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'Friend-raising' couple to retire

Spencer and Dorothy Durr will leave their stewardship post in January

Dorothy and Spencer Durr, who have been working for the stewardship department for the last 14 years, will retire on Jan. 4. The Durrs will then move to Lakewood, Wash., to be closer to their children and grandchildren. Working in the stewardship department, Mr. and Mrs. Durr are in the business of "friend-raising, not fundraising," they said. The Durrs contact donors and friends of the college to thank them for giving and to ask if the stewardship office can do anything for them. "Our work is more of a pastoral approach," Mr. Durr said, "but it pays off."

Multnomah's donors are often elderly people who have outlived the rest of their family. "We became their family," Mr. Durr said. The Durrs have spent many hours helping senior citizens with household repairs and lawn care.

Mrs. Durr said most of the people they serve are from Dr. Mitchell's era, people who have known Multnomah from the beginning. "These people have a tremendous love for Multnomah," she said. The pair has helped donors make decisions about planned giving, wills, annuities, trusts and other legal affairs. When someone wills a house or estate to Multnomah, the stewardship office and the Durrs sell the houses or other items and make sure the college receives the money. Mr. and Mrs. Durr organize luncheons to explain topics that senior citizens need to know about, such as wills and annuities. They also plan outings such as bus trips to Mt. Hood.

Mr. and Mrs. Durr stress that the stewardship department is service-oriented. They say the stewardship department is there to help people, and that turns into friendship. Irene Scruggs, head of the stewardship department, said the Durrs have no qualms about spending nights in hospitals or emergency rooms with the people they minister to.

The stewardship office is one of three sub-departments in Multnomah's advancement department. The alumni, development and stewardship departments make up the advancement department. The advancement department meets once a week in the stewardship office, the blue house on Glisan Street nearest to the library, to pray for the donors. The Durrs said Multnomah's donors often send them personal prayer requests. Mr. Durr said they read every request and pray specifically for each one. He said that he and the rest of the advancement department are blessed to hear what God is doing in the lives of the donors. Mrs. Scruggs said she will miss the Durrs' caring spirit and the kindness they have shown to her and all the donors and friends of the school.

The Durrs said they are retiring for many reasons, though they do not like the word "retire." They prefer the term "transition." They are both of retirement age, or "past retirement age," as Mr. Durr said. The Durrs wish to live closer to their four children and eight grandchildren. To be a major part of their grandchildren's lives, the Durrs decided that they needed to live closer to them rather than require their family to come to them. Mr. and Mrs. Durr plan to be in ministry at a seeker church in the Lakewood area. They will volunteer their time.

In 1984, Pete Scruggs, then head of the stewardship department, invited the pair to work for the college. At first, Mr. Durr said, they were hesitant, but the Durrs "finally came" and began their work ministering to Multnomah's donors and alumni. Mrs. Durr said, "It has been a real privilege to be here." She has known about Multnomah for more than 50 years, and it has "been a great honor" to be able to work at the college with the "wonderful faculty."

When the Durrs attended Multnomah in the '50s, the college was much different than it is now. The dress code is more lax and the chapel services are more upbeat than when they attended MBC. But Mrs. Durr said the student body now is more serious about why they are attending Multnomah than they were in the '50s.