Lake Co. museum gets $140,000 gift

The invitation came in a tiny envelope, an understated call to an elegant event.

Miss E.G. Studer of Libertyville had been asked to the Walnut Room at Marshall Field & Company in downtown Chicago for its annual college Christmas fashion show.

A dozen young men, including prospective doctors and lawyers, would judge the best evening fashions. It would appear to have been quite an opportunity for a small town girl in the 1930s.

Did she go? There is no way to know. But as it turned out, Studer over a long life never needed the security of a high-profile mate. The resources of the independent woman who never left her childhood home ultimately would startle even those who knew her.

The first public hint of her wealth came to the attention of the Lake County Forest Preserve District in a letter last spring from a trust company handling Studer's estate.

Officials were told she left the Lake County Discovery Museum a bequest of $140,000 - the largest the organization has received.

The money came without restriction or direction from Studer. No strings attached. Curiously, no one at the museum knows why.

"We did not know her in any way we're aware of," said Katherine Hamilton-Smith, cultural resources director. "It means that she had some contact with our organization and thought well of it."

That an 85-year-old woman who never married could have accumulated that much is well within the realm of possibility. The museum was said to be a "5 percent beneficiary" but it is unclear what that means. Was the museum one of 20 beneficiaries? Or did it receive 5 percent of her estate?

If the latter is accurate, it meant Ella Studer, the last of the three "Studer girls" was worth about $2.8 million. She died Oct. 1, 2006, in the comfortable home on South Stewart Avenue where she grew up.

"Everybody who was given a gratuity is probably in absolute shock, as we are," said Ruth Buehrer, secretary for the Lakeside Cemetery Association, which received a similar sized gift. "It has blown everybody's mind."

Studer family members, including Ella's father, William, who was born near Gurnee in 1879, are buried in the local cemetery.

According to public records, her estate was valued at $250,000. But that does not include assets managed and distributed by the trust. Because those details are private, it's difficult to get an accurate gauge of her largesse.

The source of her wherewithal is also open to speculation. Though known about town, Studer and her sisters, Dorothy and Mae, apparently didn't share details outside the family.

"There were things about them that the three kept within themselves," said Buehrer, a longtime family friend, who added that she knew Ella well. "I can still see the three of them. They were so gracious. They treated you like you were special."

None of the sisters married. All held jobs and were well educated, particularly for the times.

Ella, the middle sister, graduated from Libertyville High School in 1937 and was perennially on the honor roll.

She followed her sister, Dorothy, to Lake Forest College, and graduated with bachelor of the arts degrees in biology and English.

"I congratulate you on being one of the limited member of young men or women who are privileged to have a college education," wrote Herbert McComb Moore to the incoming Class of 1942. "The opportunity for cultural development is yours. What you do with it depends largely upon you."

From grammar school, when she acted in school plays, Ella maintained an interest and involvement in the arts, often attending plays.

"She was a donor to a number of cultural institutions downtown, but there was not much more I could find," said Barb Vicory, development officer for the forest preserve district.

Former neighbor Chuck Neville described the sisters as "old Libertyville."

"That's the type of thing they would go out and visit," he said. "The Lake County Discovery Museum tells a lot about old family histories."

Memorabilia from her school days includes programs from a variety of events, as well as invitations to dinners and other social activities.

But details of Ella Studer's adult life are scarce, as are those who remember her. What can be gleaned is the sisters were social and self-reliant and frugal.

Ella was said to have been a lifelong employee of the Quaker Oats Company.

"I know she worked in an office in Chicago, but I couldn't tell you much more than that," said Jim Ray, a former high school classmate. "I assumed it was clerical in some shape or form, but she could have been a partner for all I know."

Mae was a teacher at New Trier High School, and Dorothy worked at Illinois Bell.

They likely had little or no house payments and limited expenses.

One theory is the family assets simply continued to accumulate and multiply, beginning with whatever was left by their father, an independent surveyor for more than 50 years.

They likely had little or no house payment and limited expenses. Add any investments, pensions or other benefits, and as the last family member, Ella inherited a small fortune.

"They were the kind of people that did their thing without being recognized," Buehrer said. "It's called sort of a silent run. Very quietly, they did what they wanted to do and nobody knew about it until later."