Leaving a Legacy: The Ethel Walker Smith Endowment In the fall of 1911, The Walker’s School for Girls opened its doors with 10 students, seven teachers, one dog, and Ethel Walker’s courageous and resolute leadership — her dream becoming reality with a $10,000 loan from an acquaintance and fellow Bryn Mawr alumna whose interests were educational and philanthropic. In an article she wrote in 1946, Ethel stated, “Academic standards were exceptionally high; the School was founded as a college-preparatory school with a liberal curriculum that included extra-collegiate subjects. The teachers were said to be an unusual group of highly-trained, experienced young women, each with a definite and arresting personality. They met the demands of a new and untried school and worked to make it succeed as if it were their own. The small classes enabled them to give individual special attention to each student and besides they took part in all the School activities and the girls benefitted by close association with their teachers outside of classes.” For several years, Ethel continued as principal decision maker for the School, a role that included the pursuit of increased enrollment, oversight of business and operational duties and relocation to the Simsbury campus in 1917. After a three-year courtship, Ethel married Dr. Terry Smith, a U.S. Army doctor who had been brought onboard to help carry the School through the great influenza epidemic of that time. Although relinquishing her day-to-day responsibilities at the School once married, both Ethel and her husband continued to work tirelessly to ensure its success. A tremendous blow to the Walker’s community occurred in July of 1952 when Dr. Smith passed away after a decade of deteriorating health. Dr. Smith’s death prompted Ethel to reflect on the School’s future. Knowing how crucial it would be that her vision and passion for girls’ education be nurtured and flourish past her lifetime, Ethel converted the School from its then private status to its current non-stock corporate
form. Ethel created the Ethel Walker Smith Company to hold the School’s lands, buildings and endowment funds. In her will, she created two trusts into which certain assets of her estate were bequeathed. Upon the death of the last of the beneficiaries named in her will, the will instructs that any remaining assets be delivered to The Ethel Walker Charitable and Educational Foundation which also was created by Ethel to receive the bulk of her estate. When Ethel died at age 93 on June 14, 1965, she had peace in the knowledge
that her foresight and generous transfer of wealth would aid in the perpetual support and welfare of her beloved School. In the fall of 2016, assets totaling approximately $7.4 million from the first trust were transferred to The Ethel Walker Charitable and Educational Foundation. As a result of this first transfer to the Foundation, the School’s operating budget will now receive an annual payout from The Ethel Walker Smith Endowment for operating expenses. The Foundation will eceive the assets of the second trust established by Ethel at a future date once there are no longer any living beneficiaries to Ethel’s will. Upon the 35th anniversary of the founding of the School, Ethel Walker Smith wrote: “A school, like an individual, has its periods of childhood, youth and maturity, but unfortunately, unlike an individual, increasing years do not necessarily mean deterioration or extinction. As an institution it ages and develops but because of the continuous influx of new generations, its youth is renewed like an eagle’s.” Thanks to our founder’s pioneering spirit, steadfast commitment to this institution and the extraordinary foresight s he exhibited in establishing this planned gift to the School, Walker’s girls today continue to receive a top-notch education. As a result of Ethel’s sage financial planning and philanthropic convictions, the School will continue to benefit for years to come.