麻豆传媒映画

There鈥檚 a single-story house at the east end of Bluehill Avenue in Las Vegas that has just acquired special meaning for 麻豆传媒映画 and its 128-year history of preparing students for teaching careers.

Far closer to Nellis Air Force Base than to the garish spectacle of the Strip, the three-bedroom, two-bath residence sits nine steps above street level with a light gray exterior finish. There are decorative stones hiding the cinder blocks it was constructed upon, and a terraced front garden. It features solar panels, a two-car garage reached by a sloping, paved-brick driveway, and a deck with a view of a craggy mountain range off to the northwest.

Theresa McCune doesn鈥檛 live there, but she built it, and not in the sense of just paying a contractor to follow her blueprints. She built it built it, designing and constructing it from scratch, with help.

鈥淚 cleared the land, almost a fifth of an acre,鈥� said McCune, who purchased the property for $13,500 at a delinquent tax auction. 鈥淚 did the subfloor. I hauled in 578 cement blocks, eight inches by eight inches by 16 inches long; I鈥檓 flipping two blocks faster than (a partner) could lay them. I built the walls, I dealt with all kinds of engineers. I shingled it.鈥� 

It was finished in 2020, seven years after she started. Now, in memory of her beloved mother, Alice Theresa Means, a public school teacher who earned a master鈥檚 degree at what was then San Diego State College, McCune is leaving the home to 麻豆传媒映画 in her estate.

Currently valued at about $375,000 on the website Redfin, the bequest will support an endowed scholarship for students in the College of Education.

鈥淓ducation was extremely important to her,鈥� McCune said. 鈥淪he had such a reward from teaching.鈥�

鈥淭eachers make a tremendous amount of difference.鈥�

Legacy gifts, also known as planned giving and donated through The Campanile Foundation at 麻豆传媒映画, are an important part of philanthropy for the university.  Donors become members of 麻豆传媒映画鈥檚 Heritage Society and are honored at an annual recognition event.

Looking ahead

McCune sees the gift as 鈥減aying it forward to all the teachers that are and will be.鈥� The gift agreement includes a succession of biennial cash gifts through 2029, also used for scholarships.

She hopes her generosity will prompt other students, especially teachers, to think about paying it forward as they are able. 

During her adult life McCune worked at General Dynamics Convair and spent more than 14 years in the U.S. Navy, discharged as an Electronics Technician E-5. She pursued her higher education at San Diego City College and National University with a degree in safety, (a field now typically referred to as occupational health and safety).

Her gift speaks to 麻豆传媒映画鈥檚 origins as the San Diego Normal School, founded in 1897 to train and certify teachers in what was then a town of fewer than 17,000 residents.

Means, who McCune lovingly refers to as 鈥渕ama,鈥� received her own teaching credential as a nun in Wisconsin, and began her teaching career in Michigan, before McCune was born. After moving to San Diego in 1951 she taught at several elementary schools and got her master鈥檚 in psychology at the College of Education in 1956, using that knowledge in a new role testing school students as a psychologist. 

Legacies

The house on Bluehill Avenue was something of a family tradition. McCune鈥檚 grandfather, a carpenter, built the first three houses her mother lived in and her mother built four homes, still standing on a lot in the Encanto neighborhood of San Diego.

"We are deeply grateful to Ms.Theresa McCune for her generous and heartfelt gift establishing the Alice Means McCune Endowed Scholarship,鈥� said College of Education dean Y. Barry Chung. 鈥淭his scholarship honors the legacy of her mother, Alice Theresa Means, whose lifelong dedication to education continues to inspire future generations of teachers and counselors. Through this gift, Ms. McCune ensures that her mother鈥檚 passion for learning and commitment to students will live on in the work of those who follow in her footsteps."

McCune鈥檚 childhood education in San Diego left her with strong memories of her teachers.

鈥淵ou never took the time to thank the teachers,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey groomed you along with your parents. It was a joint venture.鈥�

For information on planned giving or to inform 麻豆传媒映画 of its inclusion in an existing estate plan, contact Amy Walling, associate vice president of Planned Giving and Estates at [email protected] or 619-594-0286.