All for art’s sake
Couple donates everything they own to museum
Not having kids is a good way to save a bunch of money. Not that I would know. Besides, I wouldn’t trade my kids for a bigger bank account — on most days.
Being childless can also be really good for the arts. Ask Virginia and Ed Fultz, of Albuquerque, N.M. Fifteen years ago, the married art lovers decided to leave their entire estate to their local museum. That is everything — their house, car, investment portfolio and their considerable art collection — altogether worth a few million, give or take.
“If we’d had children, they would have been our priority,” Virginia told me last week, when I called her and Ed to talk about their gift. “But that didn’t happen, so we went in a different direction.”
They put their money where their hearts are.
Ed and Virginia met as teenagers while attending West Texas State College. They married during their junior year, 55 years ago. After college, they taught high school in El Paso for 10 years and made the most of their summers off by traveling.
“We didn’t grow up in homes with art,” Virginia said. “What we knew of art, we’d learned from books.” However, during the summer of 1968, that changed. Over three months, they visited every country in Western Europe. “We did the Europe-on-$5-a-day plan because it fit our teacher budget.” They hit every major museum.
“That first trip to Europe was so eye-opening,” Ed said.
“It was like this grand feast,” Virginia added.
Indeed, on their first visit to the Louvre, in Paris, she recalled, “We could barely afford lunch there. Then the waiter brought this lovely hors d’oeuvres tray and two glasses of wine that we couldn’t afford. We saw this nicely dressed gentleman sitting nearby and knew it was from him.”
Art patrons are a generous bunch. Virginia and Ed are paying those moments forward.
Ed left teaching and took a management job with a trucking company, and in 1981, was transferred to Albuquerque, a city he and his wife loved for its art and culture. Because no teaching positions were available, Virginia began selling real estate.
They continued to travel and buy art. Today their large (and growing) collection includes pieces from other countries and many from their native Southwest.
“We don’t buy what someone else likes,” Ed said. “We buy what we love. It doesn’t have to have value, nor do we need to think it will become valuable,” although some of their pieces are by artists who have become well-known.
As for whether any of it will wind up in the museum, the Fultzes have no expectations. Though the Albuquerque Museum has first dibs, “if they say they don’t want anything, we will not be offended,” said Virginia. “We’ve gotten our enjoyment.”
Meanwhile, they continue to appreciate their local museum’s collection. “We often go and spend a couple hours there, have lunch and a glass of wine at the café and talk about art,” Virginia said. “Every time I go, it thrills me