The Warren and Virginia Wermund Endowment Fund was established by the couple's daughter and son-in-law, Mary and Jerry Jacobson, in honor of their 60th wedding anniversary in 2007. Although the Wermund's have since passed, their legacy has been memorialized by family and friends through this fund.

Mary and her five siblings knew their parents didn't need a gift to commemorate the occasion because they had a family that loved them very much. So, they all took a moment to recall their family life, during not only joyful and festive times, but also during the difficult, tragic times that invariably occur when people spend a lifetime together and live to see several generations of a family grow.

The Wermund siblings said they didn't have a lot of fancy "stuff" but they never felt deprived. They always felt loved, safe and secure. They recalled their time at 4-H meetings, coming home to Virginia's cooking, playing board games, and watching black and white TV with the "rabbit ear" antenna. They talked about how much they enjoyed working in their parents' vegetable garden and carrying out annual holiday traditions. They felt blessed to have received the gifts of love, faith and charity from their parents.

"I came to realize that most of our memories did not include tangible possessions," said Mary. "What we all remembered most were the specific smells, sights, and sounds of everyday life while spending time working, playing, praying, and laughing together.

" Mary said she loved witnessing her parents' deepening love for each other as they aged. "They have been great examples of wisdom, faith, dignity, perseverance, humor and devotion," she said.

This Field of Interest Fund responds to the highest needs in Chippewa County within the fundholder's chosen charitable focus area. The Jacobsons felt the best way to honor the Wermunds' enduring impact on their family was to establish a fund in their names that would support what has always been important to them-youth.