LITTLE ROCK — Wylena “Billye” Hayward didn’t have much contact with the University of Central Arkansas after her 1940 graduation.
Over the course of 70 years, the only interaction Hayward had with her alma mater was a $50 check she sent the alumni association in 1993.
That changed earlier this year when the 91-year-old Hayward - who spent most of her life living out of state - died and left the Conway school a posthumous gift of $750,000, officials said Wednesday.
Shelley Mehl, interim vice president for institutional advancement, said the school learned of the donation from Hayward’s estate lawyer afterher Feb. 1 death.
The gift was a complete shock, Mehl said.
Large estate gifts typically come from alumni deeply involved with the university after graduation.
For example, Mary Crow - who left UCA a $4.4 million estate gift in 2007 - had given to the university for years, Mehl said.
“Usually they call ahead of time, and we’ll meet with them to talk about estate planning,” Mehl said. “This was very unexpected. We, of course, were thrilled.”
The gift is unrestricted, which means the university can spend it however it likes. Mehl said a portion will go to academic scholarships next school year.
Hayward was born in 1918 as Wylena Abee, accordingto an obituary printed in The Plainsman Herald, Hayward’s hometown newspaper in Springfield, Colo.
Before moving west, Hayward was raised by her mother and grandparents in Swifton, Ark., in Jackson County. She grew up helping out in the local pharmacy where her mother, Anna, worked.
While at UCA, she was quite active, according to university records.
Hayward was president of Zeta Sigma and the Nature Study Club, served on the Pan-Hellenic Council and cheered in the pep squad.
She graduated with a bachelor of science degree in education.
After that, she left Arkansas and apparently never looked back.
In 1951, she married James Hayward, a Wyoming barber who loved to dance, according to the obituary.
In 1961, Wylena Hayward earned her master’s degree in education from the University of Wyoming and proceeded to teach for the next 20 years in Wyoming and Oregon.
She dabbled in the real estate market on the side.
“Billye was a speed-reader and was always reading something from The Wall Street Journal to Science of the Mind and just about anything in between,” her obituary said. “Many times she would go with Jim on his fishing trips, and while he was fishing, she would either be reading or typing documents.”
Hayward’s other love was playing the stock market.
LaVona Hoover, a friend of Hayward’s from Colorado, said she amassed a fortune by investing and living frugally.
“She was very precise. She was serious-minded. She always said you ought to put back 10 percent of everything,” Hoover said. “She must have saved quite a bit because I know she had money in five or six banks.”
Mehl said Hayward’s total estate was worth $1.5 million, of which UCA got half. She didn’t know what happened to the rest of the money. Hoover didn’t either.
Hayward never had children and didn’t keep much in touch with her remaining kin, Hoover said. Her husband died in 1996.
The only clue Hoover got about the UCA gift came when Hayward mentioned in passing her plans for her estate.
“All she told me was she had tried to help people she felt like helped her in life,” Hoover said.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 04/15/2010