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The $10 Million Gift

Megan Brooks and Hayley Day

Smack!

She hit the ground.

Boom!

Her cane slipped.

Smash!

Her ego bruised.

The cold wind revealed a trail of tears and dragged footprints running parallel to High Street. A hunched, snow-drenched figure crawled from beneath the billowy rubble, attempting once more at the feat at hand. Step by step, moment by moment, the figure pressed on, never stopping, never slowing, never giving up.

Lois Klawon fell 19 times on her way to class that snowy day. The sidewalks were slippery and the brace on her leg made it difficult to stay steady.

According to lifelong friend Mark Ketterer, she promised herself that day that if she could, she would prevent others from this torture. She would do everything she could to make Miami University the best place it could be.

In the fall of 2007, almost 68 years later, her wish will come true.

Klawon fulfilled her promise to give back to her alma mater when she passed away in July of 2005, leaving half of her estate to Miami. Klawon specified that the $10 million should help low-income students attend the university and because of her dream, up to 150 students that could never have afforded Miami may attend next fall.

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In conjunction with Klawon's gift, additional donors, and federal and state financial aid, Miami President David Hodge announced the launching of the Miami Access Initiative in his State of the University Address earlier this year.

This program will provide tuition and fees for first-time, first-year Ohio residents who are attending Miami with a family income lower than $35,000.

A similar program would have been beneficial to Klawon.

"Lois wouldn't have been able to go to Miami without her scholarships," said Kenneth Redlin, Klawon's cousin.

While at Miami, Klawon obtained a bachelor's degree in accounting and was one of only seven women to graduate with a business degree in 1939.

Klawon was also a member of the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society Sigma Delta Pi, the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), and a contributor to The Miami Student.

Upon graduation, Klawon worked for Wagner Awning Manufacturing as an accountant and then went on to Progressive Corporation as an executive secretary. There she took advantage of the stock option, in which she placed $2,000.

By the end of her lifetime, $2,000 had grown into $20 million.

However despite her wealth, what life gave to Klawon financially, it took from her physically.

Diagnosed with polio as a young child, Klawon was forced to have a brace put on her leg, causing her to use a cane for the remainder of her life. In addition, Klawon underwent approximately 40 surgeries to correct her disorder.

Growing up in poverty in the 1930s, Klawon and her family endured many hardships. She lost her only sibling, her brother Gordon, to goiter, a disease which causes an enlarged thyroid gland and interferes with breathing.

Fraught with piling medical bills, Klawon's family struggled to make ends meet.

Yet despite the numerous tragedies in her life, Klawon was instilled with a deep sense of determination and perseverance.

"Lois never said no," Ketterer said. "She never allowed herself to feel sorry for herself, never let her handicap stop her. Any place she wanted to go, she found a way, and went."

Ketterer met Klawon when he was just 12 years old in his hometown of Westlake, Ohio. Ketterer accompanied Klawon, who, at the time, was in her 40s, to the grocery store and dinner each week. As the years progressed, Klawon became part of his family, attending Christmas dinners and vacations with him.

When Ketterer became an adult, he lived only a couple of blocks away from his lifelong friend, working the midnight shift as a police officer just to spend time with her during the day.

For the latter half of her life, Ketterer always kept an eye on Klawon.

"We had a system," Ketterer said. "As I was coming home around midnight after my night shift at work, I would always drive by her apartment. She had a porch light and if it was lit that meant she needed me to stop and help her. If it wasn't then that was her telling me she was all right."

Despite the regimented system, Klawon was always up for some fun.

"She left the porch light on a couple of times," Ketterer said, "but only because she wanted me to stop in and have a drink with her."

Klawon never married nor had children, but did manage to surround herself with friends, especially youthful ones that kept her vibrant and alert. She was well-traveled and an inspiration to everyone she met.

"She was a person, who despite physical handicaps, never complained," Ketterer said. "She never sat and said 'woe is me'. She accepted what life gave her and lived a fulfilling and complete one."

Klawon's decision to donate the money to Miami was an easy one.

"Lois went to Miami on an optional scholarship," Redlin said. "She wanted to return the favor to the university. Lois always felt it could have been her that needed more help."

Klawon knew that her success was partly due to her years at Miami.

"She spoke highly of those years," Ketterer said. "She knew she owed a lot of her success to that school."

Klawon was a self-made successful woman who gave more than she received throughout her life. She donated money to various charities including food banks in Cleveland, the Red Cross, and Cleveland's Animal Protection League (APL).

"She was a straight shooter, organized, and had an unparalleled work ethic," Ketterer said.

In addition to the contribution that Klawon left to Miami, she also left her story as an inspiration to students. Just as Ketterer said, Klawon lived her life to the fullest simply by "never saying no" - not to disabilities, poverty, or even icy sidewalks.


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