Marian Isern's involvement with the BCCC Foundation goes back to its beginning on May 15, 1967. On that date, Isern was appointed to the original 30-member board of trustees. She served two terms, 1967-70 and 1971-74.
Her first major gift was made in 1981 when she gave the Foundation 500 shares of stock. This was converted to cash and invested in an endowed scholarship fund. To date, the Marian Isern Scholarship Fund has helped 25 students at BCCC. Four additional students also will be aided by the fund next fall.
In 1984, Isern made a major gift to help fund construction of the proposed Fine Arts Building addition. In 1987, Isern was made a lifetime member of the Foundation's Hilltop Society Gift Club.
Isern has always had a great appreciation of the arts and during the past few years has made two annual gifts of $10,000 each to help fund the college's proposed art gallery.
A graduate of the University of Kansas in 1930, Isern returned to her home in Great Bend and taught fourth grade until she and her future husband, Edward, were married on 1937.
A love for traveling has literally taken Isern around the world. She and her sisters, Isbell Wesley and Grace Hammond, both deceased, were avid travelers.
A resident of Ellinwood for more than 50 years, Isern was recently named Ellinwood's Citizen of the Year. She and her husband raised two children, Edward Isern, of Boulder, Colo., and Mary Ann Deen, of Ellinwood.
In 1982, C. E. and Faerie Denman donated a 506-piece art collection valued at more than $200,000 to the college's Foundation. Demonstrating their love for each other and for the fine arts, the Denman's exchanged paintings in observance of their wedding anniversaries. Their Great Bend home took on the appearance of an art gallery to be envied. Together, they decided to donate the collection to BCCC upon C. E.'s death, asking that it be designated a teaching tool. He died in 1979.
The Denman's first met in Washington state where C. E. enrolled at Washington State University in Pullman, Wash., to study in mining. The summer following his freshman year, he worked in the mines in Idaho and Washington and became interested in gems. He then returned to the university and changed his major to geology. After graduation, Denman moved to Texas where he worked as a petroleum geologist. C. E. and Faerie were married at Albuquerque, N.M. in 1927.
C. E. had gone to Kelly Field, Texas, to train as a pilot during World War I, but when he received his commission as a lieutenant, the war had already ended. Feeling an obligation to serve at the onset of World War II, he left for England shortly after his family had settled in their newly-completed Great Bend home.
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