Marilyn Facka Brill ’69 first heard about Austin College from boarders who rented a spare bedroom in her mother’s household. The renters were student teachers from Austin College and Marilyn liked what she heard from them about the College, and followed in their footsteps, first to Austin College, later into teaching.
Marilyn especially appreciated the quality education Austin College provided. She enjoyed classical history and majored in history and Latin. She remembers fondly professors J.D. Sadler, Myron Low, and A.J. Carlson, among others. “I made lifelong friends at Austin College. As a small, intimate institution, the College gave me the opportunity to really blossom as a person, to grow, and to try new things. I was able to develop leadership through my sorority and other organizations on campus.”
Life after graduation took Marilyn far from Austin College. She was accepted into the Duke University Masters in Teaching program and was teaching in Halifax, Va., at the time of the federal order for desegregation. “I started the school year teaching world history in an all-white high school and by mid-year was in a desegregated junior high school teaching Latin.”
Perhaps that early exposure to the actions of politics led her in later directions. Since 1972, Marilyn has lived in Pennsylvania, currently in Lewisburg, the home of Bucknell University. There she became involved with the League of Women Voters, serving eventually as the president of the state chapter, and then First Vice President of the national organization.
In 1996 Marilyn was honored to be an International Observer for Bosnia’s first democratic election, “an experience that was incredible.” She returned to Austin College in 1997 to share her experiences in Bosnia with the Austin College Leadership Institute. She told students that the Bosnians and Herzegovinians, though not enthralled by an election forced on them, stood for hours in line to vote under extreme conditions, with 99% of the citizens throughout the country casting a ballot.
While on the national board of the League of Women Voters, Marilyn undertook fundraising for the League’s multi-million dollar campaign. “I would talk to members about the benefits of planned gifts and thought ‘I should be doing this.'”
Marilyn continues to support the College today through gifts to the annual fund and now has made provision through a Charitable Remainder Trust (CRT) to support the College in the future. “A CRT has the advantage of giving to an organization dear to you and also provides a benefit to the donor of an income throughout your lifetime,” explains Jennifer Pearson, Director of Major Gifts & Estate Planning.”
For more information about how you can make a difference at Austin College by establishing a CRT, please contact us at plannedgiving@austincollege.edu or 903.813.2336.
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