3 minute read
Three Campaign Friends Deserve Recognition
The Addie Swearingen Foundation contributed $500,000 to the Stadium Campaign. Mrs. Swearingen was a great friend to ENMU. Over the years, she endowed many scholarships to support students in nursing, the fine arts, accounting and other academic programs. Mrs. Swearingen also donated funds for the University’s pipe organ and donated much of her extensive art collection to ENMU. She was honored in 1983 with the ENMU Alumni Association’s Distinguished Service Award and recognized in 2002 as the ENMU Foundation’s Philanthropist of the Year. Mrs. Swearingen passed away in 2008. It was important to her to remember ENMU in her estate plans. This is her most definitive gift to ENMU and it is one that will transform Portales and ENMU.
Richard Griffith (MBA67) and his wife Gilley contributed $400,000 to this multi-purpose stadium that will ultimately complete the campus. Mr. Griffith remembers trying to convince the ENMU administrators back in 1967 not to build the stadium at Blackwater Draw.” I have always believed that it needed to stay on campus,” recalls Mr. Griffith. “Now we can finally move out of the loneliest structure in New Mexico.” The Griffiths are also generous supporters to ENMU, directing their gifts to the University Fund and various scholarships supporting their firm belief in the value of higher education. Their significant gift to the Stadium Campaign is made in honor of Richard Griffith and his longtime friend and business partner Dan Field of Lovington, New Mexico.
The Tillery Family Foundation established by George Tillery (BBA 76) pledged $200,000 to the new stadium. “The Tillery family is pleased to support the new stadium that will provide students and athletes with events and entertainment for many years to come, just as ENMU has been a blessing to the Tillery Family.” ENMU has been an influential part of the Tillery family. George’s parents, Garland and wife Georgia Tillery, raised five children: Gayle, George, Gary, Glen and Gena while growing their locally owned Tillery Chevrolet-GMC, Inc. dealership, established in 1955. Four of the five children attended ENMU: Gayle (Attended), George (BBA 76), Gary (BBA 79) and Glen (BBA 86). The Tillery siblings chose ENMU because it was in state and close to home... but not too close. Shortly after Garland passed away in 1984, the family established the Garland Tillery Memorial Scholarship. George Tillery and the Tillery Family Foundation have generously supported the scholarship honoring his father and to the Sigma Chi Scholarship fund over the years.
