closed - too depressing.
“In 2006 my niece Pam Holbrooks and I drove out to see the progress we had read about and the new Regional Museum. We were able to get Claudette Love to give us a private showing on a day when it was closed.
I was highly impressed by what dedicated volunteers had accomplished in a short time. Claudette’s enthusiasm was real and contagious. The small space was attractive, well organized and filled with interesting artifacts.
“The archaeological dig by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was near and dear to me.
“A classmate of mine, Myrna Hathcock (deceased) along with a nephew had been influential in seeing that the Ledbetter Ford Site, dated 9000BC to 500BC was preserved.
“My grandfather Thomas owned land on the same river a mile upstream that most likely offers the same environment.
“I grew up hearing about the Reed Gold Mine in Cabarrus County where the 17 pound gold nugget was found (1799) in Little Meadow Creek.
“My grandfather Smith owned land on the same creek nearby years later and always anticipated finding another big one.
“His son, Elias, kept the sport alive. Thus I inherited a keen interest and attachment to the soil. History is more interesting than fiction to me.
“When I was 9 years old my older brother, who had recently attained his drivers license, and I drove to Grandmother Smith’s.
“It was a cold December morning in 1931, the Great Depression was evident everywhere, but Aunt Bessie had warm ideas.
“She and Harvey loaded the car with food, clothing, quilts and kerosene, a few toys and candies and visited the homes of some of her first grade students who lacked the dire necessities.
“During the Depressions years my Father had three children in college my freshman year. Next year there were two of us.
“In spite of the circumstances — banks closed until all of our savings and bank stock went with them, my father made possible the education of a ministerial student who otherwise would not have been able to attend Wake Forest College.”
Thomas sums up her philosophy in a quotation from Winston Churchill: “We make a living by what we get but we make a life by what we give.”
A charitable remainder trust allows donors to make future gifts while retaining the income payments for life or for a fixed number of years.
It provides an immediate income tax charitable deduction in the year the gift is made and may reduce estate tax liability.
Planned gifts originate during a donor’s lifetime but are not available to the Foundation until after the donor’s death or some other later event.
Foundation For The Carolinas works with donors and financial advisors to develop planned gifts such as charitable remainder trusts, bequests and other methods that meet each donor’s philanthropic and financial goals.
Foundation For The Carolinas is a Charlotte-based community foundation serving donors and a broad range of charitable purposes in North and South Carolina.
A community foundation is a flexible, yet permanent collection of funds supported by individual, family and corporate donors.
From those funds, community foundations make grants to nonprofit organizations to address community concerns.
With assets of $803 million, Foundation For The Carolinas ranks 22nd among the top 100 community foundations nationwide.
The Stanly County Community Foundation (an affiliate of Foundation For The Carolinas) was established in 1999 to increase charitable giving resources in Stanly County.
It has a local board of trustees, a county-specific perspective and individual funding objectives.
The Stanly County Community Foundation identifies current and emerging issues, stimulates resources to address those issues and helps prepare Stanly for the future.
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