Amazing gift keeps giving
From her modest home in Carterton, a schoolteacher built a property empire that is now helping inspire the next generation to change the world.
World Vision was one of the late Dulcie Routhan’s favourite charities, and this year’s nationwide youth conference series and 40 Hour Famine were funded by her estate.
Before her death in 2012, Routhan built an impressive property empire in Carterton of 32 houses plus a dairy farm.
Following several bequests to specified charities, World Vision was the residuary beneficiary receiving the remaining proceeds.
One of the organisers of World Vision’s Youth Conference series, which is being held around the country, had a personal connection to Routhan.
Event manager Katy Prosser’s grandmother was a colleague and her mother, Maggie Flynn, was a student of Routhan when she taught at Kuranui College.
Prosser said it was fitting that Routhan’s legacy would help inspire young people with the conference series challenging participants to ‘‘shape history’’.
‘‘We’re just so thrilled that we get to honour her memory through what is such a pivotal education moment for these students. It’s something we think would have aligned with her values.’’
The conferences are being held in Dunedin, Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington.
Prosser’s grandmother Pat Flynn, 98, of Featherston, was a fellow teacher of Routhan’s and had been gathering information on her legacy to help World Vision present her story.
‘‘I’ve found heaps and heaps of interesting stuff about her.’’
Routhan was an only child and never married, which meant the community was the main beneficiary of her assets when she died.
She was known to be a very compassionate landlady, often foregoing rent when tenants were in tight circumstances.
In 2007, Routhan talked about her passion for real estate and the substantial property portfolio she had amassed: ‘‘I started buying houses and doing them up, and I got such a thrill, I couldn’t stop.’’
Routhan fostered several philanthropic causes while she was alive and gifted land and money to the community and to charities.
Not long after she died in 2012, her friend Geoff Smith described her as a ‘‘tough old bird with a heart of gold’’.
She donated the land to the district that is now the popular recreational reserve Sparks Park – named in memory of her grandparents who were among the first settlers of the area.
Her estate also financed the purchase and construction of several housing units at Carter Court resthome.
World Vision national director Grant Bayldon said Routhan’s contributions had also been used to support overseas development efforts and fundraising costs over the years.
‘‘As a teacher we know the World Vision 40 Hour Famine and events like the Youth Conference series were very important to Miss Routhan, so we’re really happy that this year those events have been funded by her gift.’’