Mom would love this

In 2003 Betty Ann Diehl created an endowment with the Idaho Community Foundation and designated the Panhandle Alliance for Education to administer the endowment’s annual proceeds in support of music and arts education.

Betty Ann grew up in Sandpoint, graduated from Sandpoint High School in 1943, and was named a Sandpoint Woman of Wisdom in 2004. She died in 2010.

Her son Ted Diehl, a Sandpoint attorney, talks here about his mother and her philanthropic gift.

Mom was a great lover of the arts and music. She was involved with the Community Assistance League for years. She particularly loved The Festival, and in 2011 the Festival poster art was posthumously dedicated to her.

She became an advocate for the arts, and later in her life, as she began to do some gifting, her sole focus was arts and entertainment. Mom set up the Idaho Community Foundation endowment with the direction that the annual proceeds of her fund be kept local. I suggested to her that, based on its solid reputation, the Panhandle Alliance for Education be designated to administer her funds in the form of teacher grants and underwriting for arts programs.

PAFE has been awarding grants and funding programs with Mom’s endowment money for more than 15 years now. Every year they inform me where the money goes, and every year I think, “Mom would love this.”

It’s important for people looking to move to the Sandpoint area that education, including the arts, be adequately and appropriately funded. At the time Mom set up her endowment, I was connected to many local business leaders who felt strongly about this, and I very much agreed.

PAFE is a wonderful organization that does a lot of good in our town. It has made great strides in supporting the school district with programs and grants, and the results are impressive. Those many years ago, I felt confident that the organization would have staying power and do important work with educators and students here, and I still do.