Episode 03: Kathy Owen

“I’ve always felt very proud of my Queen’s degree.” 

In the world of fundraising, we like to talk about loyal donors. Pride, close family connection, great memories, and a sense of exhilaration - are these the ingredients that add up to donor loyalty? In this episode, Kathy Owen tells us about her loyalty to Queen's and how it's inspired her to give for 50 straight years.

Transcript

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Cause & Effect, Episode 3: Kathy Owen, Artsci’67

Host: We’ve all heard the story about how swans mate for life. It turns out it’s true – for the most part. You’ve probably seen that video about the lion who lunges at the man who saved his life years earlier. It looks like he’s going to maul him to death. But instead, he just hugs him. Or how about the story about the dog in Japan who went to the subway station every day to meet his owner – who had died of a heart attack at work nine years earlier? Have you ever stopped to think about how those iconic stories of loyalty always involve animals?

Loyalty is a tricky subject. It has its pros and cons to be sure, and it’s not always easy for mere humans to pull off. But when we think about desirable traits, it always seems to top the list. I think we have a tendency to romanticize loyalty – maybe because it’s so tricky. As Cicero, the great Roman statesman, said, “Nothing is more noble, nothing more venerable, than loyalty.” 

It’s the same today, isn’t it? In our personal lives, in our professional lives, in politics, business, sports, we still value loyalty – above pretty much everything else.

I’m Deborah Melman-Clement, and this is Cause and Effect, a Queen’s Alumni Review podcast, where we dive into the motivations of philanthropists and explore what they’re passionate about and the impact they have on the world. 

In the world of fundraising, we like to talk about loyal donors. This isn’t some abstract ideal. There’s an actual definition of it. We define the loyal donor as a donor who gives regularly over a long period of time. They don’t have to give a lot. They don’t have to give exclusively. But if they come back – over and over and over again – they’re loyal donors. And they’re the heart and soul of any philanthropic enterprise.  I’m talking about people like Kathy Owen.

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of talking with Kathy Owen over Zoom, one of the first things you’ll notice is the Tricolour flag in the background. It’s not big. It’s not obtrusive, but it’s there on the credenza behind her, reminding anyone who sees it of the strong feelings she has for her alma mater – loyalty for sure, but also pride. 

Kathy:  I mean I have always felt very proud of my Queen’s degree. I do have a master’s degree from U of T, and I’m sure it’s a very worthy degree too. It’s my Queen’s degree of which I’m most proud.

Host: Kathy’s Queen’s connection was born about 60 years ago, while she was still in high school in Orillia, Ontario. She spent a weekend on campus with some family friends, taking in a football game at the old Richardson stadium.

Kathy:  The stadium in those days was much smaller of course, because the student body was much smaller. When I was there, the entire student body, including the graduate school, was about 4,800 students. The set-up was much the same as it is now, in the sense that there was the student side and the side for everyone else. And the student side was just jam-packed. Everybody went to the football game. And the bands, the cheerleaders, the highland dancers were all there. And the energy was high, and this was certainly different from my high school experience.

Host:  In that moment, Kathy knew she had found her home. And when it came time to think about university, she applied to a few – but Queen’s was the only one she was really interested in. 

Kathy:  It was my number one, and although Western and U of T offered me admission first, I hung in and Queen’s finally came through.

Host: Kathy found a home for herself at Queen’s. So, it’s not surprising that she would find her family here too. She met her husband, Bob, on campus – at Grant Hall, actually, at a Frosh dance in the fall of 1964 --although neither of them were Frosh. Kathy was starting her second year, and Bob was starting his third.

Kathy:  I was what was called a Vig, short for vigilante. They’re now called Gaels, which is a much nicer term. So, the dance was for Frosh, and I was there as a member of the initiating team. However, Bob and some of his friends dug out their Frosh tams and crashed the party.

Host:   So, he was crashing the party and you were showing him the door and you ended up living happily ever after? 

Kathy: Indeed. That just about sums it up.

Host:  Their Grant Hall meet-cute launched a relationship that’s still going strong 57 years later. Actually, it launched a couple of relationships that are still going strong 57 years later --- Kathy and Bob’s relationship, of course, but also their relationship with Queen’s. Their two sons, Jeffrey and Andrew, are both Queen’s alumni, as are their two daughters-in-law. And Kathy is holding out hope that their grandchildren will continue the tradition over the next few years. That relationship has also included a volunteer commitment that’s been an on-and-off thing over the years, but it got a lot stronger recently.

Kathy: Once I retired in 08, I was looking for things to do to fill my time, and one of the first things I thought of was volunteering with Queen’s alumni and the Toronto branch.

Host: They’ve been active ever since –in the Toronto Branch and centrally in University Council and the Alumni Association. They both have their names on the Herbie – the Herbert J. Hamilton Award that celebrates the top volunteer contributors in the Queen’s alumni community. Bob won it in 2004 and Kathy in 2017. I think that makes them the first couple to win it in separate years – although a lot of couples won it together.

And, you know, a lot of times there’s a fine line separating volunteerism and philanthropy, so it probably shouldn’t surprise you to learn that Kathy and Bob live on both sides of that line. They’ve been volunteering on and off since they moved to Toronto and started their careers in 1972. And they’ve been giving to Queen’s every year – without missing a beat – loyally, as we like to say – the entire time.

Kathy: I think it’s safe to say that Bob and I have given annually since we were both employed, so that would have been somewhere around the very early 70s. I think I’m safe in saying we have not missed a year since then. Early in our careers, these donations were not large by any means. They might have been $20.

Host:  Of course, the amount really doesn’t matter. It’s the loyalty – the fact that they’ve given every year for 50 years -- that’s so impressive. And although they’ve given to Queen’s for 50 straight years, they’ve managed to use those gifts to support the causes that matter to them. Kathy, for instance, had a long, successful career as a teacher, and eventually a principal. So, education – particularly access to education -- is one of her favourite causes.

Kathy:  I’ve seen youngsters who were more than capable of going to university, some of whom were capable of going to university if they lived at home, others who just did not have the means to attend university anywhere, and so I know what a lost opportunity that is, both for the individual, but also for society, when somebody who’s that capable is denied opportunity.

Host:  When Kathy retired from the Toronto School Board, she used the occasion to create another opportunity for a capable student.

Kathy:  There was a party and a fund, not a huge amount of money, to buy me a gift. And I said to the organizers, “please don’t buy me anything. I’d like it to go to a student from that school who is entering Queen’s.”

Host:  They’ve given to the University Council bursary, a bursary set up by Kathy’s class, Artsci’67, and a law school bursary honouring one of Bob’s favourite professors. They’ve even supported the Queen’s Fund, the fund that takes care of the Principal’s priorities and operating expenses, because, as Kathy explains…

Kathy:  As a retired educator, I would always say that at the end of the day, the university still has to pay the electricity bill.

Host: But, you know, one of the interesting things about this loyal donor concept, especially at a place like Queen’s -- which is a cause, to be sure, but it’s also a means to support other causes – is that these loyal donors can find a new cause and still support it through Queen’s. In 2020, while attending our first Virtual Homecoming, Kathy found a new cause. She watched an interview with Elizabeth Eisenhauer and Janet Dancey, two of the leaders of the Canadian Cancer Trials Group, and she knew in that moment that she wanted to support their work.

Kathy:  Both my parents had cancer. My mother survived, my father did not. My husband is a cancer survivor. But somehow that wasn’t really part of my motivation, although maybe it should have been.

Host: Her real motivation, she says, was in the nature of the CCTG’s work and in the way the researchers talked about it. Sometimes, when a researcher talks about their work – I’ll say this nicely –it gets a little technical. And sometimes it’s not always easy for the rest of the world to understand. But this time, it was different.

Kathy: This one I could understand. And I think what intrigued me is that they’re looking for different ways to cure the disease, and different ways to treat the patient. I think we’ve all heard the stories of treatment in the past that may have been effective, but the treatment was almost worse than the disease. And I think they’re looking for ways to change that. So that really was what was resonating with me.

Host:  So, what did it take to motivate Kathy Owen to support the same cause for 50 years? Well, it starts with the pride she’s always felt in her degree and the close relationship she and her family have maintained with Queen’s over the years -- but she also appreciates the opportunity to hear about the impact her gifts have made.

Kathy:  Just yesterday, I got an email with a little video clip from Queen’s, from a student, saying thank you for the donation, without people like me, blah blah, she wouldn’t be at Queen’s. And I think she was in third year, she said in the video clip. And for a long time, I haven’t seen it as much lately, after we donated annually, we would get a telephone call from a student just to say thank you for your donation, and I always find it quite exhilarating, shall I say, to hear from students at Queen’s.

Host: So – Pride, close family connection, great memories, and a sense of exhilaration at seeing the impact of your generosity. Are those the ingredients that add up to loyalty? Honestly? I’d say that’s probably as good as any other guess. Ultimately, though, I think loyalty is a value, and it’s one you have to decide is important to you.

Kathy:  I certainly grew up in a home where it was valued. And I still think that it is an important quality, and one that I think is not so common anymore. You know, I would like to think of myself as a loyal friend, for example. And so maybe I’m a loyal friend of Queen’s.

Host:  A loyal friend of Queen’s. It may not be a pair of swans mating for life, but for Kathy Owen and her family, it’s been a commitment that is every bit as impressive.

I want to take a quick moment to thank everyone who makes this podcast possible, starting with our executive producers, Karen Bertrand and Scott Anderson. I also want to thank my Advancement colleagues, Michelle Fuko, Sara Franca, Natalie Shearer, Alex Beshara, Callum Linden, Yeshi Dolma, Grace Morton, and Wendy Treverton. And, of course, I want to thank Kathy Owen for sharing her story so generously.

If you’re up for sharing the story of your cause, boy, do we ever want to hear from you. You can contact your relationship manager, or look for me on the Advancement staff directory at Queen’sU-dot-ca. 

I’m Deborah Melman-Clement, and this was Cause and Effect. If you want more, you can subscribe on Spotify, Apple, Google, or Amazon.