Professor Tolly Boatwright
Student, 1972-1973
Faculty, 1992-1993, 1976-1977
“Somewhere some years ago I picked up that ‘gifting’ a life insurance policy is an easy way to help an organization like the Centro. It is especially apt for someone not still supporting children or other dependents. Although perhaps wrongly, I think that a life insurance policy is to provide to its beneficiaries the worth of your earnings at the time of your death and the next few years. But if your dependents are no longer dependent, why not designate the benefits of the policy to a charity/educational organization important to you?
As for why I chose the Centro rather than some other worthy beneficiary, it’s an old story that anyone who’s ever met me has heard more than once. Going to the Centro as an undergraduate (1972-73, a whole year!) absolutely changed my life. It was actually the Pantheon that inspired me to go farther into Classics. So irrefutably present in its physical mass, so endlessly enigmatic in its construction, decoration, use, and more. And we could – at least then – go into it as much as we wanted, walking through the same spaces as had people for almost two thousand years. It struck me that the Pantheon represents human aspirations and achievements. It also embodies all the hard and dirty work and failures behind anything magnificent that stands the test of time and outlives its creators. And so I decided to spend at least the next few years (graduate school) trying to understand that dynamic and open others to its beautiful fascination.
My 1976-77 year as a Centro TA made me sure of my decision, and I’ve been fortunate ever since. Including in my continued connections with the Centro and Centristi, who are some of my closest and most trusted friends.”
