You may have known her as the quiet woman who lived on Bedford Road, or the lady who sat at the back of city council meetings, but those who really knew Susan Knell knew her as a generous and humble woman committed to the community where she was born and raised – and the community that she loved.
“I saw her as a very simple person,” says Mary Ann Krauss, founder of the Upper Arlington Community Foundation (UACF), former city councilwoman and friend to Knell. “She wore simple clothes, she drove a simple car and no one would have known that she had assets that would have transformed the (UACF) as it has.”
Knell passed away in November 2019 and left behind a legacy that has quietly altered the community of Upper Arlington.
“She was very determined about how she wanted her money used,” says Krauss. “If she believed in something, she wanted to support it. For instance, she supported the Veterans’ Memorial up on Arlington Avenue and gave generously to that. She gave generously to the (UACF). She gave to her church, and I would say that at the end of her life, she gave to at least 10 different major charities in addition to taking care of her nephew and his four children.”
Some of the numerous organizations Knell gave to upon her death include her alma mater, the Colorado Women’s College, now part of Denver University; the Linwood Council of Christian Life; First Community Church; the American Heart Association; the American Diabetes Association; the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society; the Central Ohio Parkinson Society; the Salvation Army and the Upper Arlington Historical Society. These posthumous gifts were simply an extension of her giving spirit apparent throughout her life.
“If she believed in a project, she believed in the philanthropy to support it,” says Krauss. “For instance, she was one of those who gave to the Barrington playground. That was the first ADA-compliant playground in our community.”
Knell and Krauss first met in the early 2000s when Krauss was serving as city councilwoman.
“She came to council meetings as an observer very religiously,” says Krauss. “There were maybe four or five people who came every time we met, and I noticed that she came regularly and so I introduced myself to her.”
Over time their friendship grew, and Knell became involved in many of the things Krauss supported.
“I was involved with the (UACF) at that point, and we were raising money to do the (Amelita) Mirolo Barn,” says Krauss. “She just came up to me and said, ‘I want to do something for the barn,’ and handed me a very nice check.”
Tracy Kirby Harbold, executive director of the UACF, remembers receiving that gift. Harbold says she wanted to show Knell the impact of her generosity, and how grateful the UACF was for it.
“I got some numbers together with the help of parks and rec,” says Harbold, “and was able to show her in a stewardship report when I met with her that this is what we’ve been able to do with this gift.”
That was the beginning of a lasting relationship between Knell and the UACF.
“She was always a sponsor of our fundraiser, Raise the Roof, every year,” says Harbold. “She just had a really giving heart and a great love for Upper Arlington.”
History on Bedford Road
Knell grew up in UA in a house on Bedford Road that was built by her grandmother in the early 1900s.
“Her family’s home was among the first built in our community and then they remained in the home for about 100 years,” says Kristin Greenberg, assistant director of the Upper Arlington Historical Society. “It’s what we would call here in Arlington a single family-owned home, even though it passed through generations.”
Though Knell had no children of her own to continue the tradition of passing down the home, she could still gift the home, in a sense, to one of her loves. She arranged for the proceeds of the home’s sale to go to the Columbus Foundation in a fund that the UA Historical Society would have access to upon her death.
“I believe it’s called the Knell Family Centennial Fund,” says Greenberg, “and her intention was that we use the fund under our discretion to highlight and educate the public about Upper Arlington’s historical past.”
Greenberg says that while the funds have yet to be used, the gift has given the historical society the freedom to pursue projects like the Homes of History Celebration event happening throughout August which highlights 100-plus-year-old homes in UA.
“We’re an independent nonprofit, so we’re constantly needing to fundraise,” says Greenberg. “Now, not that we don’t continue to need to fundraise, (Knell’s gift) has given us a layer of stability in the organization to do some things like renting office space so that we have our archives accessible to us 24/7.”
In addition to funds, Knell donated memorabilia from her family home to the historical society.
“In a 100-year-old home, you can imagine that there were lots of collections of various items: old photographs, old maps and, in particular, some documents that were very interesting,” says Greenberg. “For example, she had the original Veterans Plaza plans, the original brochure, the original rendering of what that would look like from the 1940s. Of course, we’ve just revamped and renovated it, so we’re able to draw the lines between then and now.”
The UA Historical Society also established a $1,000 scholarship in Knell’s name.
“We’re trying to keep her memory alive,” says Greenberg. “We are very thankful for that donation.”
Transforming the UACF
Knell’s endowment to the UACF is the largest gift the UACF has ever received, surpassing $1,000,000.
“We received our very first installment of her unrestricted gift to us in December of 2019,” says Harbold. “Because she had made that gift in December, I was able to pivot and not worry about (the Raise the Roof) fundraiser that wasn’t going to happen, … and instead was able to focus all of my energy and attention on helping the small businesses and families in this community through COVID.”
With that first installment, the UACF was able to expand the Good Neighbor Fund to extend its reach to small businesses in addition to families experiencing financial distress. The UACF awarded more than $70,000 in 2020 through the Good Neighbor Fund, helping 12 families and 12 small businesses in the area.
“We’re helping the community in a big way,” says Harbold, “and … her gift is the reason we were able to help so many businesses and families in 2020. I always like to think Sue would be happy to know that she helped us do that.”
Knell’s incredible giving is unusual not just in the sheer size of donations she gave, but also the manner in which they were given.
“I worked at Michigan State and Ohio State, probably more than 20 years,” says Harbold, “and I will say, in my career, I have never been a part of or heard of any person making a significant planned gift like Sue did to the foundation – and left it unrestricted.”
An unrestricted gift is exactly what it sounds like: the beneficiary relinquishes all decisions as to what the funds will be used for to the recipient. Harbold suspects the relationship of trust built between Knell and the UACF was the driving factor behind that kind of generosity.
“It really speaks to the integrity and ethics of the (UACF) and all the people before me, all the board members, all the people that have been involved in and loved the (UACF) and helped it grow,” says Harbold. “They have all been a part of helping (Knell) feel comfortable entrusting us enough to feel safe that we were going to do the right thing with money when she passed.”
Harbold says Knell had decided to give this gift to the UACF years before her passing, and insisted on keeping it under wraps until the time came. Knell didn’t want the attention it would bring, Harbold says.
“She never wanted fanfare of any sort and didn’t want recognition,” adds Krauss. “Often she would insist on things being an anonymous gift. I hope that we can honor her even in memoriam with her gift because it was huge.”
Sarah Robinson is an editor. Feedback welcome at srobinson@cityscenemediagroup.com.
