For over 30 years, the RPCNA has benefited from the Cecil J. S. MacLaughlin Trust Fund. The income for 2015 from Mrs. MacLaughlin’s trust fund to Synod’s treasurer was $175,176—a significant amount, to be sure, to augment programs of the church!

Who was this benefactress? She was raised as a Reformed Presbyterian but lived the last 20 years of her life as a United Presbyterian. Why did she desire to benefit the church of her youth? We don’t know all the answers to these questions, as she didn’t specify her motivations, but we have some clues. This article will elaborate on her background and generosity, and will help record for future generations her life and her last act of stewardship.

The Trust

The trust, which became operative at her death in Dec. 1980, was funded with the principal amount of $1,688,383. Income from this starting point (1) provided for a yearly payment of $20,000 to her friend and housekeeper, Ruth Chu, which continued for 27 years, and (2) provided income averaging $126,380 annually to the RPCNA, which for 35 years totaled $4,423,301. Moreover, the value of the trust as of Dec. 31, 2015, was $3,972,917, a 235% increase from its inception.

The charitable trust was to be managed by a corporate trustee (currently the Wilmington Trust, Baltimore, Md.) but was to be monitored by three special trustees, one of whom would be appointed by the Trustees of Synod, one by Geneva College, and one by Mrs. MacLaughlin’s law firm.

Mrs. MacLaughlin was also generous in her benevolences before her death, giving to Geneva College, the RP Seminary, the RP Home, the Reformation Translation Fellowship, and the Belle Center, Ohio, RPC where she worshiped after the Cincinnati, Ohio, RPC of her youth was disorganized. Further, the trust had provisions for her husband, but he preceded her in death. She also made generous bequests to the Cameron House in San Francisco, Calif., which serves Chinese Americans, and to Ruth Chu, her friend and housekeeper, who also received her home and contents.

Cecil’s Life

Cecil Jane Isabel Smith MacLaughlin was born Aug. 13, 1901, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Frederic Argyle and Janet Campbell Smith. She graduated from Oakhurst Collegiate High School in Cincinnati in 1921. That September she entered Geneva College and attended only the first semester of the school year. Her picture is in the 1922 Geneva yearbook, but it is difficult to see her clearly in the group photo.

A friend who knew Cecil characterized her as being very personable, tall, and dressed in high-fashion clothes. From another source, she was very astute and talented in financial affairs and estates.

In the late 1950s Cecil Smith moved to the Los Angeles area where she married Earle Roderick MacLaughlin, age 65, on May 22, 1961. Sometime later, they moved to Tiburon, near San Francisco, where they made their home for about 16 years until their deaths. Mr. MacLaughlin died June 19, 1978, and Mrs. MacLaughlin died Dec. 14, 1980. She was buried in the family cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Cecil’s Family

Cecil’s father, Frederic A. Smith, joined the Cincinnati, Ohio, RPC on May 17, 1890, by a certificate of transfer from the Slippery Rock, Pa., RPC (name changed to Rose Point in 1929). His wife, Janet Campbell Smith, joined the Cincinnati RPC on Feb. 22, 1900, as a communicant member by a certificate transfer from the Second (New York City, N.Y.) RPC. Cecil Jane Isabel Smith joined in May 1914 by profession of faith.

Frederic A. Smith was elected and ordained a ruling elder, serving from May 24, 1916, to 1945. William Farrie Smith, her uncle, was elected and ordained an elder on Dec. 27, 1920. Other Smiths, like Cecil’s grandfather, were also members of Cincinnati RPC.

Cecil’s grandfather, John Calvin Smith, was born in 1831 and served as professor and the fifth president of Geneva College in 1858-1860 when it was located in Northwood, Ohio. After his service at Geneva College, he attended the Allegheny Seminary in Pittsburgh and was installed pastor of the Slippery Rock RPC in 1863, where he served for 26 years. He then was installed pastor of the Cincinnati RPC, where he served until his death in 1900. Under Rev. Smith’s ministry in Cincinnati, the Jewish Mission in that city was established. Rev. Smith and many other members of his family are buried in the Rose Point RP Cemetery near New Castle, Pa.

Cecil’s aunt, Minnie Jane Smith, married Rev. Louis Meyer, D.D., a convert from the Jewish faith. Dr. Meyer, an immigrant and formerly a physician, became a Reformed Presbyterian minister who not only served in two RP pastorates but also was an internationally known speaker at conferences focusing on the Jewish faith.

The wealth of the Smith family came from the Campbell family through Cecil’s mother and was accumulated through oil and gas interests. The Smith family home, as it is reported, was an elegant home in an upscale neighborhood of Cincinnati.

Cecil’s Giving

In about 1960 it was suggested to Dr. Edwin Clarke, president of Geneva College, that he contact Cecil Smith as a potential donor to Geneva. From then on Dr. and Mrs. Clarke kept in touch with Cecil by mail, phone, and personal visits at their home in Tiburon, Calif. Mrs. MacLaughlin was a regular and generous giver to Geneva College, and she also gave to other departments of the denomination.

In 1966, Cecil relinquished her interest in the Jayne Marjorie Lemker Smith Trust Fund that Cecil’s mother established at her death. (Jayne was a girl raised as Cecil’s sister, but never legally adopted by the Smiths. She died in 1955.)

The terms of this trust were that the income would be paid to Cecil until her death, with the remainder given to the Reformed Presbyterian Church. But Cecil was willing to relinquish her interest in this fund with the stipulation that half would benefit Geneva College immediately, subject to approval of the Synod, but retaining income on the other half until her death at which time the remainder would be at the disposal of Synod. Consequently, in 1966 Geneva received $125,000. The remaining half was to be managed by Synod’s Board of Trustees, and that had increased to $223,677 by her death in 1980. It was then available as undesignated at Synod’s discretion.

Thus, the first objective in releasing this Smith fund in 1966 was to benefit Geneva College; but the second objective—more obscure—was to give experience to Synod’s Board of Trustees in managing the fund, a relatively small one, in a prudent and responsible way.

Due to various circumstances, Cecil decided that her wealth at her death would be managed by a corporate trustee, instead of Synod’s Board, but overseen by special trustees as previously mentioned.

Her mother had established the Smith Fund with the objective that eventually it would benefit the RPCNA, and this might have motivated Cecil to create the Cecil J. S. MacLaughlin Trust Fund from which the denomination has so much benefited over the past 35 years.

One wonders what might have been the result if Mrs. MacLaughlin had given her estate outright. What would have been done with such a large windfall? A large amount available immediately is subject for grandiose schemes—probably worthwhile—but would there have been any benefits now? Nevertheless, Cecil decided to provide an annual income. Her interest and generosity has undoubtedly benefited the RPCNA denominational programs in a very material way.