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Issue: Summer 2012 | Posted: June 18, 2012

Old School

Loyalty, consistency and faithfulness: �鶹��Ƶ’s long-term donors

Many donor tributes rightfully focus on sacrificial giving at a time of great need. At �鶹��Ƶ in recent years, donors have stepped up to help rebuild the campus after the 2008 tornado and to contribute to the construction of �鶹��Ƶ’s new library.

Sometimes lost in those moments is the role of another kind of donor — one who contributes faithfully and consistently, year-after-year.

About 350 donors have given to �鶹��Ƶ for at least 10 consecutive years; roughly 75 of those for more than 25 consecutive years. Many churches appear on those lists, as do the names of alumni and friends who have invested in the long-term mission of the University.

Among them: Mark (’51) and Christine (’51) Fairless.

“So many of the (church-supported) colleges have adjusted to what the world wants, but �鶹��Ƶ has stayed with their mission,” says Christine. “�鶹��Ƶ has stuck to our idea of what a college should do and could do.”

Christine is a retired teacher. Mark is a retired pastor and also served for 26 years as an Air Force chaplain, a job that took them all over the world. The couple now lives in Jackson again and “counts it a privilege” to attend �鶹��Ƶ athletics events and music recitals.

“We are West Tennesseans, and �鶹��Ƶ has been in our vocabulary since those early childhood years,” Mark says. “(�鶹��Ƶ has) done so well with what resources they’ve had, in good times and bad times.”

History teaches that reliable annual giving has played a crucial role in �鶹��Ƶ’s overall development.

“There is much to be said for loyalty, consistence and faithfulness,” says �鶹��Ƶ President David S. Dockery. “Partnerships that stretch over many years have benefitted this place in ways that are beyond measure.”