USD-Magazine-Spring-2025

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO YOU TO GIVE AWAY YOUR WEALTH DURING YOUR LIFETIME? Donald earned the money that we have, and I helped invest it. When you’ve been poor, you want to make sure you use it properly. I also want people to know that if you work hard and you have money, you have a responsibility to do good things with it. And I’m not talking about ‘giving it back.’ I feel there isn’t anyone to ‘give it back’ to. I do believe in the more positive view of paying it forward. I also want people to remember that there were people who didn’t know them, who cared enough about them to make education and life just a little bit easier for them. It was hard for Donald and myself. We were talented and smart, but back then the family made just enough money to be slightly over the poverty line and I relied on scholarships. I think it’s important that people know things don’t just happen. They happen because somebody does something out of the ordinary or pushes the envelope just a little bit.

WHY DO YOU CONTINUE TO SERVE ON THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES AT USD? When I was being interviewed to be on the board of USD, they gave you a sheet of paper with a list of questions you would have to answer indicating that you deserve to be on the Board. So, I read through them and I paid special attention to question number six. [President] Art [Hughes] asked if I had any questions and I said, well, yes, question number six: “Are you of good moral character?” And he got this look in his eye — because he obviously didn’t know me that well then — and he said, “well, how long have you been of good moral character?” I said, since I married my husband Donald Shiley. And Art said, “that’s long enough.” That was it — I started my service on the Board at that moment. [I stay on the board] because I guess it’s the sense of being with an organization that is transmitting the kind of values that you value — and 30 years is a long time to be with one organization. This all started out with a $25,000 gift, and the most recent one was a little more than that, but I believe in USD, and I know Donald would, too. There are several organizations that we support and will continue to support. A lot of people use the word transformative — this really is transformative, and I understand that. I feel good about it — and I thought, okay, it’s time. I’m getting towards the end of my life, I don’t know how much time I have, and I want to make some of these decisions now.

WHEN SOMEONE LOOKS BACK ON YOUR LEGACY, HOW DO YOU WANT TO BE REMEMBERED? I want people to know that I am real. I once had a wonderful conversation with a student and afterwards he said, “Holy — you know what — she’s for real!” But I suppose that’s not appropriate for a mausoleum. In all seriousness, I would want to be remembered as a genuine woman, a superb wife and a loving person. I think that’s what I’d want to see. I’d want people to remember that I was approachable, affable and that I was kind. And that’s how I live my life — I just wanted to try to be as good a person as I can. And I’m a better person because I was married to Donald. Interview by Russell Yost

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