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Marcie and Dave Stone: Why We Give
For Marcie and Dave Stone, attending performances at Meany Center is a family tradition—and so is donating to it.
Marcie describes herself as a “second generation subscriber.” Long before Meany Center’s precursor UW World Series was even a twinkle in founding artistic director Matt Krashan’s eye, Marcie’s parents Nancy and Eddie Cooper subscribed to Chamber and Piano concert series held at Meany Hall.
“My mother loved music, and my father loved my mom,” Marcie recalls. “So even though he wasn’t as musical, he went to the concerts with her. And when I was available, he was very glad to have me take his place.” Music at Meany was such a part of Nancy Cooper’s life that even after her husband died, she continued her subscription to the UW World Series up until her death 15 years later. She always had two tickets so that she could include a friend — preferably one who was willing to drive at night!
In the last year of her mother’s life, Marcie suggested Nancy might want to make a bequest to Meany; but at the time of her death, no decision had been made about how, exactly, the bequest would be designated. Then in April 2006, a week or so after Nancy died, Marcie and Dave attended a Meany concert featuring the Daedalus Quartet. From the stage, one of the quartet members talked about an in-school residency the ensemble had participated in earlier that day, and Marcie realized this was exactly the kind of thing her mother would have supported. The result was the Nancy & Eddie Cooper Endowed Fund for Music in Schools.
Marcie and Dave, who met as students at the UW and then lived all over the world during Dave’s 20-year Army career, moved back to Seattle in 2008. By 2009, Dave had joined UWWS’s Advisory Board, and when he stepped off in 2017, Marcie joined. Both have been instrumental in guiding the organization’s development from UW World Series to Meany Center. “Watching the evolution of the UW World Series into the Meany Center, and experiencing the innovative programming and growth of the Center have been incredibly exciting” Marcie remarked. “We’re so glad that we can be part of the Center’s emergence as a significant force in the international world of music and dance performance.”
In 2008 as part of their return to Seattle and their desire to reengage with the UW, Marcie and Dave created a planned gift that benefits Meany Center and the Information School of which Marcie is an alum. Their reasons are straightforward: they have no dependents who need their support; and they feel a tremendous debt of gratitude to the University of Washington for giving them the foundation on which they built their careers as an army officer/government consultant, and an information professional. So, they decided to repay that debt by making Meany Center and the UW Information School beneficiaries of two generous bequests.
For Dave, the decision to support Meany was easy. “Meany Center has always been a real flagship for what the University has turned into,” he says. “When I was a student here 50 years ago, the UW was pretty insular and not very community-oriented. To see how it has become so much more accessible to students, to the community and to the Puget Sound region is wonderful. And the depth, diversity and quality of programming at Meany Center is emblematic of that growth.”
For Marcie, the reason is even simpler: “Meany feels like home,” she says. “It always has.”