Dr. Louis Agnese (center) gathered with family members Jonathan Calvert (from left), Betty Calvert, Henry Amen III, Beth Amen O’Brien, Nelson Amen, Ruth Amen Berg and Jim Berg at the signing of the endowment on March 23.



When Zelime Lytle Amen Braun’s children suggested to family and friends that memorial gifts be made to a scholarship in her memory at the University of the Incarnate Word, they could not have anticipated how it would fall into place.

But many generous gifts combined to create a scholarship fund, which the children endowed so that the scholarship would be a lasting tribute to their mother’s memory. Thanks to this endowment, more students will benefit from the scholarship.

Zelime Lytle Amen Braun attended Incarnate Word from fifth grade through college, finishing in the top of her class at Incarnate Word High School. While in college, she was president of her freshman class, played flute in the orchestra, sang with the Choral Club and graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in English from Incarnate Word College in 1942.

The Amen Family’s 1959 Christmas card sent from Germany.

After graduation, Zelime married Colonel Henry “Hank” J. Amen Jr. She and her husband passed on their appreciation of learning and music to their seven children, and the clan eventually formed the Amen Family Orchestra. They performed traditional American and German folk songs and dances for benefits in Germany and the U.S. Beth Amen O’Brien, one of the couple’s daughters, fondly recalls the unifying experience as “something to do as a family.” The family performed several times at Incarnate Word, including their last time on stage in 1962. In 2007, Lucy Amen Warner, the couple’s youngest daughter and a composer and playwright, returned to Incarnate Word to perform her original musical “Native Saint: The Amazing Journey of Juan Diego” as a benefit for her mother’s scholarship fund.

Zelime valued her Catholic education and ensured that her seven children attended Catholic schools. Like their mother and aunt, Lucy Lytle Killea, a 1939 graduate of Incarnate Word High School and 1943 graduate of Incarnate Word College, all four of the Amen girls – Barbara, Beth, Ruth, and Lucy – graduated from Incarnate Word High School. Beth also graduated from Incarnate Word College.

Several years after Hank’s death, Zelime married Gen. Julius H. Braun.

All seven of the Amen children have close ties with the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word. Endowing the scholarship was just one way to give back.

“Aunt Lucy always says it is because of Incarnate Word that we are where we are today,” Beth O’Brien said.

“Our family all feels the Incarnate Word Sisters gave us a solid foundation in both our values and our education,” she said, “and they were like family to us.”

Ensure Lasting Support

You, too, can create a permanent legacy at Incarnate Word and help young people have access to a faith-based education that will benefit them for the rest of their lives. Named endowed scholarship funds create a lasting gift to students in the form of an annual scholarship award named in your honor or that of someone you love. For more information, contact Diane Echavarria, Director of Major Gifts and Planned Giving, at 210-829-6071 or dmechava@uiwtx.edu.

Elizabeth Huth Stieren Coates

When my mother, Betty Huth, was a student at Incarnate Word College in 1922, Incarnate Word had everything a fine arts student could ever want,” said Betty Stieren Kelso, UIW Board of Trustees member. “Mother was a music student.”

In 2011, it would be quite a trick to assemble the large number of fine arts students for a photo, or to say that UIW arts students and faculty have everything they could want or even need. More students and more faculty mean more success and more sophisticated needs. Kelso’s ties to the university go way back; her mother, Elizabeth Huth Stieren Coates, attended Incarnate Word High School and began her college education at what is now UIW.

Even then, students were performing and having art shows on and off campus, and long before KUIW, the university’s current Internet radio station, in the early stages of radio, students had their own program.

“She was quite a philanthropist,” Kelso said, explaining that her mother funded the UIW theatre building that still bears her name. “I have always admired the university. It’s different from any other university. It reaches out to all kinds of people.”

Kelso serves on the board’s institutional advancement committee. She is interested in UIW’s many projects, such as the recent renovation of the nursing building and the upcoming construction of a new fine arts building. “These are wonderful programs and are very needed in the community.”

Kelso also sees spiritual needs being met. “I believe strongly in a faith-based education,” she said. “It’s very, very important, and these students are so lucky to have access to that.”

She and her husband, Lt. Col. Robert Kelso, hope Incarnate Word graduates will continue to “care for the things they’ve learned, the respect for other people, to continue their spiritual education and to always have a positive attitude.” It is with that positive attitude that the Kelsos continue the family’s philanthropic tradition at Incarnate Word. Their recent major gift to the Fine Arts campaign proves just that, and they extend an invitation for others to join them in generously providing for the future of the arts at UIW and in all San Antonio.

Sr. Claude Marie Faust (from left), Gayle Sette '73, daughter Megan, and Sr. Theresa McGrath enjoy one another’s company in 1993.

Gayle Biehunko Sette graduated summa cum laude from Incarnate Word College in 1973 with a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics. She went on to earn a master’s in computing science from Texas A&M University. After a successful career, she recently retired after 30 years with IBM.

A native of Shiner, Texas, Sette was able to attend Incarnate Word with the help of scholarships. Through the gifts of others, Sette was able to achieve her goals and dreams, so she wanted to give other students the same opportunities.

With the help of UIW Planned Giving Director Diane Echavarria, Sette established a scholarship endowment through her estate plan. To honor two of her favorite teachers, she created the Sr. Theresa McGrath and Sr. Claude Marie Faust Endowed Scholarship.

“Sr. Theresa was the most cheery, caring and enthusiastic instructor ever encountered at 8 o’clock in the morning,” Sette recalled. “Her office door was always open to discuss a puzzling math problem.” The alumna also remembered the late Sr. Claude Marie’s twinkling blue eyes, patient smile, and ability to explain the complexities of linear algebra or number theory.

The endowed scholarship is funded through a retirement account simply created by adding UIW as a beneficiary on the retirement account. After the lifetimes of Gayle and her husband, Tom, the funds will create this scholarship. UIW welcomes the Settes as members of the Verbum Society and another legacy in the making!

If you would like information on making gifts such as these, contact Diane Echavarria in the Planned Giving Office at dmechava@uiwtx.edu or 210-829-6071.

This year, the UIW Planned Giving Office is launching a program called 100 Legacies in the Making led by Mary Helen “Pinkie” Pinner ’46 and Alumni Dean Emeritus Dick McCracken. This is not your ordinary brick campaign, but an endeavor aimed at building a new foundation of support for Incarnate Word through legacy giving.

Mary Helen "Pinkie" Pinner and Dick McCracken

McCracken and Pinner are looking for 100 new members for the Verbum Society, the university’s giving society of alumni and friends who have made a provision for UIW in their estate or financial plans.

Please consider how you can leave your legacy at UIW through a gift to the endowment or through your will that will help the university and its students for years to come. It’s often as simple as naming UIW as a beneficiary (all or part) of a retirement fund such as an IRA or adding a codicil to your will specifying an amount or percentage to UIW after your family is taken care of.

We will color each brick red as we receive word of a new planned gift. These gifts will not fade over time. They will continue to encourage students and uphold the Mission of the University of the Incarnate Word for future generations.

A great option that allows supporters to donate to the university while providing financial support for themselves and loved ones is a Charitable Remainder Trust (CRT).

What is a CRT?

A CRT is an irrevocable trust that provides income for the donor for a fixed number of years or for the life of the donor. The remaining funds go to the donor’s designated charitable organizations, such as UIW, for purposes designated by the donor.

How a CRT Works

For example, say a UIW alumna wants to donate to the university, but needs additional income for retirement.  She owns real estate that has tripled in value, but it does not generate income. She decides to create a CRT and fund it with the appreciated real estate. When the land is transferred to the CRT, she receives an immediate charitable deduction. The CRT sells the land tax free (avoiding capital gains tax), and creates a diversified stock/bond portfolio that will generate income for the remainder of her lifetime. CRT funds remaining after her death, would be transferred to UIW. (see illustration)

Funding a CRT

A CRT can be established during your life or through your will. It can be funded with any type of asset: cash, stocks, real estate, mineral interest, patents, copyrights or life insurance proceeds.  Funding a CRT with highly appreciated assets can give you the biggest return due to tax benefits.

Creditors can’t reach assets in a CRT, and the value of the property is excluded from the donor’s taxable estate, thus the property avoids probate.

To find out more, contact UIW Planned Giving Director Diane Echavarria at (210) 829-6071 or dmechava@uiwtx.edu.

By Pam Parish, CFP®, group executive vice president at Broadway Bank. She is a member of UIW’s Planned Giving Council, which advises the university and serves as a resource for alumni and friends.  Visit www.uiw.edu/giving/plannedgivcouncil.html.