Estate Gift Shows Couple’s Gratitude for the Place They Call Home

Vivien L. (Griesemer) Aulenbach ’64 was a young child living near Albright College in Reading, Pa., when she told her parents, “I’m going to go to that place where the big kids go with all the books.”

It took Gene W. Aulenbach ’64 a little bit longer to find Albright, as he began his college journey at Drexel. Once he did, he knew it was the right choice.

Now, 50 years after they graduated, the Aulenbachs are giving back to the college that they say has always felt like home. “Yes, there are new buildings, but somehow it’s the same campus,” says Gene, pastor emeritus of the Church of the Good Shepherd UCC, Boyertown, Pa. “There are new professors, but the same kind of caring atmosphere expressed by the students about faculty.”

Vivien, a retired librarian with the Reading School District, notes, “Albright provided us with the foundation for our future professions and the opportunity to meet special friends. We share wonderful memories from our Albright years. We are grateful!”

As an expression of that gratitude, the Aulenbachs have included a bequest to Albright in their will, directing that the gift be shared by the College and the Gingrich Library. They also served on their Class of 1964 Reunion Committee and helped lead the class to a record-breaking $1,236,530.12 for cumulative class giving, having beaten their original goal of $1,000,000. They have since increased that goal to $1,500,000 by the end of Albright’s fiscal year, May 31, 2015, and continue to work with the committee to achieve it.

“We have a good group of people in our class who are giving back because we recognize the solid foundation that Albright gave us,” say the Aulenbachs. “It’s our way of saying, ‘Thank you.’”