Retirement life is never boring for Eugene and Sue Doell, who have relationships with several funds at the Community Foundation. The retired Appleton couple began their love story after meeting at a funeral home.

“I had worked with Eugene’s cousin’s dad who had died, and we met at the Wichman Funeral Home,” smiles Sue. The two did not have children, and both had busy careers – Eugene at Appleton Supply Company and Miller Electric before taking over his great grandfather’s Medina farm, and Sue at the Appleton YMCA, Grant Thornton, and the Fox Cities Chamber of Commerce.

“Eugene retired from farming, and then worked part-time at the Greenville Post Office for 17 years,” Sue says. “We keep busy!”

Sue helps her brother advise over the Abraham Family Fund, a donor advised endowment fund within the Community Foundation created in 2003 by her father. “He led by example to give to the community and taught me that because God has blessed us so richly, the very least we can do is give it back,” she says.

In 2017, the two established the Eugene and Sue Doell Legacy Fund, a donor advised fund that will continue to support their favorite nonprofits after they are gone. Their planned estate gift enabled the couple to join the Community Foundation’s Himebaugh Legacy Circle.  Through the fund, Eugene and Sue will continue to support Faith Lutheran Church; Fox Valley Lutheran High School to help provide tuition support; Linwood Community, a ministry of Fox Valley Lutheran Homes; and Lion’s Pride, an arm of the Wisconsin Lion’s Foundation, to help children with special needs attend camp.

“We are thrilled to be a part of the Himebaugh Legacy Circle, and helping other people is what it is all about,” Eugene says. “We are happy to pass it on.”

Have you given thought to your own legacy and how you can make a difference to a loved one, your community and your favorite charitable causes? Your Community Foundation is happy to help with your long-term charitable planning to help you make an impact on the people and projects that matter to you long after you are no longer here. The Himebaugh Legacy Circle recognizes those who have made future plans for their favorite charitable causes through a bequest or similar deferred gift to the Foundation.