it WAs A perceptiVe mind And open heArt that led to the 1902 founding of the children’s institute by mary irwin laughlin — and those same qualities have persisted through generations of the laughlin family, whose members have contributed financial support and their time and expertise.
ary Irwin Laughlin, the granddaughter of one of the founders of Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation, quickly involved family members in the young organization. Her grandmother, Anne Irwin Laughlin, is thought to have been on the first Board of Managers. An uncle, Henry A. Laughlin, was a member of the first Men’s Advisory Board; it’s likely that his wife was one of the Home’s first Vice Presidents. Her cousin, george M. Laughlin, Jr., was a member of the Men’s Advisory Board, and his wife, Henrietta Speer Laughlin, was an early member of the Education Committee. In addition to governance, the two cousins provided considerable financial support — Mary Irwin Laughlin an endowment of $30,000, and george Laughlin a bequest of $25,000. In today’s dollars, those contributions total more than $1,200,000. Mary Irwin Laughlin had no children, but the family line continued through george. Elizabeth Shaw Laughlin, the wife of george’s son, george M. Laughlin III, was on the Board of Managers in the early 1930s. Their daughter Elizabeth married Allan MacDougall, Jr.; the young couple became the parents of children including Loraine MacDougall Miller, who recovered from polio at The Children’s Institute during the 1950s, and Allan “Lanny” MacDougall III, a member of today’s Board of Directors.
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Lanny, who lives with his family in Ligonier on the farm where he grew up, is President of MacDougall Financial Counseling, LLC, specialists in advising individuals and families. He and his wife, Annie, have made several gifts to The Children’s Institute, and are charter members of the Mary Irwin Laughlin Society, which recognizes donors who have included The Children's Institute in their estate plans. He says, “Charitable giving is important at every point in life, and I always encourage people to include The Children’s Institute in their estate planning. It’s an ideal way to make a final gift to these amazing kids.” The legacy of generosity continues in the family. Lanny’s 17-year-old daughter, Elizabeth Laughlin MacDougall — called Lizzy — volunteered this summer at The Children’s Institute’s Camp Success. And not long ago Lanny and several other family members contributed two beautiful benches for The nimick Family Therapeutic garden. The Laughlin bench is dedicated to the memory of their beloved grandmother and great-grandmother, Elizabeth Shaw Laughlin. And the MacDougall bench is inscribed with what might well be the philanthropic motto of the family for all its generations over the past century: non nobis solum — not for ourselves alone. ❖
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