Mark Tuschak, vice president for advancement and public affairs; Masue Griffin, William G. Hall Endowed Nursing Grant recipient; Elizabeth Hall and Karen Kilgore

The Schreiner nurses were just wonderful,” remembers Elizabeth Hall, “at a time that was really hard for our family. My husband, Bill, had been admitted to the hospital in grave condition, and all of us knew that he wasn’t going to be returning home.

“The kindness and professionalism of both the graduate nurses and the students-in- training made that difficult time so much easier, ” adds Betty. “It was then and there that I decided I wanted to do something to help the vocational nursing program both while I was alive and through my estate.”

And help she has. In the 1980s, Mrs. Hall established a vocational nursing scholarship endowment in memory of her beloved husband. Over the years, she has enjoyed meeting and encouraging many student nurses who have received assistance from the William G. Hall Endowed Nursing Grant. Then later, as Betty was developing a thoughtful estate plan, she created a charitable trust that will ultimately provide 50 percent of its remainder for the family scholarship.

But this loyal and loving Schreiner donor still had other ideas for helping. In September, she moved from her gracious Kerrville home to be closer to loved ones in Houston. She now has a modern and inviting condominium at the Bayou Manor retirement complex.

“I really did not have the heart to live in my house while it was on the market. I wanted to just walk away from it and let someone else deal with its disposition. And I had heard that Schreiner could convert a personal residence into several kinds of charitable gifts,” explains Betty. “So I asked Schreiner if they would be interested and was delighted when we worked out a ‘win/win’ plan.”

Mrs. Hall’s plan is a charitable gift annuity funded with the sale proceeds of a mortgage-free home. Step one was securing a certified appraisal to determine the property’s value. Then the Texas Presbyterian Foundation (TPF) agreed to fund the gift annuity immediately and take responsibility for the home’s sale. In Betty’s case, TPF issued a gift annuity valued at 85 percent of the home’s value. (The margin covers the property’s carrying cost to maintain and sell the home: insurance, realtor’s commissions, property taxes, etc.)

Next, an attorney created a simple gift deed to transfer the property to TPF. Once those steps were completed, Betty could turn her attention to her new home and the challenges of “downsizing.” Two weeks after she transferred the house, Betty moved to her new home in Houston—confident that the Kerrville property was going to be maintained carefully.

And, of course, she was pleased about the great tax planning accomplished through her gift. Schreiner’s devoted donor now enjoys handsome monthly income that is guaranteed for life. In addition, she receives an up-front charitable income tax deduction for this year, and a portion of the income she receives is tax-free.

“Better than the smooth transition and the new income,” Betty explains, “is the knowledge that I found another way to help a cause that is very important to me. I had the opportunity to spend time with the nursing students and their great instructors last August. I am so happy to help them build a stronger department and to show them how much I care about their future!”

Betty Hall has also given a powerful gift of encouragement to Schreiner’s student nurses. They frequently face challenging days as they juggle family and school, as they learn new procedures in demanding clinical rotations. Even on those days, Schreiner’s students can pause and remember that a dear lady in Houston is counting on them becoming the best nurses they can be.

Someone wise said “the best use of life is to invest it in something that outlasts life.” Elizabeth Hall has shown Schreiner’s nursing students and the entire campus community how to do just that!