Bequest to institution for mentally disabled benefits Breckenridge Village_71204

Posted: 7/09/04

Bequest to institution for mentally
disabled benefits Breckenridge Village

By Ferrell Foster

Texas Baptist Communications

TYLER–When a 1997 study projected future expenses for operating the new Breckenridge Village of Tyler, no one anticipated changes in state laws and other factors would push expenses upward so drastically at the residential facility for adults with mild to moderate mental disabilities.

But neither did anyone anticipate that an elderly single woman who had never heard of Breckenridge would die in 2002 and leave a portion of her estate to “an institution for retarded children or adults” of her executer's choice.

Both happened.

The gift from Mildred Yeager's estate received this year is one of several that have helped Breckenridge make “significant” progress toward retirement of its capital debt, which has dropped from $4.5 million a year ago to less than $3.5 million now, said Kevin Dinnin, president of Baptist Child & Family Services, which owns and operates Breckenridge.

Her bequest also will fund scholarships for residents.

Her gift to Breckenridge will total almost $400,000, said Roy Lee Williams, longtime Texas Baptist minister and executer of Yeager's will.

While the gift from the Yeager estate is not the largest commitment made to Breckenridge Village, it represents the God-fearing life of the benefactor, Dinnin said.

Her concern for the mentally disabled grew out of her love and care for her younger sister, Ruth, who suffered from such a disability.

Mildred Yeager's life was “given to her family,” Williams said. A native of Putnam and longtime resident of Dallas and Tyler, Yeager provided care through the years for her ailing parents; another sister, Mary; a brother-in-law; and Ruth.

She also worked outside the home in a variety of jobs–teacher, newspaper publisher, congressional secretary and U.S. Department of Agriculture employee.

Yeager always was a “very wise woman with her money,” Williams said. “She was very frugal and wouldn't spend money on herself.”

As a result, adults with mental disabilities living at Breckenridge will continue to benefit from Yeager's care and compassion long after her death.

“It's a significant testimony to the life of a Christian lady who had compassion for all people but especially for those with special needs,” Dinnin said. “Her estate gift will enable us to provide scholarships and to work toward the retirement of the bond debt.”

Breckenridge can house 48 residents and provides in-day programs for another 20, Dinnin said. Eighty percent to 90 percent of the residents receive some form of scholarship.

“Miss Yeager is a wonderful example of someone who wanted to see her possessions help someone who couldn't help themselves,” said Bill Arnold, president of the Texas Baptist Missions Foundation. “The way she has done it means her influence will live on for generations.”

The foundation works with people who seek to have an impact on Texas missions and ministries through financial gifts and bequests.

Foundation staff encouraged Yeager's executor and the attorney representing her estate to consider Breckenridge Village as a beneficiary under the terms of her will.

“A lot of folks have good intentions like Miss Yeager, but they never get around to it or know where to start,” Arnold said. “Two-thirds of the people who die do not have a will. We have to overcome that and get them to think about missions.

“It's impossible to overstate the importance of everyone having a will,” he continued. “One of the greatest joys a person can have is knowing that, after their family is taken care of, they have provided something for the Lord's work and they have left behind a legacy that can speak for them for generations to come.”

The foundation helps people plan financially for a sequence of needs–self, spouse, family and the Lord's work, in that order, Arnold said. “We want everyone to make the Lord a partner with them in the estate planning process.”

Yeager did not know about Breckenridge Village when she made out her will.

She spelled out several disbursements of her estate–including $50,000 for Logsdon School of Theology, $50,000 for the Hardin-Simmons University music school, $50,000 for the First Baptist Academy in Dallas and an unspecified amount to an institution for the mentally disabled.

Williams had known Yeager since his childhood in Putnam, where she was his Baptist Young People's Union leader.

“As kids, we just thought she was an old maid, but she loved us, and we loved her,” he said. “She was a lady who walked with the Lord in every experience of life and sought to do his will.”

All of these years later, Williams and others are helping Yeager continue to show her love. And Breckenridge Village is one of the places where it will be most evident.