BY JANET C. WETZEL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
OXFORD -- For more than 60 years, Elizabeth Turner was an avid supporter of her alma mater. This week, 35 years after her death, she gave the largest gift.
Miss Turner's $4.5 million bequest to Miami University is among the 10 biggest single donations to Miami since it was founded in 1809, said Holly Wissing, Miami spokeswoman.
It is also the second major bequest to the university in the past year. In 1997, it received $6.5 million from Arretha Cornell Sheriff, a Miami graduate.
Miss Turner, a Butler County native and a 1907 graduate of Western College for Women, specified that her estate should benefit her relatives during their lifetimes, and that the balance go to Western College for Women. The college became a part of Miami in 1974, and now houses Miami's Interdisciplinary Studies, also known as the Western Program.
"She was really devoted to Western College, and was a very avid alumna," Mrs. Wissing said. "She was active in both the national and the local Western College Alumnae Association. It was a very important part of her life."
In a tribute written when Miss Turner died in 1963 at age 80, Jane Howe, a fellow alumna, said Miss Turner was the college's first class representative, and she took her duties seriously. She held her classmates and other alumnae together over the years by "diligent and assiduous correspondence."
After graduating from college, she taught in public schools in Washington for several years before taking a teaching job in Hamilton in 1922. She "became one of the most popular teachers in the history of Hamilton High School," the tribute said. Even after retiring in 1944 she kept in touch with former students around the globe.
"She was a devoted educator, avid sports fan and the friend of thousands of Hamilton High School graduates," Mrs. Wissing said.
"As a favorite teacher of two generations of Hamilton High students she was committed to helping young people, just as she was committed to Western College," Miami President James C. Garland said.
Her bequest will be used to establish the Western Dean's Scholarship Fund. Scholarships will be awarded on the basis of merit and - or need, are expected to cover a minimum of half the cost of tuition and fees, and are renewable for four years.
Upon receiving Miss Turner's gift, "there was considerable discussion on how she would have wanted that money to be used. And it was decided that she would have liked it to be used for scholarships for the Western Program," Mrs. Wissing said. About 10-12 students will be given scholarships annually, with a total of about 48 in the program at once.
Applications for the scholarship funds must be completed by Jan. 31. Contact Miami's admissions office at 513-529-2531 for more information.
