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Donor Stories
Planning a Legacy is a Statement of Gratitude for GTU Retiree
From 1967 to 1983, while working for the Graduate Theological Union Bibliographic Center and later the GTU library, Winifred Barber witnessed the development of a new kind of theological education.
“We were all searching for a new way of being on the planet,” she says. “There was no other school like the GTU, no existing structure to refer to for guidance. It was challenging and wonderful all at the same time.”
Forty years after she started working in the acquisitions department, Barber is thrilled to see the outstanding interreligious work of GTU graduates and new developments like the Center for Islamic Studies.
Like many women of the 1950s and 1960s, Barber left school when she married. She had never held a job before she began purchasing the GTU library’s books, and she credits the GTU community with inspiring her to return to UC Berkeley for her bachelor’s degree. “I never would have gone back to school without the support of those at the GTU,” she says.
She remembers with fondness Dr. Stillson Judah, the librarian at the GTU Bibliographic Center when she applied for a job there in 1968; Oscar Burdick, collection development librarian during her tenure; and Dr. Norman Mealy, professor of church music at the GTU and Church Divinity School of the Pacific.
“We were all searching for a new way of being on the planet. There was no other school like the GTU."
Today Barber is a member of the GTU Legacy Circle, a society that honors generous friends who’ve made provisions for the Graduate Theological Union in their estate plans. She calls her bequest, made in memory of Dr. Judah and Dr. Mealy, a “statement of gratitude” for what the GTU gave her, and her way of supporting the GTU’s work beyond her lifetime.
A gift of life insurance, bequest, or trust can help secure the GTU’s future. Such planned gifts have supported students through scholarships, brought outstanding scholars to “Holy Hill,” and improved the GTU’s facilities for work and study.
For more information about including the GTU in your estate plan, go to “Make A Gift”, or call Linda Frank, Vice President for Advancement, 510/649-2425 for a confidential conversation.
Jewish Studies at the GTU
