Bob & Susan share their decision to incorporate Christ the King into their will.
Q: What prompted you to redo or update your will?
A: We wanted to redo our wills as we recently lost 4 close family members and since we are both seniors during the time of pandemic you just never know!
Q: How did you decide who would receive a bequest?
A: We chose CTK because we have no children and all our relatives have successful careers, but more importantly, CTK "saved us" and we thought this would be the ultimate thank you!
Q: Why Christ the King?
A: We were both raised Catholic but had lapsed and were previously divorced. We had successful careers and Sundays to us meant sipping wine by the pool and gambling online! Every now and then we would talk about going back to the church but the annulment process was tedious and we were adamant about not paying several hundred dollars for it so they were very short conversations. In 2009, I had just quit my job to go help in a business we owned, the only problem was that....I was an alcoholic. I am sure Bob was concerned because for the past 4 years I had tried everything to quit drinking....inpatient, outpatient, stints in detox facilities, therapists, AA meetings...the whole nine yards and I was either "on the wagon" or "falling off." We were running errands one Sunday and Bob said, "hey why don't you go to church in the mornings before you come in (I was sporadically going to AA in the mornings). I hated AA meetings so I thought "why not"....I had nothing to lose. We chose CTK because it was close to work and I needed to be there by 9.
We went for months before I made an appt with a priest. (For such a large cathedral, it had such a small, comfortable feeling). I was so nervous and Father Gino was so welcoming.....even after 30+ years. He helped us get our annulment and at one point it got testy between Bob and the diocesan representative (and I'm thinking great....there goes the anullment) but Father was right there to help! I went almost everyday....the doors were always open, the priests were always available, and sometimes the sermons were just what I needed to hear or I found just the right book in the chapel. After about a year and a half, I finally gave up drinking and thanks to CTK it seemed effortless compared to what I had tried before! Who knows where we would have ended up without all the staff at CTK (me probably dead and Bob probably still a wandering lost soul) and we will always be so grateful. Putting CTK in our wills is the least we could do!
Q: What impact or legacy do you hope your bequest to CTK will make?
A: We hope that CTK will use the bequest to retire some debt and continue their ongoing programs.
Q: How does it make you feel knowing your will is done and your intentions and bequest to CTK will be carried out?
A: I wanted to make it easy for CTK to receive the bequest and so I sent them a copy to make sure I was doing it correctly. Well I wasn't!! So once again the staff at CTK helped us make it right!! It is a very good feeling knowing our contribution will help CTK continue its mission and we hope that others will a consider a "thank you" too in their final plans.
Bob & Susan Miller are happy to chat about their experience and faith. You can reach them at [email protected].