The Dayton Foundation Celebrates Charitable Women from the Dayton-area in honor of Women's History Month.

1. Women’s History Month
Celebrating the history of charitable women helping others in our community

2. 2 | Disaster Responder Partnership Opportunity
Julia Shaw Patterson Carnell
In 1921, visionary thinking and caring individuals came
together to help individuals from different walks of life find
a way to have their charitable wishes stand the test of time.
From this idea blossomed The Dayton Foundation, one of
the nation’s first community foundations. The individual
behind the idea was Dr. D. Frank Garland, director of
Welfare for the National Cash Register Company. Support
for this idea came from NCR founder John H. Patterson,
with the initial seed money of $250,000 coming from him,
his nephew, Robert Dunn Patterson, and his sister-in-law,
Julia Shaw Patterson Carnell. Their collective gift
established The Dayton Foundation and created its first
unrestricted endowment fund.
In addition to her integral role in helping to establish The
Dayton Foundation, Julia Shaw Patterson Carnell was the
first woman in Dayton to sit on a bank board of directors.
She was known as an astute businesswoman and
community leader and was a major philanthropist. Other
notable gifts include $2 million for the construction of The
Dayton Art Institute in 1930 and a gift that created a
building in her late husband’s name at Miami Valley
Hospital, among others.

3. 3 | Disaster Responder Partnership Opportunity
Marie S. Aull
Marie S. Aull Fund
As the widow of prominent paper box manufacturer John
Aull, who died in 1955, Marie Aull’s passion for nature and
the environment had a profound impact on the Dayton
community. Aullwood Audubon Center and Farm, founded
in 1957, became the model for nature centers nationally,
and in 1977 Mrs. Aull gave her home and famed garden to
the Park District of Dayton-Montgomery County, which
later became part of Five Rivers MetroParks. She
continued living in her home, which overlooks the Stillwater
River, while keeping her garden open to the public.
The center, farm and garden were three of Mrs. Aull's
many philanthropic undertakings. She also had a love of
children and the environment and made gifts to charities
fostering health care, theology, social services, literacy and
education. In 1992, she established the Marie S. Aull Fund
for United Way, which has distributed more than $54,000
to the United Way of Greater Dayton Area. When she
passed away in 2002 at age 105, Mrs. Aull left a $3.8
million estate gift, one of the Foundation's largest gifts to
date, to the Marie S. Aull Fund which she created in 1986
to assist with the operating expenses of Aullwood. Now in
its 28th year, the fund has awarded more than $3.9 million
in grants.

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Jeraldyne Blunden
The First 200 Fund
Jeraldyne Blunden began dancing at the age of eight
under the guidance of Josephine and Hermene Schwarz.
Later she studied with dance pioneers Martha Graham
and George Balanchine, who helped shape her vision and
dreams for the future. At the young age of 19, Ms.
Blunden took over the dance school started by the
Schwarz sisters and in 1968, created the Dayton
Contemporary Dance Company (DCDC).
To honor Ms. Blunden, DCDC established a designated
fund in 1995 to inspire minority young people through
DCDC contemporary dance classes.

5. 5 | Disaster Responder Partnership Opportunity
Ellen Jane Lorenz Porter
Ellen Jane Lorenz Porter Fund
Ellen Jane Lorenz Porter’s roots in the Dayton community run
deep. Her grandfather came to Dayton in the 1800s to edit
denominational hymnals for the United Brethren. Though he
later moved to Pennsylvania to serve as president of a college,
he returned to Dayton and founded the Lorenz Publishing
Company in 1890. Ms. Lorenz Porter, like other members of her
family, joined the family business. She first served as music
editor and later, editor-in-chief.
Ms. Lorenz Porter’s deep love of hymnology was inspired by her
role at Lorenz Publishing Company and her grandfather’s
collection of hymnbooks, eventually leading her to receive a
doctorate degree in hymnology at the age of 71. Her musical
compositions were played all over the world, including on the
Taft Carillon in Washington, D.C., on the occasion of President
Reagan’s inauguration. Locally, she was a longtime supporter of
the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra and for many years wrote
the program notes and served as emcee for the children’s
concerts.
In 1990, Ms. Lorenz Porter established a permanent fund with
The Dayton Foundation, utilizing a life income plan. Though she
passed away in 1996, her fund has granted more than $242,000
to support the community she loved and that her family has
called home for generations.

6. 6 | Disaster Responder Partnership Opportunity
Virginia W. Kettering
Virginia W. Kettering Dayton Holiday Festival Fund
Virginia W. Kettering Fund
The contributions of Virginia Kettering – the generous and
gracious, warm and vivacious daughter-in-law of famed
Dayton inventor and Delco founder Charles F. Kettering
and widow of his only son, Eugene – are well known in
Greater Dayton. From Kettering Medical Center to the
Kettering Tower, as well as many area arts groups and
higher education facilities, Virginia Kettering’s support was
instrumental in the development of many community
institutions. In addition to her financial contributions, which
have been conservatively estimated at $150 million during
her lifetime, Mrs. Kettering did more than support good
causes; she had a hand in crafting their design. In 1971,
she founded the Dayton Holiday Festival, a community
tradition that generations of Daytonians have come to
enjoy. To preserve this event, she created the Virginia W.
Kettering Dayton Holiday Festival Fund through The
Dayton Foundation. This fund has granted $494,178 since
1990 to promote cultural activities in connection with
holiday celebrations downtown. Before her passing in
2003, she also established the Virginia W. Kettering Fund,
which has awarded more than $2.2 million to nonprofits
since 2001.

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Josephine Schwarz
Josephine Schwarz Dayton Dancers Endowment Fund
Born in 1908, Josephine Schwarz spent her life nurturing
the arts, especially dancers. After studying in Chicago,
New York and Europe, and performing in New York, she
became a notable choreographer, with almost 80 works to
her credit. “Miss Jo,” as she became known, and her
sister, Hermene Schwarz, also founded what became the
Dayton Ballet School and the Dayton Ballet. Dancers
whom Miss Jo taught in Dayton went on to perform with
dance companies, such as the New York City Ballet, or
became artistic directors or mentors to young dancers. But
her influence didn’t stop there. For example, Miss Jo
suggested that the ballet company start collaborating with
other performing artists, such as those involved in the
opera and the orchestra. This suggestion resulted in
Dayton's first performance of The Nutcracker in 1993.
Before her death in 2004, Miss Jo established two funds
through The Dayton Foundation to help nurture performing
artists long after her lifetime. Since 1991 The Allegro Fund,
established in honor of her sister Hermene, and the
Josephine Schwarz Dayton Dancers Endowment Fund
together have granted more than $146,000 to support the
art and artists they loved.

8. 8 | Disaster Responder Partnership Opportunity
Pearl A. Dale
Pearl A. Dale and Audrey Parker Scholarship Fund
Born in the South in the early 1900s, Pearl Dale
experienced firsthand the barriers that African-Americans
of her generation faced in pursuing a better life for
themselves. Ms. Dale’s parents owned a farm in Kentucky
where she and her brother, Walter, and sister, Audrey,
were raised. The Dales managed to send all of their
children to college, which was no small feat for African-
American families of that era. The three siblings eventually
became teachers, with Pearl Dale and her sister Audrey
moving to Ohio in the 1940s and taking positions in Dayton
Public Schools. The sisters went on to attain master’s
degrees and continued teaching in Dayton until their
retirement in the late 1970s.
In a letter written to The Dayton Foundation in 1990, Ms.
Dale recollected the many hardships she encountered as
a single African-American woman trying to make her own
way. The desire to help others pursue their dreams without
the difficulty she endured decades ago is what inspired her
to create the Pearl A. Dale and Audrey Parker Scholarship
Fund through African-American Community Fund. Though
she passed away in 2009, Pearl Dale will continue her
family’s legacy of helping to educate others through her
fund, which has awarded $48,000 in scholarships to date.

9. 9 | Disaster Responder Partnership Opportunity
Anne Greene
Mr. and Mrs. John B. Greene Fund and the John and
Anne Greene Fund
Born and raised in Cincinnati, Anne Greene came to Dayton in 1945
and achieved a number of firsts for Greater Dayton women. In 1975,
she became the first woman board president of United Way of the
Greater Dayton Area; in 1978, the first woman director of the Dayton
Area Chamber of Commerce; and in 1979, the first woman director
of First National Bank, now PNC. Known for her political savvy and
for having a head for business, she became the first woman on The
Dayton Foundation's Governing Board in 1980 and served for 10
years. She involved herself in important community efforts, such as
taking the reins at the Victoria Theatre in 1980 when it was close to
bankruptcy and helping to raise funds that turned the theater around
by 1981. She also was a leader in race relations in her day, agreeing
to chair the Dayton Human Relations Commission in 1964 during a
racially tense time in the city's history. Ms. Greene was a role model
and mentor, not just to the women she helped bring to the attention
of corporate leaders in the community, but also to her eight children
and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Over the years, she and her husband, John B. Greene, an
investment broker, gave financial support generously and broadly.
They created two Dayton Foundation funds: The Mr. and Mrs. John
B. Greene Fund, established in 1988 to provide unrestricted funds to
meet changing community needs, and the John and Anne Greene
Fund, established in 1996 to benefit various charitable organizations.
Though she passed away in 2003, Anne Greene’s legacy continues
through these funds, which collectively have distributed more than
$262,000 to nonprofit organizations to date.

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Lura I. McEvoy
Lura I. McEvoy Fund
As a regular visitor to several area hospitals and nursing homes,
Lura McEvoy found great enjoyment in her volunteer work.
There was no mistaking her and her dog, Brewster, when they
would visit patients. At 33 inches tall and 110 pounds, Brewster,
a rescued golden retriever, had a commanding presence, but a
gentle demeanor, that made both him and Mrs. McEvoy
favorites of the visiting pet therapy program. Mrs. McEvoy’s
gentle and therapeutic nature helped to bring out the best in
patients, often encouraging them to come out of their shells and
engaging them both physically and emotionally.
In 2007, when Lura McEvoy realized that her three-year battle
with cancer was coming to an end, she and her husband, Jack
McEvoy, contacted The Dayton Foundation to create a
charitable fund that would perpetuate her love of animals. As
retired certified financial planners and longtime Charitable
Checking Account donors, the McEvoys understood the value of
giving back to their community, as well as the importance of
planning one’s estate. Days before Mrs. McEvoy passed away,
they established the Lura I. McEvoy Fund to benefit Mrs.
McEvoy’s favorite charities, including the Greater Dayton
Labrador Retriever Rescue and Referral Group. More than
$9,000 has been awarded to date to designated nonprofits.

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Ellen Malahy
The Ellen C. Malahy Fund
Helen Malahy Morris believed that people with disabilities, like
her younger sister, Ellen Malahy, were “blessed special children
of God.” Described as a “second mother” to Ellen, Helen took
great care of her sister throughout her life. Though Ellen resided
at the F.F. Mueller Residential Center in Springfield, Helen
Morris was an active participant in her sister’s care and often
would visit her, taking her on a drive or to get a milkshake.
Concerned about the plight of those with mental and physical
disabilities, Mrs. Morris gave generously throughout her life to
ensure that individuals like her sister could enjoy extras, such as
birthday parties, outings to the zoo or baseball games. She saw
that Ellen achieved more of her potential through the mental
and emotional stimulation from these happy occasions and
wanted to find a permanent way to help care for other
individuals with disabilities. When Ellen passed away in 2002,
Mrs. Morris established a designated endowment fund with The
Dayton Foundation to honor Ellen’s memory and to thank the F.
F. Mueller Residential Center for more than 30 years of loving
care to her sister. Since 2005, The Ellen C. Malahy Fund has
awarded more than $231,000 in grants to the Center for
activities that give pleasure and enrichment to its residents.

12. 12 | Disaster Responder Partnership Opportunity
Thyrsa Frazier Svager
Thyrsa Frazier Svager Scholarship Fund
Born in 1930, Thyrsa Frazier Svager achieved what few African-
American women of her generation have in the field of
education. A brilliant mathematician with a genius level IQ, Dr.
Svager graduated from the Wilberforce University Preparatory
Academy at the young age of 15. She attended Antioch College
for her undergraduate studies and was one of only four African-
American students at the time. Another student was her close
friend, Coretta Scott King. Dr. Svager earned her master’s
degree and doctorate from The Ohio State University, becoming
one of the first African-American women in the United States to
earn a Ph.D. in mathematics. She had a long and distinguished
career at Central State University that began in 1954 as an
assistant professor of mathematics and concluded upon her
retirement in 1993 as provost and vice president for academic
affairs.
After she passed away in 1999, her husband, Aleksandar
Svager, established the Thyrsa Frazier Svager Scholarship
Fund through the African-American Community Fund of The
Dayton Foundation. To date, the fund has awarded scholarships
totaling $67,000 to assist African-American women in
completing their degrees in mathematics at an accredited
college or university. In addition to making current gifts to the
fund, Mr. Svager has made plans for a significant legacy gift
after his lifetime.

13. 13 | Disaster Responder Partnership Opportunity
Virginia Toulmin
Harry A. Toulmin, Jr., and Virginia B. Toulmin Fund
When Virginia B. Toulmin, widow of Harry A. Toulmin, Jr.,
Esq., son of the attorney who secured and defended the
Wright Brothers’ flying machine patents, passed away in
2010, she left a more than $26-million unrestricted gift to
endow a Dayton Foundation fund for the benefit of Greater
Dayton. She wanted to give back to the community that
meant so much to her and her husband, but she didn’t
want to “rule from the grave.”
Thanks to her generosity, her fund has helped the
Foundation to support significant community efforts,
including the Montgomery County Ohio College Promise
program and the Dayton Performing Arts Alliance merger.