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Mission minded
The Walla Walla University annual report for 2023-2024
WHEN WALLA WALLA UNIVERSITY opened its doors to those first 91 students during the blustery winter of 1892, its mission was clear: to provide “a Christian education, surrounded with influences favorable to the development of Christian character.”
While the verbiage has been edited and expanded upon over the ensuing 132 years, the original vision remains unchanged. A Christ-centered education endures. The lessons students learn at WWU far exceed art, math, and science. It’s here that students— tomorrow’s leaders—find their God-given purpose.
Their calling. Their mission. Whether it’s teaching third-graders long division. Or conducting ground-breaking cancer research. Or spreading the message of God’s love in a far-flung land. This is where those seeds are planted. WWU is where students discover and nurture their mission. And, in many cases, they in turn help the next generation do the same. Because it’s through generous alumni contributions —of time, of gifts, of money (some of which you will read about in the following pages)—that hundreds of today’s students are able to continue seeking their life’s mission at Walla Walla University.
Thank you!
Walla Walla University is a community of faith and discovery committed to excellence in thought, generosity in service, beauty in expression, and faith in God. In support of these core themes, from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024, alumni and other friends of the university gave gifts totaling $12,598,090.57
For class giving awards, endowed funds and scholarships, and other support information, view the full report.
A legacy rooted in generosity
IT WAS A WALLA WALLA COLLEGE AD in a Portland newspaper that caught the attention of Tom and Barbara Pelett. They knew of Walla Walla College because Barbara’s uncle, Dr. Jimmy Losey, operated a medical practice on College Avenue in College Place. So, when they saw the advertisement promoting planned giving, they arranged to visit the college.
Very poor in their younger years, Barbara and Tom each firmly believed that education would improve their opportunities. They worked whatever jobs they could find so that they could eventually enroll in college, the first in each of their families to do so.
Meeting and marrying later in life, Barbara and Tom lived frugally. They placed high value on earnest work, smart education, and sharing their financial blessings with others who needed a boost. Sharing with others was a life well-lived, they believed, and they established charitable funds to actualize their beliefs.
Barbara and Tom were impressed with their first visit to Walla Walla College, and they developed a friendship with Alan Fisher, then director of planned giving at the college. Heartened by the opportunity to help students in perpetuity, in December 1998 they established the Tom and Barbara Pelett Endowed Scholarship Fund at Walla Walla College. They resolved that gifts from their estate would one day provide more opportunity for students.
In their later years, Barbara and Tom found comfort in knowing that their legacy would live on. And this past year, their thoughtful planning and generous vision became a reality when the Tom and Barbara Pelett Endowed Scholarship Fund became fully funded.
Though they are no longer with us, Barbara and Tom’s legacy will extend well into the future through the scholarship, which will provide more than $30,000 every year to Walla Walla University students in perpetuity. What’s more, Barbara and Tom’s loved ones are grateful for the ongoing recognition of the couple’s hard work, commitment to education, and generous help for others. Lives well-lived, indeed.
WWU Santas plan for endless giving
NEARLY 20 YEARS AGO, Loren Dickinson had what he calls an uncomplicated thought:
“The good students who are unmentioned or unknown to most of us need a lift. And that lift ought to come at Christmastime.”
So, he reached out to about a dozen friends to ask if they’d want to become a kind of Santa Claus for Walla Walla University students. Many said yes, and the yearly Silent Santa giving project was born.
“Christmas is a time of high feelings and great expectations. But it’s also time where some students worry about finances, and how they’ll get through the holidays to winter quarter,” he says. “With gift-giving season abundantly around us, Christmas seems like the natural time to help.”
Each year, Dickinson and his fellow Santas provide funds that WWU’s Student Financial Services team can disperse to students, funds that are intended to be used for whatever is most helpful to the student. Students have used their Silent Santa gifts to pay bills, purchase Christmas presents for their loved ones, or even buy tires so they can drive home for the holidays, Dickinson says.
“Every dollar counts for these kids, and Silent Santa donors are excited to help somebody who seriously needs it. Many Silent Santas know what it’s like to worry about finances, and they’re grateful to be helping the people they once were.”
Eighteen years later, Dickinson had another thought:
“I know my days are numbered, and if we aren’t careful this Silent Santa thing could fade away.”
So, Dickinson and a handful of other Silent Santas established the Silent Santa Gift Endowment Fund. This endowed fund will distribute earnings from investments and reinvestments, extending the Silent Santa gift program in perpetuity.
“We’ve helped hundreds of students these 18 years,” Dickinson says. “Last year we had the money to provide gifts to 100 students. Right away, this endowment will be able to supply money each year for the future, and it will continue to grow into the future.”
Dickinson says he and about 80 Silent Santas feel blessed to provide this welcome holiday surprise to WWU students. “One Silent Santa recipient was so grateful that when she finished college, she collected her cash graduation gifts and gave back to the Silent Santa fund,” he says. “We like helping, we know it is appreciated, and now it can keep going.”
An honor leads to incredible blessings
NEARLY 100 WALLA WALLA University students have received much-appreciated financial support since 2017, thanks to a pair of hard-working parents and their grateful daughter.
This story starts with Lachlan and Ilda (Carpenter) Docherty. For more than 40 years, Lachlan was a timber faller and heavy equipment operator, providing high-quality wood for musical instruments, clocks, and furniture. Ilda graduated from Walla Walla College in 1936 and taught elementary school for more than 20 years. Both were determined that their own two daughters, Shirley and Patricia, would obtain a college education.
Their hard work led to both daughters attending Walla Walla College. Patricia graduated in 1968 with a bachelor’s degree in home economics. She married Paul Ackerman (att.) two years later, and over the years worked for a Job Corps Center and Visitron Industries, and as a teacher at Kirkland Seventh-day Adventist School and Sacramento Junior Academy. In 1980, Patricia obtained her Certified Public Accountant (CPA) license, and she served as a partner in a Continuous CPA firm.
In 2017, Patricia and Paul established the Ilda M. and Lachlan Docherty Annual Student Aid Scholarship in honor of her parents, and to award scholarships to deserving Walla Walla University students. Though Patricia passed away in 2023, her generosity and the memory of her hard-working parents continues to bless today’s students.
