Shaping the future today

Margaret Stockdale McCoy '39, a knowledgeable businesswoman and dedicated alumna, believes that planned giving to Wooster makes good sense.

"It's a way to shape the future by investing your money in the things that are important to you," she says. At the top of her priority list is helping students who otherwise would not be able to afford a college education. "If those of us who have had the benefit of a Wooster education can help provide one to others, that seems important to me."

A double major in speech and English, McCoy recalls the lasting impact of her teachers, particularly professors Freddie Moore (English), Aileen Dunham (History), and Emerson Miller (Speech). She was active in the French and International Clubs and was involved in debating, following in the footsteps of her brother, Craig T. Stockdale '31.

After graduation, McCoy studied retailing at the University of Pittsburgh. She worked for several department stores, was head of research at the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, and retired as vice president of the Allegheny Lumber & Supply Company.

McCoy's service to Wooster spans four decades. She has been a member of the Alumni Board and a trustee, and in 1991 received the John D. McKee Award for Outstanding Service. She and her late husband, Richard H. McCoy, endowed a library fund and a scholarship, which she continues to augment through a variety of planned giving strategies, such as charitable gift annuities and charitable lead trusts.

A charitable gift annuity "provides income during your lifetime," she says, plus the assurance that your personal funds go to those things that are important to you, rather than to impersonal taxes.

"The friends I made and the philosophies I learned at Wooster have been important throughout my life. It's very important that young people have the chance to experience the kind of education that Wooster can give."