Strecker Museum Receives $1,000,000 Gift for New Facility

WACO, Texas - Baylor University's Office of Development has announced that Mr. and Mrs. Thomas E. Anding of Dallas have made a $1,000,000 gift to the new Strecker Museum facility to be built on University Parks Drive.
"This gets us off dead center and is one of the most important and timely gifts the museum complex has ever received," said Calvin Smith, director of the Strecker Museum Complex and chair of the Department of Museum Studies. "With the university's approval, we can now begin to approach others who have expressed an interest in the project but did not want to be the lead donors."
Mr. Anding retired as vice president of Reliance Steel and Aluminum. Mrs. Anding teaches first grade in the Highland Park School District in Dallas. The couple has two children, Brian and Kelly. The Andings are both graduates of Baylor and have had a history of donating to the Strecker Museum.
"We got interested in the museum when Tom donated some of his wild game trophies to Strecker," said Emilyne Anding. "That made us want to see the new museum built."
The contribution will be used to fund the temporary/ traveling exhibitions gallery which will be named the Thomas E. and Emilyne W. Anding Temporary Exhibitions Gallery. The gallery will allow the museum to bring in major traveling exhibitions and create temporary exhibits of various Strecker Museum collections.
"We will be able to attract exhibitions of the caliber of the Ginghas Kahn or even some of the Russian and Egyptian productions," said Smith.
For more information, contact Dr. Gwin Morris, associate vice president for university development, at (254) 710-2561 or Smith at (254) 710-1110.