Dr. Lucile Hutaff always will be the revered face of the Cumberland Community Foundation, after the Fayetteville native gave life to the foundation on Aug. 29, 1980, by donating $576,840 of her stock as seed monies for what has become the acclaimed philanthropic charitable nonprofit in this community.
She believed in making life for others better, and her hope was that others in this community would join in the benevolence.
“It was important to her for everybody to have a chance to help the community for the good of it,” Mary Lynn Bryan, the foundation’s former executive director and Hutaff’s close friend, said in September of 2024.
Hutaff hoped others would share in her dream.
Among them were Harry Oliver, Rosa Lee Torrey and Mary Ann McCoy.
Vision behind the foundation
“Harvey Oliver, Mary Ann McCoy and Rosa Torrey contributed to the growth of the community foundation in important and different ways,” Mary Holmes, chief executive officer for the foundation, said recently as the foundation is paying homage to their giving ways. “We remember these early friends and are thankful for their service to the community through the Cumberland Community Foundation.”
Lucile Hutaff may have given life to the foundation, but it was Oliver who brought the vision.
“In late 1978, Harvey planted the seed,” Holmes said. “He learned about the community foundations while attending a national meeting of leading life insurance professionals. It clicked with him that one of his clients, Dr. Lucile Hutaff, might be instrumental in starting a community foundation for Fayetteville. He shared the idea, and she created Cumberland Community Foundation in 1980.”
Other than the Hutaff family, according to the foundation, Oliver was the foundation’s first donor, and Oliver and his late wife, Anne, continued to support the foundation throughout their lives.
John Harvey Oliver Jr. died at age 98 on May 26.
A woman of elegance and compassion
Rosa Torrey was the beloved home economics teacher who believed in every student’s tomorrow.
She was a petite lady of elegance, kindness and compassion for others.
“In 2003, Rosa Torrey grew the field and planted new seeds,” Holmes said about Torrey, who was one of the foundation’s education scholarship pioneers. “She founded the Curtis E. Torrey Scholarship Fund” in memory of her late husband, a retired principal. “An esteemed retired educator and great networker, many other retired teachers followed her lead and did the same. Rosa was so much fun, and people just couldn’t tell her no.”
Her legacy continues through her scholarship endowment, according to the foundation, now called the Rosa L. and Curtis E. Torrey Scholarship Fund.
“Now, the community foundation is awarding over $1,000,000 in scholarships every year,” Holmes said.
Rosa Lee Torrey died at age 97 on June 6.
‘Because Bobby and Mary Ann were involved’
Mary Ann McCoy and her late husband, Bobby McCoy, were a part of the Cumberland Community Foundation from its early days. Together, they reached out to others in the community in sharing Lucile Hutaff’s dream. Many they talked to about the foundation created some of the charity’s first endowments.
Bobby McCoy was the second president of the CCF board of directors, according to the foundation, and served with the board from 1981 until 2003.
“Mary Ann McCoy was the perfect partner for Bobby McCoy, CCF’s founding board member and second board president,” Holmes said. “Bobby was such a character and Mary Ann was his straight man. Together, they watered the newly planted seed and spread the word about Cumberland Community Foundation. They created their own named endowment and then many of their friends and neighbors did the same. People trusted the newly formed foundation because Bobby and Mary Ann were involved.”
Together, according to the foundation, the couple established the Mary Ann E. McCoy and Robert Oates McCoy Jr. Endowment, which annually supports the greater needs of the community.
Robert O. McCoy Jr. was 83 when he died Oct. 8, 2011. Mary Ann Edwards McCoy died at age 90 on June 14.
Epilogue
“Early on, these three provided their leadership and their good names to build confidence in the community foundation as an accountable steward where donors could make a lasting difference,” Holmes said about Harvey Oliver Jr., Rosa Torrey and Mary Ann McCoy.
“The rest is history.
“Now, Cumberland Community Foundation is over $150 million in assets and awards,” Holmes said, “and almost $8 million in grants and scholarships annually.”
Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961.
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