Like many of us, Mary Durkee is watching the world change and adapting to a new way of doing things. She probably won’t be taking her annual trip to Europe with her three daughters this fall. Instead, she might take walks along her favorite local spot, the Loop the Little Lake trail at Fritse Park near her Neenah home.

“That trail has always been special to us,” says Durkee.

The last section of the 3.5 mile trail is one she and her late husband Ray helped support through a grant from their C. Raymond & Mary R. Durkee Family Fund, a donor advised fund that allowed the couple to choose the charitable projects that interest them.

“Ray was very active in the community, serving as a Community Foundation board member and invited as a guest speaker at the 2006 Women’s Fund Luncheon to talk about being a father of three daughters.”

After Ray’s death two years ago, Mary has made sure their fund continues to support local trails and the Women’s Fund for the Fox Valley Region, and she looks to the Community Foundation to help her learn about many other meaningful opportunities to improve the Fox Valley area.

The Durkees’ fund includes an after-lifetime gift to the Community Foundation to continue the Durkees’ generous legacy forever. After planning for the future gift, the couple joined the Himebaugh Legacy Circle, a group of more than 260 members we recognize and celebrate for supporting their favorite charitable causes or future community needs through an estate or other planned gift to the Community Foundation.

You can 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.