Martha Brownlee

Martha Brownlee holds fond and vivid memories of her freshman year at Wheaton College. A longtime Wheaton Associate, she prays each spring for the graduating seniors and rejoices over their love for Christ and their future service to the Kingdom.

“Wheaton has been my measuring rod, that standard from which all other comparisons are made,” she says. “Experiencing the attitudes and Christ-centered thinking of instructors, other students, and the chapel speakers grounded me in spiritual principles that have guided or convicted me in the ensuing years. The campus environment of ‘For Christ and His Kingdom’ produced an expected interrelational decency not found elsewhere.”

Martha supports Wheaton through charitable gift annuities, which provide her with comfortable retirement income for life. “The gift annuity was appropriate for my needs because I never worked for a company that provided a pension, and IRAs had become available for only the last 13 years of my work,” she says. “The income from the annuity was very attractive, and that has made all the difference in my life. Apart from that, I wanted to contribute to Wheaton’s overall mission of Christian education. Not having children, it guaranteed that my investment would be producing results, regardless of how long I lived.

“I met with three different people who answered questions, were helpful but not aggressive, and allowed me sufficient time to decide whether this choice was appropriate for me. They even planned the timing of my gift annuity contribution to provide a higher gift annuity rate for me. The personnel involved are professional, not ‘stuffy,’ real people with a sense of humor, and seem truly concerned that, money notwithstanding, this is the best arrangement for me to combine a gift to Wheaton with income for life.”

Martha’s satisfaction with her regular gift annuity payments convinced her housemate to set up a Wheaton gift annuity as well.