If You Build It, They Will Come
Tex and Betty Fury were beloved and generous members of the Salina community. Tex, an anesthesiologist, died in January 1999, and his wife Betty, died March 2, 2000.
During their lives, the Furys established a trust that included a legacy gift to the Greater Salina Community Foundation. When Betty passed away, the gift- totaling $270,000- created the community foundation's first designated fund and marked the first significant estate gift to the foundation.
The Tex and Betty Fury Fund annually supports 16 charitable organizations, including several arts organizations, in the greater Salina area. As long as they exist, these organizations will receive annual grants from the Fury Fund:
- Birger Sandzen Memorial Gallery
- Bethany College
- Domestic Violence Association of Central Kansas (DVACK)
- Fund for Greater Salina
- Kansas Humanities Council
- Lindsborg Arts Council
- Radio Kansas
- Salina Area United Way
- Salina Art Center
- Salina Arts and Humanities Commission's Horizons 50
- Salina Community Theatre
- Salina Emergency Aid / Food Bank
- Salina Rescue Mission
- Salina Salvation Army
- Salina Symphony
- Smoky Hill Museum
The Furys also left $1.2 million of their estate to Bethany College. They gave so much to Salina and area organizations throughout their lives, and now, they continue to give through the Greater Salina Community Foundation.
Pete Peterson was the Fury's lawyer and chairman of the GSCF board at the time of the gift. He said that the Fury gift exemplified the kind of donation the foundation hoped to receive- estate money from community-minded people that can be invested to provide annual contributes long after they're gone.
"If you build it, they will come," said Peterson. "And we have built it."
