By Jessica Sain-Baird and Charles Higginson
uperlatives come easily when speaking of Elizabeth Miller Watkins: first, most influential, most inventive. The thing is, they’re accurate. This year marks the 150th anniversary of her birth — a time to recall the life and interests of a woman who, by her focused generosity and foresight, fundamentally transformed the University of Kansas, KU Endowment and the city of Lawrence. Her life was characterized by achievements unusual for a woman at the time. She arose from modest if not humble origin, went to work young, married late and helped manage one of the largest fortunes in the country. She inherited that fortune and spent the next 20 years giving it away in very deliberate, strategic ways. The following pages sketch the life story of the woman many knew as “Lady Bountiful,” summarize the gifts she made both while living and by bequest, and spell out the effects of her giving that have lasted to this day.
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