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Click here to learn about Endowments and Funds of the Endowment Foundation of Greene County.

                                                 
Who is a donor?

Who is a donor? It is anyone, young or old; of great means, or someone who just has an allowance to spend; it is a person who has spent a lifetime in Greene County, or someone we've just adopted into the community.

Give in memory of a loved one, give in honor of your mom to commemorate Mother's Day, give in honor of your daughter's birthday, give to support your dad's favorite charity or project. Give to teach your children philanthropy. Give to make your community greater than it is.

Mayor Gaskill signing proclamation for Community Foundation Week on February 24, 2005

A little girl reads at the Greene County Library, close to the traveling poster created by the EFGC. Four posters, at the library, the Greene County Chamber of Commerce, Arkansas Methodist Medical Center, and First National Bank are on display. More will be added to other locations around Paragould. For information on having a poster placed at your business, contact Karole Risker at 236-7718, or Kelley Huffman at 335-2615.

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Mary Esther Herget, Born Philanthropist

Talking to Mary Esther Herget is like reading a good history book. Not only can she tell you the history of her well-known family, she can also tell about Paragould and her family's place in it. When sitting down with Herget, one gets the sense of knowing her for years. While telling her story, she is likely to call you darlin' and then kiss you on the cheek when you leave. Herget tells her histroy in a deep Southern accent. Born in Helena, Herget is often asked her background, which may have begun in the Delta, but is now firmly rooted in Paragould. Herget's father died when she was 11, and when she was just 14 her mother went to Washington, D.C. to work for Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 30's. It was there she did most of her growing up. She would later marry Phil Herget-a lawyer, engineer and colonel-and with him travel to Hawaii and Germany while he was in the service.

But it was Paragould that was always her home. Raised just 150 miles away, Herget said she never heard of Paragould until she was 17, but now she is as firmly planted both in Paragould and its history as much as any native Herget. Her four children feel the same way. "My children have been really raised in the service. Paragould was their home," she said.

Herget is as well known as the 1890 Jackson-Herget House in which she lives. Built by "Grandfather Jackson," the history of the two-story home is as vaired as its current occupant. The house has been home to four generations of Hergets, including some who have been born and others who have died within its walls. The home, placed on the National Register of Historic Places, has been an outlet for Herget's generosity, begun even before her time by the home's first owner. Grandfather Richard, Herget calls him, gave land to Griffin Memorial Church in Paragould. "I heard he did a lot of good people didn't know about," she said. "Some people remember their fathers. He wanted no recognition." This giving attitude would continue through the generations.  "No one ever left our home hungry," Herget said of her earliest experineces with philanthropy. "I was raised like that. Share and take, my Lord of mercy."

The Hergets seemed to get back a little of what they gave, too. Herget recalled a time a young military wife with three children and another on the way was invited to stay in the Jackson-Herget House. "We didn't make much money," Herget says fo the time. "People were so wonderful to us. We had the best time...All the time somebody was bringing us things."

And the Hergets have spent a lifetime giving right back. Her son, Richard Phillip Herget Jr. set up a scholarship endowment in honor of his parents' 50th wedding anniversary more than 14 years ago. Her other children, Joseph "Barlow" Herget, Nancy Jackson-Herget, Alfred Harry, and Rebecca Anne, are all philanthropists in their own rights and carry on a family tradition begun generations before them. "Every one of my children is all very giving," she said.

Herget herself is currently involved in the Greene County 21st Century Women's Charitable Endowment and also gives to the Greene County Scholarship Fund. She recently gave a gift of property, appraised at $167,000 to the Arkansas Methodist Medical Center in memory of her husband and in honor of herself. The proceeds will go into the Arkansas Hospital Endowment. Herget serves on the AMMC Foundation Board of Directors. Besides giving of her money, she is also generous with her time. Herget is involved with the 1888 Greene County Courthouse restoration effort and has logged 6,000 hours as a volunteer with the Arkansas Methodist Medical Center Auxiliary. "That's my love because that really saves me being there," she said of volunteering.

To Herget, philanthropy is more than about balancing accounts and drawing interest.
"It makes you feel good," she said. "I had lots rather give than receive. It gives me pleasure to see people happy."

Endowments Still Helping Local Causes Decades Later
S.S. Lipscomb: The Story of the Man Who Began EFGC's First Two Endowments

He certainly wasn’t born in this century. But he wasn’t born in the last one, either. And yet, what he established years ago will continue well into this century, and carry on even beyond that. A name still familiar to many, Samuel Scott, "S.S." Lipscomb was born in 1890 in Virginia. He was the baby of the family, having two older brothers and two sisters. His family moved to Marmaduke when Sam was a child, and then he moved to Paragould as an adult. He married Vada Allen when he was a young man and then married her aunt, Eva, when Vada died. Neither marriage produced children. He always wore a bow tie, loved books, and "was very interested in community and agriculture," according to Bettye Busby, coordinator of the S.S. Lipscomb History and Genealogy Room of the Greene County Library.

She remembers him fondly, and it’s no wonder, as she recalls that he talked her father into getting her a 1950 Ford Convertible when she was a teenager. He even took her fishing. "He was like a great grandfather," Busby adds.

During his lifetime, he might well be remembered for his extensive community work. He was a farm operator and owner of Ford Motor Company, the director of the First National Bank of Commerce, and he was instrumental in raising funds to build the main exhibit building at the fairgrounds.

Mr. Lipscomb died on April 24, 1969, but today he is still very much involved in making his community a better place in which to live.

In 1982, 13 years after his death, the Arkansas Room was created in the Greene County Library, a room used by not only Greene County residents, but people from many other states, as well. More than $60,000 was provided by the Lipscomb-Kirsch Foundation and was used for the purchase of equipment, furnishings and research material. A gift of $50,000 was also given from an endowment that provided for the "maintenance, upkeep and development" of the room.

Much of what is still in the room today came from the original bequest, according to information regarding the Arkansas Room.

The two first endowments created under the umbrella of what is now the Endowment Foundation of Greene County (EFGC) were tied to Lipscomb. The first, the S.S. Lipscomb Library Endowment, has paid out $30,000 in grants and has a value of just over $147,000. From the second, more than $65,000 has been paid out in grants from the S.S. Lipscomb Arkansas Methodist Hospital Endowment, which provides nursing scholarships to hospital employees. Today, the endowment retains a value of more than $261,000.

So even though Mr. Lipscomb has been gone for more than three decades, many people have him to thank in tracing their roots and in attending nursing school.

Anyone can begin an endowment. A minimum of $10,000 is required to begin an endowment, payable over a three-year period, and can be accumulated through gifts of cash, real estate, bonds, or a variety of other means, according to Karole Risker, Executive Director for the EFGC.

Endowments can be created for any purpose, from the arts to the zoo. Endowments are a way many people are finding to help others after they are gone, including finding their roots, and getting an education.