September 27, 2001

WKU Alumna Leaves
$3.5 Million To WKU For Scholarships

Bowling Green, Ky. - It was hard to tell that Mary Hutto was a millionaire. She lived a frugal lifestyle, often doing without personal luxuries.

But Hutto had a keen interest in education, specifically Western Kentucky University, and was a shrewd investor in the stock market. And when she died in April, she left $3.5 million to WKU for scholarships for Kentucky students.

The gift is the second-largest in Western's history and the second-largest gift designated for scholarships at a Kentucky public university.

"These scholarships will go to good students, students who are leaders in their high schools," said WKU President Gary Ransdell. "We have limited capacity to award academic scholarships and we often run out of scholarship money before we get to these students. In one gift, Mary Hutto has provided a permanent source of scholarship funding for some of these worthy students."

Interest from the endowment will provide $175,000 annually to fund 70 renewable scholarships at $2,500. The scholarships would be for students who rank high in their class or score high on the ACT, but don't qualify for a President's or Regents scholarship or an Award of Excellence.

Hutto was born Aug. 6, 1905, in Bowling Green. After graduating from Western Kentucky University in 1927 with a degree in education, she took a teaching job in Florida where she met her husband, H.W. Hutto, a Maytag dealer in Stuart, Fla. He was killed in a car accident in 1953 and Mary Hutto took over the dealership for a short time.

Hutto returned to Bowling Green and managed a boardinghouse owned by her parents. Most of the borders were Western students. She often slept in the hallway so that paying tenants occupied each room. After retirement, and with the onset of physical disabilities, she returned to Florida where she lived until her death on April 9, 2001.

Ron Beck, a former director of planned giving at Western, characterized Hutto as "a very practical, very disciplined lady. As with many people who grew up in the Depression era, she was instilled with the savings spirit. She lived a modest lifestyle and saved everything she could."

Beck said she had a fondness for Western, Bowling Green and Kentucky that stemmed from growing up in Bowling Green, but grew in intensity after she moved to Florida.

Hutto's gift was announced last October, but she insisted on remaining anonymous. She had previously made gifts totaling $250,000 for scholarships.

"She had a love for education, a love for Western and a love for Kentucky," Dr. Ransdell said. "She wanted to create a legacy so that young Kentuckians would get a higher education."

For more information, contact Tom Hiles, vice president for Development and Alumni Relations, at (270) 745-6208. A photo of Mary Hutto is available from the Media Relations office at (270) 745-4295. More WKU news is available on the World Wide Web at www.wku.edu. If you'd like to receive WKU news via E-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.