Donor Stories
T.J. and Mary Ray Sivley
T.J. and Mary Ray Sivley moved from Oklahoma to Artesia, NM in 1938 where they started a successful business, raised two children and were active in the business and civic life of the community.
The Sivleys cared little for material possessions but felt strongly about charitable causes. Because they had lived through the Great Depression, they were deeply sympathetic to hardship. When the time came to plan their estate, they wanted to provide financial support for the causes they had supported all their lives and still provide their children with a secure future. The Sivleys' attorney drew up a charitable annuity lead trust.
The Community Foundation received income for ten years, and the Sivley children then received trust assets. The T.J. and Mary Ray Sivley Endowment Fund makes grants to address T.J.'s and Mary's interests: public television, museums, animal welfare, environmental preservation and assistance to their longtime home, Artesia.
