Estate Gift In Support Of The Haggerty Museum: A Thing Of Beauty

To appreciate a singular brushstroke in a masterpiece, you often need to step back and consider the whole. The same can be said about Maryanne Torner’s generous estate gift, a reflection of the many brushstrokes creating beauty in her life. For the Detroit resident, her late husband Charles (Eng ’61) and a love of art truly constitute the subjects of her “big picture.”

Maryanne graduated from the liberal arts College of Wooster (Ohio) and served as an executive assistant at General Motors Design Center in Warren, Michigan, where she met “Chuck.” The Milwaukee-born Marquette engineer, also an outstanding athlete, had an interest in the arts as well. A canvas would ultimately be painted around their shared perspective of the liberal and creative arts. “It’s about educating the whole person,” Maryanne comments. And appreciation of the creative arts in particular would help bring the two together.

After Chuck was widowed in 1984, he and Maryanne began a long courtship and were married in 2000. His three children, their spouses, and six grandchildren were a bonus for Maryanne. The couple’s life was filled with world travels, from South America to South Africa. “I got Chuck to go to places he thought he’d never see,” Maryanne recalls, adding with a wistful laugh, “I expanded his horizons and mine as well, sharing tremendous experiences together.” Chuck continued his interest in art by taking painting classes soon after his retirement in 2000. He exhibited often in juried shows and sold some of his work.

Maryanne and Chuck pursued the beauty of art together when they became members of Marquette’s Friends of the Haggerty Museum in 2005. Through trips and events, this group fueled the Michigan couple’s love of art and travel while connecting them with like-minded people. “The Friends of the Haggerty were exactly that—real friends,” Maryanne comments. They even discovered connections to the College of Wooster and General Motors within the group. “It’s the circles in life that add to the circle of life’s beauty,” Maryanne reflects.

When Maryanne tragically lost Chuck in 2020 to COVID-19, she felt compelled to revise her estate plan. It seemed natural to share her professional gains with places that mattered most to her personal formation and happiness. In addition to the College of Wooster and Michigan’s Oakland University, Maryanne decided to make a planned gift to support the Haggerty Museum. She explains, “While Chuck always supported Marquette through scholarships, the Blue & Gold Fund, the Engineering Building Fund, and the Friends of the Haggerty, this was ‘my gift’—one I think he would value because of what we shared behind it.”

Marquette University will always value the artistry of this most thoughtful brushstroke, a finishing touch to a beautiful life story.