Plymouth Magazine-Spring24-FINAL - Flipbook - Page 21
did a deep analysis of Plymouth Church
finances, then charter ways to survive
a downturn in church membership,
declining regular stewardship, rising
expenses, staff changes and vacancies, and,
oh, let’s not forget a devastating pandemic.
When I read the names of all those
who’ve served the foundation and
church in those capacities over the years,
my goodness! It’s like a who’s who of
the most successful financial services
executives, managers, advisors and
lawyers of the whole Des Moines metro
area. Two former lieutenant governors
of Iowa, the late Joy Corning and Sally
Pederson, have been foundation board
members after their state office years,
and former a former state auditor, Dave
Vaught, is on the board now. All of the
above, members of Plymouth Church.
“The Plymouth Foundation is beyond
fortunate to have board members who
bring incredible experience, expertise,
and wisdom to the table,” Pastor
Wortman said. “I could not have a
higher degree of confidence in how the
foundation assets and distributions are
being managed.”
The current president of the foundation
is Hallie Still-Caris, who is completing
her sixth and final year on the board. She
is now chairperson of the Nyemaster law
firm, in her 38th year as an attorney. By
the way, she’ll be succeeded as president
by Spencer Cady, now the vice-president,
who is also a Nyemaster attorney.
“Plymouth has been through a difficult
time in recent years,” Still-Caris said.
“We’ve had to determine what our
priorities are, during and after the
pandemic. We’ve had to get Plymouth
members re-engaged with the church,
introduce new church staff, and deal
with the infrastructure costs we’re facing
in building and grounds. It’s been a
challenge, but I think it’s worked out
well. It’s a good thing we had the money
saved when we needed it.
“Now we’re trying to tell the story of the
foundation, and to encourage members
of the congregation to consider the
church in both annual giving and in
estate planning.”
I asked Ron Sallade why he and Marlon
Laverman decided to donate most of
their estates to Plymouth.
They’d built their wealth by working
steadily, and managing their finances wisely,
he said. Sallade, a native of Des Moines,
was an educator and manager with the
Des Moines Public Schools, running very
successful programs placing needy students
in part-time jobs that paid and offered
learning experiences. He coordinated
grant writing to sustain those programs.
Laverman was a psychiatric social worker
at Broadlawns Medical Center.
“Marlon and I met 44 years ago at another
church, we partnered in 1981, and we
started attending Plymouth in the later
1980s,” Sallade said. “We actually joined
Plymouth in 1991 as it was becoming an
‘open and affirming’ congregation. We got
married in 2009 when it became legal in
Iowa for us to do so.”
He said they were overwhelmed at how
welcomed they felt at Plymouth, and
how inspiring participation was for them.
“Plymouth is unique,” he continued.
“It’s wonderfully kind. In our previous
church, its fundamentalism was starting
to drive me a little crazy. We discovered
that at Plymouth, you don’t have to park
your brain. You can think. And you’re not
expected to think just like everybody else.”
What guided their thinking about their
estates was that, without close heirs,
“We thought, ‘Why not the church?’ We
looked at all that Plymouth had done for
us, and how much good Plymouth does
for the community with its money. It was
a good choice for us.”
The Plymouth Foundation’s deep
history is interesting. It was established
in 1979 as its own corporation after
church member Dr. James T. McMillan
persuaded the then-new pastor Rev. James
Gilliom that it was time for Plymouth to
have a foundation, like so many historic
churches in the eastern U.S. already had.
McMillan, a radiologist who eventually
became chief of the medical staff at Iowa
Methodist Medical Center, became
the founding donor of the Plymouth
Foundation, making the first contribution,
apparently of a few thousand dollars.
Then he served as president of the
foundation from 1979 until he died
at the age of 78 in 1995. He was killed
in a car wreck in Wisconsin, where
he reportedly had a summer get-away.
When his estate was settled, he had given
the Plymouth Foundation a total of more
than $1 million.
A native of St. Paul, Minn., McMillan
arrived in Des Moines in 1950 and had a
very active medical practice.
“From what I recall, he was a confirmed
bachelor who died without heirs,” said
Dr. Doug Dorner, a retired physician
in Des Moines. “When I first got to
know him, he was part of the Phillips,
McMillan and Burcham Radiology P.C.
which had offices in the Bankers Trust
building and took care of the radiology
needs at Iowa Methodist.
“He was a gentleman from the word go,
a lovely person,” Dorner continued. “My
memory is that he was almost always
wearing a coat and tie. But he also had
a mischievous sense of humor, which
I think was evidenced by a plaque that
was put up in the radiology department
at Iowa Methodist. It recognized him
as ‘the best radiologist between the
Wapsipinicon and Nishnabotna,’ two
Iowa rivers, and he really enjoyed that.”
Plymouth Magazine 21
