Dr. Terry Flannigan and Dr. Thomas Charles (Chuck) Day have been friends for more than 60 years. Both helped to build MacEwan as an institution from its infancy, and now they have each established endowed funds in order to continue helping students into the future.
“We’ve worked in the same institution more than once,” Dr. Day says. “We started out teaching together at City Park, a high school in Saskatoon, and we coached football together.”
Dr. Day began his career at MacEwan on May 1, 1971. “I was the fourth person hired by the college. We had no students, no staff, no programs and no buildings. We were going to open in the fall of that year, so there was a lot of work ahead of us.”
Dr. Flannigan was brought into the fold when Dr. Day saw that there was a need for someone with his expertise. “We needed somebody at MacEwan to do our scheduling, and I knew the guy to do it,” says Dr. Day.
“I was at a school in Ohio at the time,” says Dr. Flannigan. “Chuck phoned me and asked if I wanted to get in on something special, the start of a new college. I said sure, came back to Western Canada and the rest is history.”
The pair’s friendship has persevered over the decades since, and today they live in the same building in B.C., just one floor apart.
The Flannigan Family Scholarship was established in 1996 through contributions by Dr. Flannigan and his children, Jean Anne and Philip, and is in place to support students. The trio have collectively spent over 70 years working at MacEwan and helping to build the institution into what it is today.
“I think it’s important that people know that this family has put their lives into MacEwan as an institution,” says Dr. Flannigan.
The scholarship is awarded to student athletes with outstanding academic achievement. The family has recently donated $45,000 through life insurance policies and personal funds, bringing the endowment for the scholarship up to $60,000. The Flannigan Family Scholarship is now awarded to two student athletes annually.
In 2022, Dr. Day established the Dr. T.C. Day Bursary in Science – Chemistry, donating life insurance policies as well as an additional $10,000 to establish an endowment. The $1,500 bursary is distributed to one student each year who has declared chemistry as their major and has demonstrated financial need.
Dr. Day feels that the bursary is a way to continue his connection with the institution into the future. “I’m certainly proud of the relationship I have with MacEwan, whether it be the university now, or when we just started as a college.”
Leaving a planned gift is a wonderful way to support the work of MacEwan University and have a lasting impact on its students. For more information on planned giving, please get in touch at giving@macewan.ca.