Ouachita gets $1.4 million for scholarships
ARKADELPHIA — For Earl and Nancy McCuin, generosity and service to others were a way of life. Their giving culminated with a recent estate gift of almost $1.4 million to Ouachita Baptist University for student scholarships.
Ouachita recently invited alumni and friends of the university to participate in Giving Tuesday on Nov. 28, and the McCuins are prime examples of faithful benefactors whose lifelong contributions increased over several decades to benefit students for generations to come. The annual Giving Tuesday emphasis, held after Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday, highlights charitable giving throughout the nation.
Marsha Allbrittion, the McCuins’ niece, is serving as the trustee of their estate. Reflecting on the motivation for their generosity, she said, “Their faith was most important to them. They loved volunteering, teaching and ministering to people.”
Earl McCuin was a 1952 Ouachita graduate who majored in speech. He was active in the Baptist Student Union, band and drama club; wrote for
The Signal newspaper; was a member of Alpha Psi Omega; and was a commissioned ROTC officer. He earned a Master of Religious Education degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a Master of Science in Social Work degree from the University of Texas at Arlington. He served as a pastor and as director of social work at Lee and Beulah Moor Children’s Home in El Paso, Texas. Prior to his death in 1999, the McCuins retired to Rogers.
Nancy McCuin was a former Ouachita student who was involved in choir, BSU, the Gamma Phi social club and The
Signal staff. While she enjoyed her Ouachita experience, she left school during her junior year in order to help support her family after her father’s death. While on a Ouachita choir trip to El Dorado, a couple offered to pay her tuition if she could stay at Ouachita and graduate. Although she wasn’t able to take advantage of the offer, it inspired her to help support other students, including leaving her estate to Ouachita following her death earlier this year at age 86.
Memorial gifts in honor of the McCuins may be made to the McCuin Scholarship Fund at Ouachita Baptist University, Office of Development, Box 3754, Arkadelphia, AR 71998. To make contributions to Ouachita throughout the year, visit www.
obu.edu/give or contact the Office of Development at (870) 245-5169.