The Bluffton Public Library Board of Trustees announces the receipt of a $1.6 million endowment gift from the Florence R. Duffield estate.
At the Aug. 28 regular board meeting the trustees acted to establish a permanent endowment fund and accepted the bequest.
An endowment gift is one in which the original principal must be preserved, but from which earnings can be made available for library purposes.
Miss Duffield died on Sept. 29, 2011, at the age of 98. She retired in 1982 from a career spanning 47 years of teaching business at Bluffton High School.
Her generosity, expressed with this significant endowment gift, leaves a permanent legacy and is a testament to her support for the Bluffton Public Library and the community.
"We are profoundly grateful to have received such an extraordinary gift from Ms. Duffield," said library director Cindi Chasse.
Miss Duffield was born on May 12, 1913 in Van Buren to Matthew and Olive Lauer Duffield who preceded her in death.
She graduated from Van Buren High School and Bowling Green State University. She taught typing, shorthand, bookkeeping and other business courses at Bluffton High School.
She was a member of Van Buren Presbyterian Church. She had also been a member of the Alice Freeman Club, Ohio Retired Teacher's Association and was a charter member of the Bluffton Business and Professional Women's Club. She had been a volunteer at Bluffton Community Hospital.
She was preceded in death by two fianc?es, Nelson Basinger and Everett Schmidt.