Gary Powell '76 Makes Bequest in His Will to Create a Legacy at PLU

Gary Powell ’76 is passionate about helping young people obtain a college education. He and his wife of 16 years, Jane, currently support students at six universities—including PLU—and he has made a bequest in his will to continue that support for generations to come. “PLU has meant a great deal to me.” Gary says, “and I want to give back to provide for others as earlier generations provided for my PLU education.”

After receiving his M.Div. from The Iliff School of Theology in 1980, Gary served as a United Methodist Minister from 1980 to 2015. “I loved my work and the opportunity to interact with people from all walks of life,” he says. “It gave me the opportunity to serve as a teacher, a mentor, a counselor, a business-person, a community organizer, and a friend.”

A native of Portland, Oregon, Gary says he chose PLU because it had a strong reputation for quality liberal arts education. His older brother was attending PLU and spoke highly of the quality of his classes. Gary also liked the fact that a smaller school offered him the opportunity to participate in extra-curricular activities like intramural sports, music, drama, and various campus clubs and organizations.

“I planned to attend seminary to become a United Methodist Minister,” Gary says, “but I wanted to attend an undergraduate university that came from a different Christian tradition. I also wanted to attend a small school where I could get to know professors, students, and administrators. It was enough distance from Portland so that I would not travel home that often and thus would learn to be self-reliant.

“PLU opened my eyes to the wider world,” Gary continues. “Prior to attending PLU, I had not traveled far from home, nor had I experienced people from different ethnic backgrounds. At PLU, I met people from throughout the United States and around the world. I read books that opened my eyes to areas of study I had never thought about. I learned study habits and developed patterns of critical thinking that have guided me in my vocation, my family, and my interactions with the community.”

In encouraging fellow alumni to support PLU, Gary reminds them that “we are part of a legacy that began long before we arrived on campus. It was earlier generations that had the vision, constructed the buildings, supported the endowment, and created the PLU that we inherited for our four years. They built the endowment. It’s now our turn to create a legacy.”