The charitable legacy of Gloria ZuHoene
Generous heart: Vancouver woman leaves $ 10,000 to The Vancouver Sun Children’s Fund
It came as no surprise to those who knew Gloria ZuHoene that she would remember children in need as one of her last charitable acts.
And not just because she never had children of her own, or because she was always the first to lend a helping hand to family and strangers alike.
ZuHoene, who died on June 14 last year after a well- lived 89 years spent mostly in Vancouver, was just that kind of woman. So when her family heard that she had left $ 10,000 of her estate to The Vancouver Sun Children’s Fund, they could only nod and say, well, that’s our Gloria.
Gloria Lillian was born a prairie girl in Regina, arriving on March 28, 1924, the eldest of the six children of Josephine and James Sullivan. She was a good daughter and worked hard, and when she met Herman ZuHoene, an energetic German man, there was no looking back. They fell in love, married and headed out west to B. C., living for a time in Ocean Falls before moving to Vancouver.
Jan Stankey, the daughter of Gloria’s late brother Jack, says she “had always heard about her,” but first met her Aunt Gloria when she was in Grade 9 and took a trip to Vancouver for a visit. The two became close and stayed that way over the years. Gloria never failed to acknowledge a birthday with a card, and Stankey, who still lives with her family in Regina, came out to the coast and stayed with her at least once a year.
Stankey remembers her aunt and Uncle Herman, who died in 1998 and was “the love of her life,” as a devoted, funloving couple. “She just wasn’t able to have children. She tried to adopt, but it didn’t work out. And she would have made the most incredible mother. She was just so loving and caring.”
That she would be so giving in death as she was in life didn’t surprise Stankey and other family members. “What was important to her was that charities got money, and that we got money,” she says.
Peter Jackman, who is in charge of donor services at the Vancouver Foundation, which partners with The Vancouver Sun Children’s Fund, says Gloria’s is “one of the largest such gifts in the fund’s history.”
Over the years, he says, the 33- year- old fund has seen a handful of estate bequests ( or what he calls “planned gifts”), but that number has increased to several a year.
It’s a trend, according to Jackman, that charities across Canada are experiencing. Some donors leave a specific amount to a charity in their will, while other options ( usually determined with the help of an experienced adviser) include naming the charity as a life insurance or RRSP beneficiary.
Jackman says donors view estate gifts as “an extremely effective way of carrying on your support for the people and causes that mattered most to you during your lifetime. Planned giving is a big deal, and becoming bigger every day as the silverhaired tsunami grows.”
Gloria never talked about money, says Stankey, although she clearly managed it well. She always worked, at places like Army & Navy and The Bay. She and Herman owned a Vancouver home, but Gloria decided they needed to move to something smaller, a condominium, because “she thought they didn’t have enough money.
“Turned out she did. She just never talked about it. She would send money to her family. She kind of looked after everybody.”
Gloria lived out her last years as a cherished 18- year resident of the South Granville Park Lodge. She had suffered from various ailments, including breast cancer, but died of pulmonary disease.
When talking about her aunt’s generous donation to the Children’s Fund, there was a catch in Stankey’s voice, and a great deal of pride. “She was just the most caring person.”