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Grant L. & K. Georgann Sturhahn Fund Couple quietly provided for future
Grant and Georgann Sturhahn were private people. During their lifetimes, they supported several nonprofit organizations, quietly working behind the scenes, said nephew Steve Sturhahn.
“They would not have brought attention to their gifts,” Steve said in response to the Community Foundation’s request to share news of the couple’s generosity.
“However, if it helps others to consider doing this, we believe that is good,” added Steve’s wife Carol.
“Years ago Grant had stated that he would leave money to take care of the organizations he cared about,” Steve said, but what those organizations would be was not revealed until after their deaths.
“They had organizations that were special to them that they wanted to help,” Steve said.
Their will made provisions for those organizations and it also established the Grant L. & K. Georgann Sturhahn Fund with the Community Foundation of the Quincy Area. This permanent unrestricted endowment supports grants, programs and projects of the Community Foundation for generations to come.
“When and how Grant and Georgann became interested in the Community Foundation, I don’t know,” Steve said.
“They were community minded people and wanted to benefit the community,” answered attorney Steve Siebers, who served as the couple’s legal advisor.
A quote from Grant in the October 15, 1986 Quincy Merchant Newspaper may give a clue to the couple’s charitable motive.
“Quincy has been very good to us . . . Quincy has a wonderful sense of stability . . . but Quincy is changing just like everything else. You have to change to grow,” Grant said at the time.
Although they had no children, they were very family oriented and had a close group of friends.
“My father died when I was young and Grant helped me continue to grow the business,” Steve said.
Commitment and tradition were important to the couple. Grant was the second in what has become a fourth generation family business—Sturhahn Jewelers. He considered himself very ethical and honest, said Steve, which is why Grant worked hard to become a member of the American Gem Society with membership based on compliance to rigid standards of knowledge and business ethics.
Georgann also volunteered with the Ladies of Charity and at the Blessing Hospital Tea Room. Perhaps the Sturhahns realized that the endowed fund would allow them to continue to support the community they loved while providing flexibility for the changes, needs and opportunities they could not anticipate.
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