Hughes' giftlifts cultureand science
BY CHARLTON deSAUSSURE JR.
Page 1 of the Jan. 28, 1939 News and Courier contained headlines concerning the hostilities in Europe foreshadowing America's entry into World War II. Page 2 contained two paragraphs reporting on that Saturday's morning funeral service for Charles J. Hughes at Stella Maris Roman Catholic Church on Sullivan's Island.
According to his obituary, "Mr. Hughes was 31 years old and a native of Charleston, a son of the late Thomas W. Hughes of Ireland and Mrs. Mary A. Cassidy Hughes, of Charleston."
His will was probated the next week. That filing shows assets of $167,397.73, the vast majority of which was left to charities including the Charleston Orphan House, the Salvation Army, the American Red Cross, St. Francis Xavier Infirmary, the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, St. John's Roman Catholic Church in Summerville and Stella Maris.
However, his primary gift to the community was creation of the Charleston Scientific and Cultural Education Fund.
Headlines of Roosevelt and Hitler and Britain and France are of an earlier time -- and the subject of a two-paragraph obituary might have been a fleeting memory. But the impact Charles J. Hughes left on the city to which his father emigrated from Ireland continues to benefit residents of the Lowcountry more than 70 years after his death.
As directed in his will, dated Sept. 29, 1936, the purpose of the Fund is the "encouragement of scientific or cultural arts or professions or pursuits ... by maintaining and financially assisting persons actually engaged in scientific or cultural or artistic work of a character that promises benefit to humanity or to result in scientific or cultural or artistic productions of merit or to increase the knowledge of mankind."
His words convey an optimism for how one life might influence others, a spirit all the more inspiring in light of the fact that America was still mired in the Great Depression.
Past recipients of grants provided by the Fund include two well-known Charleston artists who, according to the News and Courier, in 1950 received approximately $1,000 each "for further study in art." Those gentlemen were William Halsey, in whose honor The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at the College of Charleston is named, and Merton Simpson who was a pioneer in the Abstract Expressionist movement in New York and who received an honorary doctorate degree from the College of Charleston in 2010.
Other well-known artists have also received support from the Fund including Corrie McCallum, Anne Worsham Richardson and Manning Williams. In 1957, biologist Robert Lunz received $15,000 to study the pond culture of oysters at Bears Bluff Laboratories on Wadmalaw Island and soon thereafter Mary Elizabeth Prior received a grant to study the papers of Henry Laurens. In 2006, Jack McCray was awarded a grant to study in Harlem the story of Charleston jazz musicians and their travels around the world. As these grantees indicate, the Fund has supported many scientific, cultural and artistic endeavors, the results of which continue to enrich the Lowcountry.
As they have done annually since its founding, the Trustees of the Charleston Scientific and Cultural Education Fund invite funding proposals from the tri-county area for grants to be awarded for calendar year 2012. Mr. Hughes provided in his will that an applicant must be a native-born South Carolinian between the ages of 21 and 60. Grants typically average $2,000 and are for one year only.
Application forms may be obtained from the undersigned at Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, P.A., P. O. Box 340, Charleston, SC 29402 or by e-mail at tsuggs@hsblawfirm.com. Requests for applications may be made until March 30 and applications must be submitted by April 13. The Trustees will announce grant awards by May 11.
Over the past quarter century, the Charleston Scientific and Cultural Education Fund has granted more than $425,000 to hundreds of recipients.
Thus, the Last Will and Testament of Charles J. Hughes continues to achieve its purpose of "encouragement of scientific or cultural arts or professions or pursuits" and is a powerful example of what one person's generosity of spirit can accomplish.
Charlton deSaussure Jr., a local attorney, has served as president of the Coastal Community Foundation, South Carolina Historical Society and Gibbes Museum of Art and on the boards of, among other organizations, Spoleto Festival USA and the Charleston Museum.
