Don and Jodie Feltner Use Charitable Gift Annuity to Support Future Colonels

Don and Jodie Feltner

If you cut Donald R. Feltner ’56, he would probably bleed maroon and white. Don has lived and breathed Eastern Kentucky University for most of his life, so it seems appropriate that he and his wife, Jodie ’60, have established a charitable gift annuity — creating an income stream for themselves and, ultimately, a meaningful gift to EKU.

Born in the heart of Appalachia during the Great Depression, Don made his way to what was then called Eastern Kentucky State College where he played baseball, joined ROTC, helped run the Eastern Progress and took part in numerous other campus activities. Most important, he says, EKU is where he met his “beautiful and intelligent wife” of 65 years.

After many years of making other types of charitable contributions to their alma mater, Don and Jodie learned the advantages of the charitable gift annuity — which provides a tax deduction and an income stream for life for them to enjoy and will ultimately provide a significant contribution to EKU with the funds remaining.

“There are numerous means of charitable giving,” Don says. “Jodie and I have used primarily cash until we chose the charitable annuity method.”

After graduating with degrees in commerce and physical education, Don served in the U.S. Army before returning to his alma mater in 1959 to act as assistant head baseball coach and begin a more-than-40-year career as an educator and administrator. He retired in 1999 after serving nearly three decades as vice president for university advancement.  In 2010, he was inducted into the EKU Athletics Hall of Fame.

Born in Irvine, Jodie earned degrees in commerce and education and used her Eastern Kentucky University education to launch a 20-year teaching career. She and Don say the goal of their planned gift is to help deserving EKU students fulfill their potential for years to come.

“We place an extremely high value on the life-changing opportunities provided by our alma mater,” Don says. “Our fond hope is for every alumnus or alumna to help Eastern reach its next level of greatness.”