Messenger - Vol. 2, No. 2, Page 17 Winter 1993 Planned Giving A bequest of $44,000 from the estate of Bryan E.J. Field, Delaware '54, will be used to endow an athletic equipment fund for those University teams that do not have revenue from gate receipts or financial aid for their athletes. In presenting the check to the University for his brother's bequest, Thomas F. Field described Bryan's four years on campus as "the happiest of his life." Born in Wilmington in 1929, Bryan was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at the age of 2. This condition resulted in a speech handicap that was mistaken for mental retardation and initially caused local school officials to deny him admission to grammar school. The persistence and determination of Bryan's family finally resulted in recognition of his intelligence and he was admitted to class. During grammar and high school, he learned to type on an electric typewriter, a skill that was essential to him throughout his life. He also learned to ride a bicycle and, then, near the end of high school, to drive a car. His challenge, as always, was to convince others that a person with a severe handicap could, nevertheless, do things that normal persons are expected to do. In 1949, Bryan spent a year at the New York Institute for Rehabilitation and Physical Medicine, where he learned to walk on crutches with the aid of a leg brace. He entered the University in the fall of 1950 and became a member of Sigma Nu fraternity. Many of his fraternity brothers became his friends for life. Graduating in 1954 with a degree in political science, Bryan attended law school at the University of Pennsylvania for a year and then enrolled in computer programming school. After graduation, he worked for 20 years in the computer programming department of the Bank of Delaware. Bryan Field died in October 1990 at his home in Arlington, Va., where he had lived since 1978. Professionals at the University are available to work with you in complete confidence to explore ways that you, too, can give creatively and wisely to the University of Delaware. For more information or to discuss creative gift planning, contact Paula M. Tilmon, Esq., Planned Giving Program, University Development, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716-0701, or call (302) 831-2104.