Catholic Charities will receive an undesignated bequest gift of approximately $500,000 in 2001 from the estate of Hugh R. Marron, a man whose average gift over the past 15 years was $50.00 – and whose legacy gift was unknown to us until we received notification from the trust officer that we would be the 75% remainder beneficiary. His gift will be a lasting testament to his hard work and his desire to help others – we only wish we would have been able to share our gratitude with him during his life.
Hugh R. Marron was born on June 24, 1925 in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. He was the youngest of five children. His older brother, Gerald, is the only surviving sibling, and lives in Alexandria, Virginia. I called Gerald to thank him for his brother’s gift and to ask him about his life. He shared the following information with me.
Gerald was 11 years older than his brother. There were four boys and one girl in the family. Currently, in addition to Gerald, two of Hugh’s sister-in-laws survive with him, in addition to 9 nieces and nephews.
Hugh served in the Navy in WWII, and is buried at Arlington Cemetery. He reached Lieutenant JG level in the Navy during his years of service. Prior to his service in the war, but during the war years, Hugh attended Northwestern University in Chicago. He was trained as an electrical engineer. He spent time in Pittsburg, Chicago, and finally Minneapolis – moving first to the Midwest for school, and then for his job. He worked for a variety of companies during his life, including General Electric, and later in life he worked in sales selling parking lot lighting.
He was never married, and his brother says that he was very frugal. He saved his money and invested it well. He didn’t spend much of his money, even though his brother encouraged him to do so, especially towards the end of this life. He used to visit his brother in Virginia at least once per year – he drove out to see him – he always had a nice car. He also spent several winters in Tucson, Arizona with another brother. Again, he drove there to visit.
He attended Good Shepherd parish in Golden Valley. Gerald says that may of his friends has moved South after they retired, so he didn’t have many close friends in the area. I asked what his hobbies were, and right away Gerald answered: golf. He loved to golf. And, he loved to go out for nice dinners.
His brother was pleased that we called, and was very glad to know that his brother’s gift would be used to help so many people in the community that Hugh had chosen for his home, for many years to come. He was thinking that someone would call to talk about his generosity, and was glad we did. So am I.
