The story of Marta Sutton Weeks’ dedicated and ongoing support of the AAPG Foundation has added a new chapter.
Mrs. Weeks, widow of Lewis Austin Weeks and a renaissance woman in her own right, has given $500,000 to the Foundation’s L. Austin Weeks Memorial Fund.
Rick Fritz, executive director of both AAPG and the AAPG Foundation, said that the money most likely will be used in support of educational outreach programs funded by the Foundation.
Mrs. Weeks, an ordained Episcopal priest who resides in Miami, Fla., is a strong believer in education and supports various programs in the sciences and humanities.
This past June she provided the funding for an AAPG Digital Products University Subscription at Columbia University in New York City, in memory of her late husband, Lewis Austin Weeks, who died in February 2005.
It was the fifth school to benefit from Weeks’ support of the DPUS program since December 2005. The others are the University of Wisconsin (Madison), the University of Miami (Florida), the University of Utah and Beloit College.
And it was just a little over a year ago that Weeks announced an undesignated $10 million bequest to the Foundation – the largest gift ever received by AAPG.
“The hope is that the gift is an impetus for the Foundation to set its goals high,” she said at the time, “and that this be a prelude to new horizons and even greater achievements.”
Her late husband was the son of Lewis Weeks, a successful geologist who was credited with developing Australia’s Bass Strait and who began the family’s legacy of philanthropy. It was a bequest from Lewis Weeks that in 1975 allowed building of the Weeks Tower at AAPG headquarters in Tulsa.
Marta Weeks’ gift wasn’t the only act of generosity shown toward AAPG Foundation-backed education activities.
John Bookout, retired president of Shell Oil now residing in Houston, has provided a gift of $50,000 to be used in support of K-12 education – specifically for a teacher training program that will involve a variety of earth sciences, including exploration for petroleum.
Bookout received an AAPG Special Award in 1990 for “excellence in exploration leadership.”
In other Foundation news, another new member has been added to the Foundation Trustee Associates. He is:
- William D. Armstrong , Armstrong Oil and Gas, Denver.
His joining brings the Trustee Associates group total to 265.