Planned Giving

“The Blanchet Fund” or the Bishop Blanchet General Endowment was started in 1980 through the guidance of then Principal Dr. Joe Haggarty. The purpose of the fund was to support Bishop Blanchet High School through the 1980’s and into the future. The fund’s beginnings were tied to a need to help stabilize escalating tuition and help fund needed capital improvements over time at Bishop Blanchet.

 

At the time the school consisted of over 1,300 students and the need have a reliable fund upon which to plan for the success of the school was needed. This fund was conceptualized as a supplement to other funding sources like tuition and donations to the school. The fund was originally invested by the Archdiocese of Seattle Investment Committee and now is maintained by the Fulcrum Foundation.

 

Because of the existence of this fund, Blanchet has been able to cover planned and unplanned expenses and ensure the continued ability to provide a Catholic education to thousands of students in north Seattle and the greater Seattle area. According to volunteers on the initial campaign, the idea of the endowment was twofold to provide for the current time and remain large enough to be beneficial for a long time.

 

Currently, the Endowment has a value 8.3 million dollars and remains available and intact to provide for Blanchet’s future in perpetuity. The Bishop Blanchet General Endowment is an important part of Blanchet’s future success and a testament to the work of our community of leaders and volunteers that had the foresight to create these resources so many years ago.

 

The Maury Sheridan and Kevin Twohy Speech & Debate Endowment was created to honor Dr. Maury Sheridan, a fixture at BBHS from 1960 to 1974 who helped to establish the BBHS Speech & Debate program and to honor Kevin Twohy ’71 who was inspired by Dr. Sheridan at BBHS and directly led to Kevin becoming a nationally recognized coach at the high school and collegiate levels of forensics.

 

Maury also worked tirelessly to inspire students on stage and in the classroom and had a passion for and commitment to effective communication. Mr. Sheridan, as he was known to his students, brought the best out in every student he reached. He demanded excellence and commitment. He was a teacher, director, mentor, and coach to countless students at Bishop Blanchet. 

Kevin “2E” Twohy was drawn to speech and debate when he first arrived as a freshman at BBHS. Kevin contributed to the production of the school annual, wrote regular sports columns for the MITER, and served as a team manager for varsity baseball, football, and basketball and found time to participate in the annual school spring musical directed by Dr. Sheridan. Kevin continued to be involved in speech and debate after high school serving as Coach Twohy at Jesuit HS in New Orleans, Carroll College in Helena, MT, and Diablo Valley Junior College.

This Endowment serves to honor both Maury and Kevin and their love of Bishop Blanchet and its Community. It will also endeavor to fund and preserve the Speech & Debate program at BBHS for the next 60 years and beyond giving current and future BBHS students the same opportunities that Maury helped to provide and Kevin experienced while a student at Blanchet.

This Laura Boyd ’89 Memorial Endowment was created in memory of Laura Catherine Boyd, Class of 1989, by her mother Anne Wickstrand.

 

Laura, was the beneficiary of Catholic education, attending Assumption St. Bridget School where she participated actively in CYO athletics, Bishop Blanchet High School and Seattle University. Laura joined her Wickstrand cousins at Bishop Blanchet, participating in both varsity basketball and slow-pitch softball under the legendary coaching of Terry Wilkinson. Laura was a valuable team member and made lifelong friends through her participation in athletics. Her teammate and dear friend Val Buono-Spannaus ’88 described Laura as hard-working, smart, hilarious, dedicated, inspirational, loyal, beautiful and with a heart of gold. Laura and Val even painted their basketball shoes Blanchet gold and green!

Coach Wilkinson commented that Laura was a hard worker, enjoyed her teammates, was always upbeat around them, was full of smiles, and that the girls had fun with each other. The BBHS Girls Basketball team went to the State Championship in 1989 and Laura was named the most inspirational player on the team.

 

It is the wish of her mother that future young, female students, in need of tuition support, have the positive experience of being active at Bishop Blanchet by participating in athletics, while remaining focused on academic success.

 

Click Here to Donate to the Laura Boyd ’89 Memorial Endowment

Harry Purpur was a graduate of Bishop Blanchet High School from the Class of 1961. Additionally, Harry worked as a teacher and administrator in Catholic education for nearly fifty years. In addition to spending twenty of those years at BBHS, Harry also served as the Superintendent of Catholic Schools for the Archdiocese of Seattle and the Diocese of Orlando.

Harry passed away in October of 2017 and this endowment serves as one way to honor Harry's commitment to Catholic education. This fund will serve to provide scholarships to students at Bishop Blanchet that experience difficulty in meeting the cost of tuition at BBHS.

If you are interested in honoring Harry by making a donation, please know that anyone can make a gift to the Harry V. Purpur Memorial Scholarship Endowment. All gifts made are 100% tax deductible and eligible for corporate matching gifts. All gifts to this endowment will be used specifically for the purpose of growing the Harry V. Purpur Memorial Scholarship Endowment. If you have any questions you can contact Robert Lukevich, the Assistant Director of Development, Alumni Relations & Planned Giving at rlukevich@bishopblanchet.org.

Make a gift to the Harry V. Purpur Memorial Scholarship Endowment