Beneficiaries: Area organizations
Fund: Joyce L. Beckhusen Endowment Fund

Joyce L. Beckhusen recognized her mortality and sought to leave behind a permanent gift which would benefit San Angelo and the surrounding area.

A native of Rowena, Joyce graduated from Miles High School in 1948 and from San Angelo College in 1950 (now Angelo State University). Her first job was working as an operator for the Rowena phone system, back when they still had “crank” telephones. She continued her career in the engineering department for GTE (now Verizon) for 35-plus years and was a member of the Trinity Lutheran Church in San Angelo.

Joyce always believed in supporting her church and remembered to name the church in her estate plans, too. When she passed away in 2004, she created a permanent legacy by creating an unrestricted endowment fund at the San Angelo Area Foundation.

The Joyce Beckhusen Endowment Fund wiil forever make grants to area organizations through the grant-making programs of the Foundation.

Every year the Foundation receives grant requests for un-met or un-funded needs of our area. While it is easy to identify our own favorite charities while we are alive, Joyce placed her trust in the board of directors of the San Angelo Area Foundation, to fund grants from the earnings of this gift and help fund the needs of tomorrow.

In just one short year, the fund has grown by more than 10% and has already made grants to the Concho Valley Regional Food Bank and the James Phillips Williams Foundation.

This type of gift is truly the art of charity by a humble and conservative philanthropist. Joyce never sought recognition for her gifts, simply wishing to leave the world a better place than she found it.