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.