Building for Greatness Donors’ 2020 Science Vision Drives Largest Capital Project Ever
The Science and Engineering Building addition and renovation campaign is rising as a symbol of how philanthropy can make exceptional science education at Benedictine College even better. Key donors are helping make the $26 million project possible. Along with a major donation of $1 million from Dr. James Bongers ’77, a retired dentist, and his wife, Linda, leading donors include Jamie Lambrecht Raftery ’03, a geophysicist for Shell Oil in Houston, Texas, and her husband, Colin; John Gould Jr. ’66, a retired AT&T executive from St. Louis, Missouri who is honoring his late wife, Marilyn Pike Gould ’66; and Kerry S. McDonald, PhD ’87, professor and vice chair for research, Department of Medical Pharmacology and Physiology, University of Missouri School of Medicine.
The Collectors
Dr. James ’77 and Linda Bongers fill their home in Manhattan, Kansas, with art from all over the world. In 2005, the couple loaned sculptures from their Frederic Hart collection, including the bronze Ex Nihilo fragment pieces, the Ex Nihilo tympanum, which depicts the story of creation; and the trumeau figures of St. Peter, St. Paul and Adam. Five years later, the Bongers gifted the entire collection appraised at $1.5 million to the college dedicated to the memory of Fr. Conrad Pillar, OSB ’43, Jim’s chemistry professor and Fr. Eugene Dehner, OSB ’37, his biology professor. “My alma mater had a renaissance and the spirituality of Benedictine College made this the right place for the collection,” Jim said. Last year, the Bongers made the decision to share their collections in another way. At the 2015 Scholarship Ball, after being honored with the Cross of the Order of St. Benedict award, Jim and Linda announced their decision to donate $1 million for the science and engineering building. The couple made the ultimate sacrifice of liquidating their beloved collections to provide funding for the campaign. “The many gifts that God has given Linda and I remind us of the necessary stewardship of these gifts. We are at that point in life where the beauty needs to be shared with others who will then continue W sharing E S T - A Dit D Iwith T I O Nfuture generations. The effects can be exponential for Benedictine College, its students and patrons,” said Bongers.
The Believers
Jamie Lambrecht Raftery ’03 is a firm believer in the adage, “If you build it, they will come.” She knows that Benedictine College has shaped her into the person she is today and she intends to help the college build an environment for future students to flourish. After graduating from Benedictine College with a bachelor’s degree in physics and astronomy, Raftery attended graduate school at the University of Kansas, where she received her master’s degree in geophysics in 2006. She has spent the last 10 years working for Shell Oil, most recently as their Onshore Regional Staff Geophysicist. “There have been multiple people throughout the college that have touched my life and who continue to inspire me through the mission of the college,” said Raftery. She and her husband Colin have pledged a total of $75,000 to name three faculty offices on the physics floor in honor and in memory of three of her favorite professors, long–time Benedictine College Physics professor, Dr. Doug Brothers, Dr. Scott Baird and the late Dr. Vern Ostdiek ’75. “Dr. Brothers always put his students first and strove to help them find the path in life God meant for them. It is thanks to him I ended up with the career I have now and I am able to use those blessings from God to give back.”
Today, the college is preparing the next century of science by expanding and upgrading its science and engineering building.