September 17, 2002
Trucking industry executive,
wife
leave $500,000 to ISU
Bequest to fund scholarships for business students, athletes
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Frances and Welby Frantz |
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. —
Two groups of students and two
campus buildings will benefit from recently announced gifts to the
Indiana State University Foundation.
A $500,000 bequest
from the estate of Welby M. and Frances C. Frantz will be divided
evenly for scholarships in the School of Business and for student
athletes while a $90,000 bequest from the late June Cunningham
Hazeldine will be split equally between Cunningham Memorial Library
and Normal Hall.
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Welby Frantz was a
trucking industry executive in Terre Haute and a long time advocate
and benefactor of higher education. Frances Frantz was a teacher of
dance and physical education in Peoria, Ill., prior to the
couple’s marriage.
During a nearly
30-year career with Eastern Express, Welby Frantz built the Terre
Haute business into one of the leading motor carrier companies in
the nation. He served as vice chairman of American Trucking
Association for 15 years and was a director of the United States
Chamber of Commerce.
Frantz shared his
knowledge of business with Indiana State students as a distinguished
executive in residence in the School of Business. He served on the
ISU Foundation Board of Directors for 30 years, 15 years as
president. He received an honorary doctorate degree from ISU in
1994.
“There are many
exciting opportunities in the ISU School of Business. One such
opportunity is increasing emphasis on providing additional support
for outstanding students who wish to major in business at ISU,”
said Ronald F. Green, the school’s dean. “Gifts such as this
will play a major role in the future development of our school and
will allow us to attract even more highly qualified students to our
program.”
Athletic Director
Andrea Myers was coach of the Lady Sycamore basketball team from
1982 to 1989 and recalls the Frantzes’ love for athletics.
“Fran mentioned
to me that, although she had been a dancer rather than an athlete,
how much she enjoyed watching what was happening with women’s
athletics at that time,” Myers said. “They certainly had a love
for athletics and were great fans and great supporters. We really
appreciate what they have done for intercollegiate athletics.”
The Frantzes’
gift will empower young people starting a new chapter in their
lives, said ISU President Lloyd W. Benjamin III.
“People make a
lot of investments here, of themselves and
other people. This
couple clearly did in the cultural life of this community as well as
Indiana State University. [Their] years of service is very
impressive,” Benjamin said. “They will indeed be proud of how we
will manage these funds and the consequences it will have in the
lives of young people.”
Cari Sparks, manager of the trust department at Terre Haute First
National Bank and a friend of the Frantzes, announced the gift.
Welby Frantz served on the board of directors of Terre Haute First
from 1964 until his death in 1996. Frances Frantz died in September
2001.
Friends and family
members say the advancement of arts and education is an important
part of the legacy of Jane Cunningham Hazeldine, a long time civic
leader who died in August.
“She had a
passion for history. She had a passion for education and all the
cultures that go with those things,” Ted Hazeldine said.
Jane
Hazeldine’s father, Arthur Cunningham, was a pioneer in library
science and ISU’s Cunningham Memorial Library is named for him,
Ted Hazeldine noted. The library was originally housed in Normal
Hall.
“She looked
upon the Normal Hall preservation, and what we all hope would be the
ultimate restoration of it, to be a point of emphasis on the ISU
campus that would be available to alumni groups,” he said.
“As far as the
whole academic community, she worked at Rose-Hulman (Institute of
Technology) and was close to the leaders of both schools.
Historically, she was just fond of seeing to it that both
institutions flourished.”
Cunningham was
instrumental in getting the ISU library started and was the original
owner of part of the ground on which the first library building
stands, Susan Davis, ISU archivist, said.
“I always call
him a librarian before his time because he really did know his
stuff,” Davis said. “Jane I’m sure remembered coming into the
library as a child.”
Though it has
been empty for 30 years, Normal Hall is now on the Indiana Register
of Historic Places, Davis noted, suggesting Hazeldine’s gift may
be the inspiration needed to finally spark its renovation.
Normal Hall,
which opened in 1909, is “the heritage of Cunningham, but it’s
the legacy of the university as a normal school,” said Davis.
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Contact:
Office
of University Development, (812) 237-3669.
Writer:
Dave Taylor, ISU Public Affairs
(812) 237-3743 or devtaylo@isugw.indstate.edu
ISU
Public Affairs:
(812)
237-3773 or http://isunews.indstate.edu