An Eye Toward the Future

Award-winning teacher Carol Brewer '73 reflects on hard work, Earlham principles and the importance of producing readers and thinkers.

It was 1969, three years before she would enroll in Earlham, and Carol Brewer was about as far from Richmond, Indiana, as she could get.

"I was a library aide in Puerto Rico, believe it or not," she explains, recalling her husband's deployment there during the Vietnam War, an event that cut short her teaching degree. "There really wasn't anywhere to finish my degree. So I worked at a school on base, and I saved my money."

With her savings, Carol was soon reaping the fruit of an Earlham education. While her time on campus was short—Carol finished her English major and education minor in a single year—it was transformative.

"Earlham is different," she says with conviction, remembering the rigor of her research courses and the camaraderie of her classmates. She's passing on the value of reading and thinking to her students at Father Ryan's High School in Nashville, Tennessee, where she's taught honors English for 27 years.

That connection to Earlham led Carol to establish a charitable gift annuity, also known as a gift that gives back. It was an option she'd been considering for years, awaiting the right time and resources.

"It was a little seed that grew in my mind," she says, noting both the tax advantage of giving a gift and the steady payments she would receive in retirement made it an attractive option. Better still, the remainder value of the gift will support Earlham's endowed scholarship fund, providing financial aid directly to students.

"I hope this enables someone else to have a good experience," Carol says. "The money really does make a difference."

Help the next generation of Earlham students while receiving steady retirement income in return. Contact Gail Connerley at 765-983-1439 or gailc@earlham.edu to learn how a charitable gift annuity can benefit you.