We Are Blessed: A Love Story, a Plan, and a Legacy
Their love first bloomed on a Massachusetts Army base in the 1960s. Decades later that love is still going strong, and it brought James and Edith Stephen to a question many faithful couples face: How do you take care of the person you love and still support the church that has shaped your life?
For the Stephens, who live in Ayer, just down the road from Fort Devens where it all began, the answer turned out to be a single plan that does both. As they like to say, “We are blessed.”
Following a career in the Chicago Transit Authority, James went on to work as an IRS Revenue Agent, and Edith taught second grade for 15 years.
As a young man, James became his church’s Financial Secretary after a visiting pastor spotted his adding machine on the kitchen table. Edith, to her own surprise, raised her hand to chair a new United Methodist Women group. She still calls it a Holy Spirit moment.
They have remained close to pastors and Bishops who entered their lives, and over the years, church mentors were tremendous influencers on their two sons who became a pathologist and an attorney. The church is central to everything they are as a family.
A gift that started with a problem
The question started with James’s pension. The payout options available to him would leave Edith with a real income gap if he died first.
As a member of the Foundation’s Board, James knew a gift annuity could close the gap. He set up a deferred charitable gift annuity, which can be funded with cash or appreciated stock. After ten years it pays Edith a fixed income for life, and the couple took the charitable deduction in the year of the gift. Most important to James, the love of his life has a guaranteed income, whatever happens.
When their grandson Marc was born, James and Edith created the Stephen Family Permanent Endowment Fund at the Foundation in his honor. The fund can take gifts during their lifetimes and will eventually receive what remains of the gift annuity. Its income will permanently support scholarships at Boston University School of Theology and outreach ministries at Leominster United Methodist Church.
Persistent faith
Their faith and generosity are also personal.
Marc is now 13, a busy seventh-grader in New York who swims, plays baseball and takes voice and piano lessons. He was also born with cystic fibrosis, a progressive lung disease that has no cure. His daily treatments can take up to two hours.
“Thank God, he’s doing great!” Edith says. Nine years ago she started Marc’s Trotters, an annual walk that raises money for CF research.
“You have to be persistent in your faith,” Edith says. “We need a cure for Marc and we’ll walk every year until they find one!”
How to think about your own plan
The Stephens didn’t start with a gift in mind. They started with their family: Who depends on us, and what happens if one of us is gone? From there, the answer came together.
Assets they already had, like appreciated stock, could do more good than a check. A fund in their grandson’s name could tie the generations together. And the ministries that had shaped their own lives could keep growing long after they’re gone.
For decades, James and Edith have sat together near the front of the church, not in the “cheap seats.” They are blessed. Through careful planning, they’ve made sure that blessing will reach their family and their church for generations to come.