H. Thorp Minister III ’81
Estate Planning creates a legacy for the future

As all parents know, children have a wonderful way of changing one’s values and perspective on life while simultaneously creating a sense of urgency to plan for the future.

I always wanted to do something for Carolina, and for me, the last piece of my estate planning puzzle was to make a gift to the University through the purchase of several life insurance policies. As a single dad, this has allowed me the protection of providing for my six-year-old daughter’s future if I died prematurely and gave me financial leverage to bequeath Carolina once I passed on. There is a common misconception that you have to be old, rich, and retired to give to a university. Giving to Carolina is a lot easier and more affordable than one might think. If I can do it, anyone can do it.

I have set up a living trust that will one day fund three separate gifts that will provide scholarship assistance for a student in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications; establish a visiting professorship or faculty development fund in the school; and lastly, benefit Carolina’s football program.

The truth is, most students don’t truly appreciate their teachers until about twenty years after the fact. Being able to write well is a terrific exercise in mental gymnastics. My journalism professors taught me well, and it has served me throughout my professional career as a record producer, artist manager, graphics designer, promoter, public relations guru, and television and film producer. For that, I am eternally grateful.

I would like to encourage all Carolina alumni, young and old alike, to set up a living trust if they have not already done so. With wise planning, you can invest in the things you value most and make a lasting impact that will benefit future generations of students and professors. 

Carol and Michael Smith invested their professional careers at the University of South Carolina—now they’re investing in the institution in a different way to benefit future students and faculty.

Carol, now retired, was public information director at the School of Medicine for many years, and Michael is a long-serving professor of European history. Through a bequest and donated funds, they’ve established the Laura J. Smith Medical Scholarship Fund and the Michael S. Smith and Carol A. Smith European History Library Endowment Fund.

The medical scholarship fund honors the memory of their only child, Laura, who died in 2003 of congestive heart failure. The Smiths’ bequest will further endow the fund, which was established to support a need-based scholarship for future students at the School of Medicine. The library endowment will fund acquisitions of books and other materials on modern Europe in both English and foreign languages.

“These funds reflect where we spent our individual careers and honor what is most important to us,” Michael said. “We are glad to be able to assist both aspiring physicians and future generations of history students and faculty.” 

When Frances Black Farmer graduated 75 years ago from the School of Journalism, the Great Depression was on, J. Rion McKissick was the school dean, and students wrote their assignments on typewriters.

How times have changed. McKissick is now remembered as a beloved president from Carolina’s past—a Horseshoe building is named in his honor—and those not very portable typewriters have been replaced by wireless laptops. But Farmer, who passed away earlier this year, didn’t forget her school experience, and she won’t be forgotten. Her bequest of unrestricted funds to the School of Journalism and Mass Communications will help students and faculty for years to come.

“Every gift we receive is a treasure that will help us enhance students’ experience in our college,” said current dean Charles Bierbauer. “Frances Farmer’s bequest can be put to good use immediately where it’s needed most.

“A student might get scholarship aid that makes her presence here possible. A faculty member might get to develop and present a paper at a conference that makes his research more relevant to his teaching. The recipients will remember Frances Farmer’s tangible love for our college. And so will we.”

With wise planning you can provide a gift that will help Carolina students when today’s laptops are history, but the challenge of learning remains.

Wayne and Carolyn Polston of Wilmington, N.C., have great memories of their years at Carolina. Tailgating at Williams-Brice and attending basketball games coached by the legendary Frank McGuire are near the top of the list.

Carolyn, ’73, ’75 masters, attended Carolina as a National Merit Scholar and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in math. She lived in the original Columbia Hall, an old hotel that once was located across the street from the Statehouse, for her freshman year. Wayne, ’75, worked his way through Carolina’s engineering college, earning a bachelor’s degree.

Now their two sons, Tucker and Ross, are adding to the storehouse of the Polston family’s Carolina memories. Tucker is a first-year graduate student in the English department, having completed his bachelor’s degree as a McKissick Scholar. Ross is a sophomore mechanical engineering major and an Alumni Scholar.

“All four of us love college sports, and Wayne and I have been members of the Gamecock, then Roundhouse Clubs, since we graduated more than 30 years ago,” Carolyn said. “I have always had a goal of paying back the University for my education, a sort of ‘paying it forward.’” To accomplish that, Wayne and Carolyn have established scholarships in the College of Engineering and Computing and in the College of Arts and Sciences. They’ve also created a planned gift that will endow a professorship or faculty chair to benefit both colleges at Carolina.

Carolina has been a source of many happy memories for the Polstons. And their wise planning will provide future Carolina students with the same experience.

Irwin From of Spartanburg, S.C., likes the idea of building on something important to his family. That’s why he has continued the legacy of supporting scholarships that honor his grandparents, Israel and Bertha From, and his parents, Ellis and Maie From. Maie From served on the board that helped establish USC Union, one of Carolina’s regional campuses. The From scholarships are intended for students who attend USC Union and help defray a large portion of the annual tuition.

In addition to supporting the scholarships, Irwin also plans to establish charitable remainder trusts and other planned gifts that will benefit USC Union and create scholarships for Union County students attending USC Upstate, the University’s senior campus in Spartanburg.

With wise planning, you can create a legacy that will last for generations.

Earl and Sherry Whatley feel strongly about supporting South Carolina’s future educators in the College of Education. Earl was an assistant dean and professor in the college; Sherry earned a master’s degree in education at Carolina and later taught in public schools and became a principal.

They’ve chosen to bequest two generous scholarship funds that will support education students at the University of South Carolina in perpetuity. By investing in the education of future teachers, the Whatleys know that their gift will pay rich dividends for many years to come.

“We love the University—we met there and were married in the University’s Rutledge Chapel—and we both wanted to give something that would be meaningful and keep on giving long after we’re no longer here,” Sherry said.

With wise planning you can feel good now about providing future benefits that will last forever.