Coupers Donate Estate, Endowments to Memorial Hermann

"Piney Point," the home and 18-acre wooded grounds of Fred Thomson Couper and Mary Frances Bowles Couper, has been donated by the couple to the Memorial Hermann Foundation of the Memorial Hermann Healthcare System.

The gift includes their home, grounds, office and caretaker house valued in excess of $9.7 million. Further gifts include testamentary gifts of the extensive art and antique furnishings of the residence and testamentary endowments for the perpetual support of the property and the Bowles Chapel at Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital. The total value of the Couper gifts exceeds $ 10 million, the largest gift ever made to Memorial Hermann.

The Coupers have a long-standing relationship with Memorial Hermann. The Bowles Chapel was given in 1960 to the former Memorial Hospital downtown by Mrs. Couper and her mother, Mrs. William Victor Bowles, in memory of Mr. Bowles. The chapel was later moved to Memorial Hospital Southwest, now Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital. Mrs. Couper also was a trustee of Memorial Hospital System from 1979 to 1985.

In donating their estate to Memorial Hermann, a statement by Mr. and Mrs. Couper says: "Our long-held hope to give our home for charitable purpose and a desire to have its natural beauty preserved and protected has been fulfilled."

The property is of historic importance in that it was part of the original land grant to Stephen F. Austin, wherein the property was described as "Punto-Pina."

Mr. and Mrs. Couper stated further: "It was important to us that Memorial Hermann plan to use our home and property to further its community and wellness mission. Memorial Hermann has our complete confidence, trust and admiration. We gratefully consider this an ideal agreement."

Memorial Hermann Healthcare System President Dan S. Wilford says: "Over the years, Mr. and Mrs. Couper have been tremendous supporters of our organization. They have been much more than benefactors of the System; they have been our friends, members of our family. We at Memorial Hermann are deeply honored to accept this most generous gift.

"The property will be used for life enrichment programs, dealing with total health and wellness: physical, psychological, social, and spiritual," he says. "The Bowles Chapel and this estate gift are characteristic of gifts from the Coupers in that they provide something truly unique for Memorial Hermann Healthcare System and, ultimately, for the community."

Mr. and Mrs. Couper will continue to reside at Piney Point.

- BETH SARTORI

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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