The estate of a double graduate of Bridgewater, who enjoyed a long career in elementary education, has gifted $1.8 million to the BSU Foundation to support students majoring in teacher education.
Ruth Donnelly, born in Worcester in 1931 and twice orphaned in her young life, earned her undergraduate degree in elementary education at Bridgewater in 1952 and her master’s in 1976. She lived in Norwood at the time of her graduation and worked on Cape Cod every summer throughout her undergraduate years at Bridgewater.
“Ruth believed that without the scholarship she received to attend Bridgewater, she never would have had the opportunity to pursue higher education,” said Christine Pellegri, a major gifts officer at Bridgewater who met her two years ago. Ruth was orphaned at birth and later as an adolescent when her parents who had adopted her when she was 3 years old died within a few weeks of each other.
After teaching in Greenwich, Conn., and Germany, she moved to California where she taught in the Palo Alto school district for 35 years. A cancer survivor, she started a school for terminally and critically ill children at Stanford University Medical Center who previously were unable to continue with their studies because they were too ill to leave the hospital.
The donation will enhance the Ruth Donnelly Scholarship Fund, an endowed fund she established in 2013 that has provided scholarships to undergraduate students who intend to become elementary school teachers.
With the $1.8 million gift, the fund will now be able provide $5,000 scholarships to 15 students every year. The gift is the single largest ever designated to students in teacher preparation programs through the university’s College of Education and Allied Studies.
“Ruth never expected to be able to make such a significant gift, but once she was in a position to give back, she wanted to help other students achieve their dreams,” Ms. Pellegri said. (Story by Eva Gaffney)