Over the past three years, the members of our club have been great supporters of the Bruce Gevertz '83 Memorial Scholarship Fund.  Each year we have progressively increased our contribution.  Last year, rather than making the donations through the Club, we made them directly to the College as part of our individual annual giving pledges.  Because of this change, we were able to significantly increase our contributions and last year, as a group, we contributed $7,000 to the fund.  The current balance in the fund is $54,255.  I am very proud of our Club since our total contributions ($9,250) comprise 17% of the fund balance.   

At last year's alumni reception and memorial service, I spoke with Bruce's mom (Joan) and widow (Jackie).  I told them that I thought that our goal should be to get the fund to the endowment level.  Once the fund reaches $100,000, monies can be distributed to a student athlete each year and the fund will be self sustaining.  Fund distribution could start now, but then the fund risks being spent down and eventually there might be no money left in it.  There are another $22,000 pledged, so the Fund is three quarters of the way to becoming endowed.  The family is committed to endowing the fund.

Jim Grube '79-'91 asked me after the memorial service how I thought we could facilitate a lasting memory for Bruce's sons.  Without hesitating, I replied that, once the fund is endowed and scholarship distributions begin, every year a very grateful Middlebury student athlete will write a thank you letter to the Gevertz family.  I believe that Joan, Jackie and Bruce's 3 sons will treasure these letters and the opportunity that the fund has created for a deserving student.  Bruce will be remembered.

What about Bruce?    For those of you who might not know what happened to Bruce Gevertz '83, here is a short synopsis.  At Middlebury College, Bruce was a member of the KDR fraternity and played football and lacrosse.  I think a bunch of us can relate to that description!  Bruce was at the top of his "game" during the winter of 1998.   He was a managing director at Bear Sterns and he was married to his college sweetheart with whom he had several young children.  Out of the blue, he went home from work on the Friday before the winter holidays with a fever and over the weekend he developed pneumonia and died soon after arriving at a hospital the following Monday.  Bruce had his spleen removed (? sports injury) years earlier and therefore he was susceptible to certain types of bacterial infections.  But he was a perfectly healthy adult and his death was a serious blow to his family and friends.  I was able to attend the memorial service several days after his death and I must admit that my life has not been the same since that day.  I look at things in a very different way and, in fact, I changed several things in my life that very day.  While I only knew Bruce for a short time, he was the kind of guy you don't forget.  So let's all contribute generously to a fund that will memorialize Bruce and what Bruce was all about.  Someday there will be scholar athletes at Middlebury who will be the beneficiaries of our contributions in Bruce's memory.  They will help carry forward what Bruce started and what he didn't get to finish.

The following page appeared in the 1999 Vail Shootout Tournament Program.
http://www.middleburylacrosse.org/gevertz.html

IMPORTANT:  If you want to direct your annual giving contribution to the Gevertz Fund, make sure you include a note (and write on the check) stating that you want the funds directed to the Bruce Gevertz '83 Memorial Scholarship Fund and that you are member of the Middlebury Alumni Lacrosse Club.

All checks should be made out to Middlebury College and sent to the following address:
Office of Annual Giving
Meeker House
Middlebury College
Middlebury, VT 05753

You can also make a gift online:  http://www.middlebury.edu/~giving/gift-online