Maestro Ormandy was in the conductor’s dressing room backstage at the Academy of Music chatting with a producer reviewing the Orchestra’s program for a forthcoming radio broadcast. The producer asked Ormandy how long one of the compositions was in playing time. Ormandy acknowledged that he had never timed it. But he asked the Producer if he had a stop watch. When he pulled one out, Ormandy said “Start!!” During the next 10 to 12 minutes Ormandy took two phone calls, checked with an assistant about a forthcoming interview, then suddenly called to the Producer “Stop!” While discussing these various matters, the maestro had reviewed silently in his mind, and measure by measure, the score of the composition in question. When the music went on the air, the maestro’s timing proved perfect!

Wister Society member Kenneth Conners

Francis Rasmus - The Fun of Giving

Francis Rasmus, 64, continues to work “very part-time” in the insurance industry, a career he began 45 years ago. Although he never made more than $45,000 a year in salary, he saved and invested his money very wisely. As a result, Mr. Rasmus now devotes most of his time to his passions—visiting museums, attending lectures, and supporting the causes dear to his heart.
“Making a difference while you are alive is more rewarding than waiting until you are gone,” he explains. “I'm having the time of my life giving my money away.”

Mr. Rasmus favors charitable gift annuities (CGAs) because “you can put your money to work now. You get a tax deduction, and some of the money is tax-free.”  In addition, he says, CGAs provide “you or someone you care about with a regular income for life, and you help a charity . . . It's a fun thing to do.”

In fact, Mr. Rasmus likes CGAs so much he has 45 of them with 16 different charities, including one he recently established with The St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The many charities he supports in various ways include the Philadelphia Museum of Art and The Philadelphia Orchestra in his hometown, as well as the Smithsonian, the National Gallery of Art, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Father Flanagan's Boys' Home, the National Parks Conservation Association, and the Archdiocese of Baltimore, to name a few.

His biggest interests are the arts and the environment. 
Helping others is something Mr. Rasmus learned to do as a young child. “I can remember my grandmother telling me, ‘It's time to send money to Father Flanagan again.’ If people involve their children in giving when they are very young, it teaches values they will have the rest of their lives.”

Although he has no children of his own, Mr. Rasmus hopes he can set an example for others to follow. The story of what he was able to achieve with a middle-income salary, he says “is not about me, but about what I can do for others. I'm only the messenger.” And the message, he says, is that you don't have to make a big salary to make a big difference.

Excerpt printed courtesy of St. Jude’s
Children’s Research Hospital.

Winifred Mayes played cello for The Philadelphia Orchestra from 1964-1977, serving the last seven years in the second chair next to her husband, then principal cello Samuel Mayes. She has endowed a chair in the cello section as the “Winifred and Samuel Mayes Chair.”

“Playing cello for The Philadelphia Orchestra was a highpoint
of my life. Maestro Ormandy even loaned me the money to
buy a great Italian cello. Later, when I needed to build a life
income stream, I did a planned gift and sold my cello. That gift provides me tax advantages and a life income. I wanted to share that good fortune with The Philadelphia Orchestra, so I can help assure a legacy of great music for another generation!”