Elaine & Kendall McNabney
Leaving a Legacy for the Trails
This is the latest in a series focusing on donors who have chosen to make legacy gifts to the Oregon-California Trails Association. For information about making a legacy gift to OCTA, see the Trails Legacy Society page.
Elaine McNabney, a co-founder of OCTA, who established the first headquarters office for the organization in Independence in 1986, passed away in 2005 – but her infectious energy and dedication lives on, through the Elaine McNabney Volunteer Award, presented annually at OCTA’s national convention.
Submitted by John Krizek
Kelly Breen
Leaving a Legacy for the Trails
A traffic jam in Donner Pass 55 years ago led to a lifetime interest in trail history which last year culminated in a new member of the OCTA’s Trails Legacy Society.
Kelly Breen was 13 years old when her family was on a Greyhound bus that got stuck on Old Highway 40 (Interstate 80 was still under construction) and there wasn’t much to do but contemplate the Sierra scenery.
When the tour finally stopped overnight in Reno, there were post cards depicting the story of the Donner party and their tragedy in those very mountains. The experience so piqued the interest of young Kelly that when she got home to Illinois she looked up George Stewart’s book Ordeal by Hunger, the story of the Donner party—and that was it.
By the time Kelly discovered OCTA in 2009—by looking us up on Google—she was a retired teacher, with 25 years in the Shawnee Mission school district in Overland Park, Kansas. After experiencing various historical organizations over the years, in the Trails Head chapter she finally found a hospitable group of people who shared her lifetime interest in trail history.
“I finally found my home,” Kelly comments. She relished the experience of the 2011 convention in Rock Springs, and was a key host of the 2012 convention in Lawrence.
“In Europe they do such a great job of celebrating their history,” Kelly reports. “What are we doing in this country? I can’t imagine what those pioneers did and how they persevered. It’s very important that we do what we can to preserve that trails legacy.”
One hazard she keeps encountering is having to explain that she’s not related to the Breen family that was part of the Donner party.
As a single person with no heirs, she consulted with her financial adviser and decided to dedicate part of her estate to the cause “dearest to my heart” through the Trails Legacy Society, and thus help preserve that trail legacy in perpetuity.
Submitted by John Krizek
Cheryl & Gil Hoffman
Leaving a Legacy for the Trails
Cheryl and Gil Hoffman of Richland, Washington, are Life Members of OCTA, and partners in OCTA’s Trails Legacy Society through a Living Trust bequest they established to benefit OCTA in perpetuity.
Gil adds: “We are especially interested in OCTA’s core work of identifying and preserving the trails for all to enjoy and push to see that this part of our history is taught in schools.”
Shirley Evans
I have long valued my membership with OCTA, providing an opportunity to visit trail sites with others of like interest and dedication in our country’s past.
Thanks for your team’s dedication to OCTA and our past.
submitted by Shirley Evans