Presentation of the Brophy Cornerstone Grant
by the trustees of The Virginia G. Piper Charitable
Trust to Brophy President, Father Eddie Reese, S J

For decades, Virginia supported hundreds of students seeking a college education at various American colleges and universities. Many of the students were first-generation college students. Once again, Virginia, the philanthropist, was ahead of her time in providing college funding for many individuals-including returning female students who had become widowed, had interrupted their schooling to marry and raise a family, or had divorced and lacked the educational skills to support their families.

Students sent grateful letters, reports of their grades, and biographies about happy (and sometimes unhappy) childhoods, and Virginia answered each and every one. With Virginia's demonstrated faith in them, these students thrived, aspiring to become elementary teachers, family law specialists, and social workers assisting the disabled and urban disadvantaged youth.

It is impossible to know how many students Virginia helped, since many students received funds anonymously. Records clearly indicate, however, that Virginia's largesse might have extended to nearly five hundred students, approximately twenty to thirty a year. For every student she helped, she affected not only the student's life, but also that of the student's family. Thus, one well-educated parent sustained generations.

While Virginia "schooled" others, she also "schooled" her community. Ahead of her time, Virginia held educational salons in her home, inviting experts in various fields. She'd invite friends to her home for lunch, a lecture, and discussion, often followed by a swim in her lovely pool. Long before the phrase "lifelong learning" had been coined, Virginia practiced it. Virginia also fervently supported the Catholic Diocese of Phoenix, pledging untold amounts for aid to the poor, church community services, and outreach to underserved communities. She gave generously to St. Philip the Deacon Catholic Center, a mission church in the heart of an inner-city ghetto in Phoenix. Other churches she supported in Scottsdale and Phoenix included St. Maria Goretti, St. Joseph's, and Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

Her total renovation of the chapel at the Franciscan Renewal Center ("the Casa") established the Paul V. Galvin Chapel in remembrance of her first husband. This chapel was, undoubtedly, one of her most beautiful and happiest achievements. Virginia started her morning at the chapel for 7:00 a.m. Mass, enjoying a respite from cares, relishing the solitude and a place to pray and remember both Ken and Paul.

Long before discussions regarding "geriatric care" became commonplace in American life, Virginia was actively supporting senior care. Roman Catholic Bishop James Rausch asked Virginia to spearhead support for the Foundation for Senior Living. She tapped Laura Grafman to assist her in enlisting community women, who formed Friends of the Foundation for Senior Living and created many successful fundraisers for older adults.

Virginia at groundbreaking day for the
Kenneth M. Piper Family Health Center in 1976

Perhaps Virginia was called to support elders and youth because of the belief that a civilization can be judged by its care of its most vulnerable populations. Perhaps too, because of her family, Virginia understood well the progression of parents as caregivers to elders needing care. Perhaps it was her faith that made her honor human life during all its stages. Or perhaps for all these reasons, Virginia had the foresight to invest in senior care at a time when such care had not yet received national attention.

It is impossible to capture the full extent of Virginia's living room philanthropy. The anecdotes given here are just a few examples of her visionary and compassionate philanthropy. Virginia, once engaged in any cause, gave multiple times in multiple ways over a sustained period of time to ensure its success.

The Arizona Republic, the Scottsdale Progress, and the Scottsdale Scene magazine all agreed that Virginia was one of the most important philanthropists in Arizona. Unlike the East and Midwest charitable social circuit dominated by families from the Social Register, the West was more inclusive, thanks to leaders like Virginia.

Virginia with pianist Roger Williams at a
dinner party honoring her philanthropy held at
the home of Laura and Dayton Grafman

Recalling the success of the annual Crusaders' Ball, a black-tie event for Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston, Illinois, that brought physicians and the community together for an evening of dinner and dancing, Virginia suggested a similar event to the administrators of Scottsdale Memorial Hospital (now Scottsdale Healthcare) as both a great community builder and a fundraising opportunity. Fully underwritten by Virginia in 1979, this black-tie event, the Honor Ball, was the first of its kind in Scottsdale. More than thirty years later, the Honor Ball is still a flourishing and successful event that specifically honors an individual or group whose philanthropy has had a dramatic effect on the healthcare system.

Over time, Virginia's workload took on crushing proportions.

Anyone possessed of such extensive wealth could have lived more extravagantly than Virginia and with far less dedication to others. She could have declined the work of carrying on Paul Galvin's charitable trust, or she could have simply fulfilled that one promise, a giant task in itself, and then chosen to live her final years following Ken's death traveling the world, luxuriating in glamorous homes and circumstances. As an independently wealthy widow, she could have bought and enjoyed nearly anything on earth, but Virginia chose to remain in the same pleasant but unpretentious home she and Ken had chosen and shared together, to drive the same 1986 Cadillac, and to save things, from rubber bands to ball gowns, in case they might be used again or given to someone who needed them. Her fortune, which she had always viewed as Paul Galvin's, was a means to a far greater end than mere personal gratification. True, she had been deeply influenced by the values of her grandmother and by both of her husbands. Yet in each of our lives, the choice is solely ours how best to spend our hours, give our gifts, and count our blessings.