W.  Marvin Will arrived as a student at McPherson College in the 1950s with a simple need – a pair of shoes. College employees went out of their way to help get him the shoes he needed. After his graduation in 1960, Will said that those shoes were only borrowed.

Now the estate gift he and his wife, Doreen Will, left to the college has paid back those “borrowed” shoes many, many times over – to the tune of $1.7 million.

Their gift will fund multiple scholarships at the college, including two annual scholarships to incoming freshmen entering into a major in political science, history or both – Marvin’s lifelong vocation.

The award will be based primarily on financial need, important to the Will family because of Marvin’s meager income during his childhood and college days. Students will also be selected based on passion for history and political science.The endowment will also fund two annual scholarships for international internships or field experiences in history or political science.

Ken Yohn, associate professor of history, said the scholarship was great news for the department, which has more than doubled in size in the last two years. “These resources will help attract more really exciting and gifted students and help us globalize the education of all McPherson students,” Yohn said.

President Michael Schneider said the Wills’ gift would leave a lasting legacy at McPherson College. “Marvin and Doreen led an extraordinary life,” he said. “They believed in the personalized education students receive at McPherson College. Their amazing gift will help that mission continue.”

A scholarship that helps students in need is perfectly in line with Will’s own background, said Eugene Lichty – Will’s childhood pastor at the Mountain Grove Church of the Brethren in Missouri. Lichty himself is a 1944 McPherson College history graduate.With no family vehicle, Will grew up walking or catching rides from his home eight miles into Mountain Grove, Lichty said. “He had very little of this world’s goods as he grew up,” Lichty said. “He never had much money to spend.” Will paid his way at McPherson College with a lot of elbow grease – often literally. He worked at filling stations and farms and saved money by driving an old car that he fixed himself.

After graduating from McPherson College with a bachelor’s in history, he went on to get his master’s and doctorate in political science from University of Missouri-Columbia. Doreen was attending there at the same time when she met Marvin. The two were married in 1962.

Doreen worked in a local bank, was an excellent typist and was described as independent, polite and well-spoken.  An intelligent, stylish and artistic woman, she was valedictorian of her class at Owensville High School in Missouri, wrote the school song that is still used today and was a church organist for more than a decade.

Marvin went on to a successful 35-year career at the University of Tulsa until his retirement in 2004. He was a professor of comparative politics and became an expert on Latin American, Caribbean and Pacific politics.

Doreen shared a passion for travel with Marvin and both journeyed extensively as part of his studies. Their travels included teaching in Palau and Micronesia. In the 1990s, Marvin also worked with the United Nations and non-governmental organizations supervising and monitoring elections in developing countries. These included Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Guyana and Grenada.

He was co-editor on “The Restless Caribbean” in 1979 and was co-author of “The Caribbean in the Pacific Century” in 1993. McPherson College honored Will with the citation of merit award in 1995.

Marvin Will died in July 2006. In his obituary, Doreen said that a lack of money didn’t limit his intelligence or ability to make a mark in the world.“He thought that everyone needed to be given a chance,” she said.

Doreen passed away three years later in December 2009. A phrase in the eulogy summarized her well: “She was an independent girl that had it all together; and she lived her life to its fullest.” Lichty said Marvin and Doreen exemplified the ideals of McPherson College – intelligent and reverent people who lived lives of simplicity. “These were the kind of people the founders of McPherson College would have approved of,” Litchy said. “They never forgot what the college stood for, and they were willing to give back.”