Giving in the Spirit: Honoring Angela Perkins ’88

There’s a photo near the back of the 1988 Lantern yearbook, page 163, bottom of the page. In it is 18-year-old Angela Perkins, Class of 1988. She’s smiling widely, like she is in most photos. There’s a large bee drawn on the wall behind her and she’s holding two signs. One says: “Go Hutch!” The other reads: “Hutch Spirit!” The caption next to the photo reads: “Most School Spirited.”

“She absolutely was the most devoted to school spirit,” said Angela’s classmate and friend Pam Padgett Shumake ’88, who remembers her fondly. “Angela brought energy to everything that she did.”

Shumake works as Hutchison’s upper school counselor and counseling director and is very much a keeper and promoter of Hutchison’s school spirit. She remembered that one of Angela’s favorite things to do was to take photos. Mind you, this was back in 1988, when it wasn’t as easy as pulling out a cell phone and snapping a photo. “Angela wasn’t trying to be a professional photographer,” Shumake explained. “She loved taking pictures of friends at get- togethers, at events, at games. Half of her pictures would be the side of someone’s face, laughing or whatever. She loved to try to take embarrassing pictures with people. She was a character.”

The result was a huge collection of photos in shoe boxes of all of Angela’s friends and classmates over the high school years. “We’ve had opportunities to look at those photos and laugh and be embarrassed by some of them,” Shumake said. It was almost as if school spirit had moved Angela to document that time for her class. Sadly, Angela passed away in 1994.

Keeping a Connection with Hutchison

The Class of 1988 decided to establish an award in Angela’s honor. The Angela Perkins Goodwill Award is awarded to the senior and member of the Twelve Year Club who best meets these characteristics: genuine, amiable, caring, sympathetic, sociable, energetic, pleasant, goodnatured, warm, understanding.

“That’s Angela, absolutely,” Shumake said.

The Class of 1988, as well as friends from MUS who knew Angela, kept in touch with Angela’s parents, Liz and Dwight. “For years, her parents came to see who would receive the Goodwill Award,” Shumake said. “They stayed connected to the school.”

When Dwight passed away, Hutchison and MUS students helped with Dwight’s estate and became a conservator for Liz. When Liz passed away, they finalized the estate. That was when they found out that Angela’s parents had left a gift to Hutchison in their will. “The amount of money could have helped the Perkins in different ways,” Shumake said, “but they made the choice to leave that money to Hutchison because they never broke that connection, that bond. I think a donation was a way that they kept part of Angela’s memory as a student here alive in their minds. “The gift is gigantic in love.” The money will be used to fund school spirit and culture initiatives.

“School spirit is not something that is just for fun or for when we take a break,” Shumake explained. “It’s one of the most important ways to build your culture and keep it intact. It brings a lot of joy to the whole school, and people do better in school when they feel connected and love their school.”

That’s certainly something Angela would cheer for.

Pam Padgett Shumake and Angela

Ann Weaver Wilson, Angela, Kim Gore Battaile

Angela with Kim

Kim, Piper Sammons Rauzi ’91, Angela

Angela and Ann

Whitney Miller with Angela

Angela with her camera!

Consider a Planned a Gift to Hutchison

Have you ever wanted to make a larger gift to Hutchison, but hesitated to do so because other financial priorities interfered with that desire? Through careful consideration of what you choose to give and the timing of your gift, you may find you can give more than you ever thought possible.

 Give Gifts of Appreciated Securities

A donation of securities held for more than one year offers special tax advantages by eliminating capital gains and may offer a tax deduction for the fair market value of the stock.

 Provide Tax-free Gifts to Your Children and Grandchildren

If you anticipate owing gift or estate tax on amounts you wish your loved ones to eventually receive, there are ways to direct gifts to Hutchison in lieu of taxes.

 Make a Gift to Hutchison Through Your Estate

Including the school in your will or other estate plans offers ways to reduce or eliminate estate tax on the amount donated.

To learn more, visit hutchisonschool.org/giving and click on Planned Giving.

Beth Corley, development director, can talk with you about creative gift planning ideas. 901-507-2472 | bcorley@hutchisonschool.org.