wfn.org | Couple Enriches Disciples Ministries with Large Bequest

["Communication Ministries" <wshuffit@cm.disciples.org>]

Date: November 21, 2001
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: Curt Miller
E-mail: cmiller@cm.disciples.org
on the Web: http://www.disciples.org

01a-57

	INDIANAPOLIS (DNS) -- An Arizona couple with a deep love for
the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) has left an estate
valued at about $10.8 million to endow a variety of
church-related ministries. The gift is one of the largest ever
received by the denomination.

	Trust funds set up by Allan and Marie Brady of Tucson, Ariz.,
will provide endowment gifts to the Disciples Seminary
Foundation, the Pension Fund, the Division of Overseas
Ministries, the Christian Church in Arizona, the Christian
Church Foundation and their local congregation, Saguaro
Christian Church.

	"The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) will be blessed
forever by the witness demonstrated by Allan and Marie Brady,"
said the Rev. James P. Johnson, president of the Christian
Church Foundation. "This exemplary couple have demonstrated they
have great confidence in the future ministries of the Christian
Church."

	Marie died in April 1998; Allan died in September 2000.
Described as being humble and financially frugal in life, the
Bradys have created a generous and lasting legacy to benefit
future generations of Christians, ministers and missionaries,
and to support ministerial educational efforts as well as
provide financial assistance for retired ministers. They
established the Clarence A. Brady Scholarship Fund with the
Disciples Seminary Foundation.

	Mary Anne Parrott, president of DSF, said the Bradys were "salt
of the earth people."

	 "We at the Disciples Seminary Foundation are extremely
grateful for their friendship and love for the church, and now
gifts from their estate generously will help us provide
educational resources for the five areas of ministry upon which
we focus: initial theological education, continuing education,
lay leader education, specific needs of ethno-cultural Disciples
leadership, and graduate education for ministry in higher
education," she said.

	The Pension Fund has put its gift into the Endowment Fund for
Ministerial Relief and Assistance, said the Rev. Art Hanna,
Pension Fund president. Earnings will help provide supplemental
gifts to retired church workers and spouses with low pensions
and Ministerial Relief gifts to those with no pensions.

	Allan Brady began his career in 1921 as an engineer with
Chrysler. Just before World War II, he was assigned to the
Redstone missile project, where he worked closely with renowned
rocket scientist Werner von Braun. After the war, Brady was the
lead engineer in what would later become the Gemini space
program, and worked with astronauts Buzz Aldren and Gus Grissom.

	Brady retired from Chrysler in 1962. In retirement, the Bradys
traveled extensively, taking some 35 trips overseas. Their
travels and love for people in other lands led the Bradys to
leave a gift to the Division of Overseas Ministries. "It is both
inspiring and humbling to know of the faithful stewardship of
Allan and Marie Brady for the overseas ministries of our
church," said Patricia Tucker Spier, DOM president. "They had a
vision and a commitment which will undergird the financial
future of global work, but also will offer a model to all of us
in how to share the blessings we have been given with the world."

	The Bradys had a great love for their congregation. Their gift
to Saguaro Christian Church was designated into five funds.
Those funds not only endow the Brady pledge to the congregation,
but provide a stream of income for building projects, youth
ministry, camps, scholarships and creative ministries.

	The Rev. Dennis Williams, regional minister for the Christian
Church in Arizona, said the Brady gift for the region was not
designated. "While final decisions are yet to be made, the
initial intent is to use these funds to help initiate vital
ministries in new and existing congregations," Williams said.
"These gifts will enable us to provide new and expanded
ministries to reach out to Arizona's rapidly growing population
in ways that would be impossible otherwise."

	"From general units to regional and local church, Allan and
Marie Brady embraced the whole mission of the church. Their gift
is evidence of their faith in the future," said Jim Cullumber,
Christian Church Foundation's executive director of
communication. 

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