Spring - University of Central Missouri

Future Thinking Now
By Mike Greife ’74
Eugenia Crain established a
scholarship through a charitable
annuity with the UCM Foundation.
Dale Carder, interim executive
director, notes that annuities are
a venue that friends and alumni
should consider. “For people tired
of getting a one percent return on
their investments, a charitable gift
annuity pays five percent or better
guaranteed. And you help more
students become UCM graduates,”
he says.
A charitable gift annuity works
simply, starting with a minimum gift
of $25,000. “Based on the ages of
you and your spouse, a return rate is
locked in for the remainder of both
of your lives. You draw a guaranteed
quarterly payment,” Carder
says. “Upon death, you can have
predetermined what the remainder
of your annuity funds, such as an
academic program or scholarship.
Depending on your tax bracket,
about 50% of your donation is tax
deductible and in some cases, even
the first two or three years of your
quarterly payments are tax free.”
22 SPRING 2011
Eugenia Crain’s career as an educator
provided her with opportunities to meet
interesting people who encouraged her
to explore new challenges. Now retired,
the professor emeritus of accounting has
made those same opportunities available
to new generations of University of
Central Missouri students by establishing a
charitable gift annuity that eventually will
provide a $100,000 gift through the UCM
Foundation for scholarships.
A native of Sturgeon, MO, Crain graduated
from Northeast Missouri State Teachers
College in 1942. After working for the state
family services agency, she began teaching
high school business classes in 1946 in New
Franklin, MO. She soon moved across the
river to Boonville, where she and her first
husband, the late Aven Roberts, taught
at Kemper Military Academy. While
teaching at Kemper, she obtained her
master’s and specialist’s degrees from the
University of Missouri.
Following Roberts’ death in 1969, Crain
taught briefly at Northeast Missouri State
before accepting an opportunity to come
to UCM as an accountant in the financial
affairs office working with sponsored
programs. She had remarried, and she
and her husband, Stanley Crain, took
advantage of the opportunity to move to
Warrensburg in 1972.
“Dr. Wyss was the vice president for
financial affairs at the time, and I had
known him when he lived Boonville,”
Crain says. “I saw him one day when I
was visiting in Boonville, and he asked me
if I would consider coming to CMSU. It
sounded like a wonderful opportunity.
It seems so many of the wonderful
experiences in my life have come from
generous offers from people I know.”
While serving as an accountant in
financial affairs, she also taught a class in
accounting. Wyss encouraged her to begin
teaching accounting courses in the College
of Business. That opportunity turned into
a career preparing UCM students for the
business world.
Following Mr. Crain’s death in 2000, she
retired in 2001, but not before making
the decision to establish the Stanley
and Eugenia R. Crain Scholarship for
undergraduate students in accounting
through the UCM Foundation.
Crain is enjoying her retirement, where
she remains active in the Columbia
community. She recalls her years at
UCM and in the Warrensburg community
with fondness.
“My years at UCM were filled with
wonderful friendships on campus and
in Warrensburg,” she says. “I wanted to
enable future students to share the same
benefits I received at UCM. Those benefits
included the counsel of fellow teachers
and administrators who worked hard to
provide the leadership and service that
produced the quality education enjoyed by
UCM students.”
She still finds time to interact with young
people, maintaining her season tickets
for the University of Missouri women’s
basketball games. She stays in touch with
friends in Warrensburg and still hears from
former students.
“Education is important,” she says. “It’s
important to support the schools that
educate the American public. The
success of our democracy depends on
an educated public.”