Join the Legacy Society
If you would like to ensure that future generations will experience great performances like those that you enjoy at the Mahaiwe, please consider joining The Legacy Society by including the Mahaiwe in your estate plans.
Adding the Mahaiwe as a beneficiary in your will is the simplest way to do so, but other options include making the Mahaiwe a beneficiary of a retirement account, life insurance policy, or trust.
Legacy Society members enjoy invitations to special events and the satisfaction of knowing that the Mahaiwe will continue to enrich and entertain our community for generations to come.
For more information about how you can join the Mahaiwe’s Legacy Society, contact Director of Advancement Diane Wortis at 413-644-9040 x123 or diane@mahaiwe.org.
Legacy Society Stories
Jordie Green
Shortly after 9/11, Jordie Green and his wife Laura experienced a “moment of reckoning.” They asked each other what they wanted to do with the rest of their lives, a soul searching that led the couple to move to the Berkshires, the place where they first met more than 25 years ago. It was not the most auspicious of new beginnings. Jordie had trouble finding work in the area and then experienced significant medical challenges. He found himself not only “retired by default” but also forced to slow down and focus on his health. Jordie turned to participation in the community.
He volunteered to usher at the Mahaiwe, where he loves many shows, particularly the London National Theatre HD broadcasts. When Jordie was preparing his estate plan, he chose to include the Mahaiwe as a beneficiary. “We’re living conservatively because we want to leave a legacy,” Jordie explains. “We want the Mahaiwe to benefit when Laura and I are not around.”
Ledlie I. Laughlin, Jr.
The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center is honored by Ledlie I. Laughlin, Jr.’s generous bequest. Ledlie spent his life celebrating differences and seeking unity. His unrestricted gift is helping the Mahaiwe fund programming and events that strengthen and highlight the interconnectedness of us all through the power of art.
Born in Princeton, New Jersey, on May 18, 1930, Ledlie graduated from Princeton University and The General Theological Seminary, then began his ordained ministry as Associate Priest at Grace Church Van Vorst in Jersey City from 1955 to 1963.
His mission focused on inclusiveness and racial justice, opening the doors of the church to the entirety of a neighborhood that consisted primarily of persons who were poverty-stricken, Black or Latino. Ledlie committed himself to work on many issues in urban situations, including the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. He spent fifty impactful years between Newark, Greenwich Village, and Florence, Italy. Summarizing his time in parish ministry, Ledlie said, “I helped congregations figure out how they were called to respond to the needs of others around them, and to do so.”
Ledlie was a frequent patron of the Mahaiwe along with his wife Roxana. She remains a devoted patron of the Mahaiwe, currently enjoying Scott Eyerly’s biweekly opera talks.
Ledlie had a keen eye for opportunities to bring joy and unity among groups of people. The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center is proud to have been recognized by Ledlie as an organization that aligned with his mission of hope, generosity, and inclusion.
Annette Grant
Someone who knew the power of the arts, Annette Grant, a writer and editor, also knew the power of giving to make the world around her a better place, and she brought the two together when she made a generous bequest to the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center. Annette was a long-time patron of the Mahaiwe with her husband, Jonathan Baumbach, and her gift is commemorated in the theater while being put to use strengthening the communications and technology infrastructure of the place she cared so much about.
A native Texan and graduate of Brown University who lived most of her life in New York and finally settled in Housatonic, Annette was a writer an editor for Mademoiselle, Newsweek, and Seventeen Magazines before moving to the New York Times. There, she worked her way from editor of the Living Section, to editor of the Weekend Section, and finally, art editor of the Arts & Leisure section.
Whether or not Annette thought of herself as a trailblazer, others likely did. We imagine Annette would enjoy knowing she has blazed one more trail, as a founding member of the Mahaiwe Legacy Society.