 Charles F. (Chuck) and Ruth (Gussie) Warden have many reasons to give back to Cornell. “In addition to meeting each other,” Chuck says, “we have made lifelong friends from Cornell who have been instrumental in our good life.”
Chuck, a native of Massachusetts, and Ruth, who’s from Muscatine, Iowa, are both graduates of Cornell College’s Class of 1941. Ruth graduated with a degree in art, and Chuck has a degree in business. Years later, their daughter also attended Cornell.
Their time at Cornell was the beginning of a wonderful life together. The Wardens have been married for 60 years. Today, as “snowbirds,” they split their time between their home in Boulder, Colo., and Sun City, Ariz.
To pay back Cornell for a sound education and wonderful memories, the Wardens established a charitable gift annuity with the college. They had always planned on making a gift to the college. But with today’s interest rates, it made sense for them to make the gift now and benefit from the results.
As a lawyer, Chuck was familiar with charitable gift annuities. He feels they are a sound investment decision. “For anyone who has an investment that’s just producing interest and plans to make a gift anyway, this is a smart way to do it. The income tax deductions on the subsequent receipts are substantial,” says Chuck.
To establish a charitable gift annuity, the Wardens made a gift to Cornell College; in return, they will receive a fixed stream of payments for their lifetimes. “We lost the principal, of course, but we were going to do that anyway,” says Chuck.
For them, it’s a small price to pay. “The four years we spent at Cornell, were some of the happiest years of our lives,” says Ruth. Now future generations of students will benefit from the same experiences.
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