In recent months, Liberty University has received two generous bequests that will make a significant difference in the lives of Liberty students.
In June, Liberty received a bequest from the estate of Wesley E. Olson in the amount of $832,000.
Olson, of Big Stone County, Minn., was a strong supporter of Liberty and a regular donor from the early 1990s until his death on May 25, 2005. He was an active church member, a licensed lay speaker with the United Methodist Church, and served with the Gideons, as well as in prison ministry. Olson held bachelor’s and master’s degrees in teaching and was a substitute teacher for many years while farming full time. He was a lifelong learner who loved books and writing.
Including this most recent gift, Olson’s estate has given the university a total of nearly $1 million.
Another generous bequest was received by the Liberty University School of Law in August, the largest gift in the law school’s 10-year history.
The donation of close to $600,000 from Rosamond “Bunny” Carson Hall will establish scholarships for future Liberty Law students. Hall died June 9, 2013, at the age of 95.
Endowed scholarships will be set up in the name of Hall’s parents, Thomas and Ida Melcher Carson, and her brother, William Carson, starting as soon as the 2015-16 academic year.
A native of rural Missouri, Hall was known for “her beautiful singing voice and her love and devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ and … America,” according to her obituary. Hall attended a one-room country school as a child before she and her sisters, Bernice and Lois, moved to New York, where she helped manufacture the first nylon hosiery. She then met her husband, the late Ormsby “Jake” Hall, an accountant, in Columbus, Ohio, before moving back to Missouri. The couple dedicated their lives to “getting people saved and into the kingdom of God.” They demonstrated their faith, love of God, and patriotism to everyone they met.
“We are so thankful for dear friends like Mrs. Hall — servants of God and patriotic Americans who leave a generous legacy for future generations on this earth, even after they have gone to be with the Lord,” said Mathew Staver, dean of Liberty Law. “We will use this gift as an investment in training legal Champions for Christ for years to come until the Lord returns.”
- For more information on planned giving to Liberty University, visit www.LUgiving.com.
