Kitty DeGree

WITH HARD WORK, THE LATE KITTY DEGREE BUILT A FORTUNE, AND WITH DEDICATION, SHE GAVE IT ALL AWAY.

BY MICHAEL DEVAULT | PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA AT MONROE

Take a drive across Monroe and it’s almost impossible to avoid the legacy of Kitty DeGree, the diminutive New Hampshire native, who became one of the region’s most generous and well-known philanthropists. Known as Miss Kitty to friends and the countless organizations she supported, she built a thriving real estate enterprise over a career that spanned more than 40 years.

She first came to the region with her husband, Joseph, after the couple’s service in World War II ended, and immediately the DeGrees knew the area was home for life. And build a life together they would. As Joseph worked at Brown Papermill, Kitty worked for a number of local employers until she decided to enter the real estate business. The fortune she grew would become the foundation for what would become her legendary generosity.

“I’ve actually never met anyone like Miss Kitty when it comes to philanthropy, because she wanted nothing in return,” says Nick Bruno, president of the University of Louisiana-Monroe. “Anything that was given back to her, that was all unsolicited. She didn’t ask for it.”

Miss Kitty was one of the first people Bruno reached out to, as the newly installed president of the University of Louisiana-Monroe. He knew she had a legacy of giving to ULM, and he wanted to ensure that she understood how much he appreciated her support of the school, its mission, and most importantly, its students.

ULM was one of the earliest benefactors of Miss Kitty’s generosity. It was also the organization through which she learned how to become a hands-on philanthropist.
Over the course of her career, she had accumulated more than 300 apartment units in the area surrounding the university campus. Dwight Vines was president of the university, then known as Northeast Louisiana University, and the University Foundation was courting community members to make tax-deferred donations. The foundation hosted a seminar on the subject, and Miss Kitty was one of the attendees. In a surprising act of largess, Miss Kitty negotiated to donate the apartments to the university through the program.

“They established a trust through which she owned the property, but the income came to the university,” Vines tells BayouLife. Over the course of the first few years, Miss Kitty became a familiar booster for programs across campus. Vines credits DeGree’s giving with some of the university’s more innovative approaches to improvement and research.

“The big thing, I think, that Miss Kitty’s gifts brought to the university is that they encouraged our university folks to be innovative and creative in ways that we couldn’t be with our regular funding,” Vines says. “They could go to Kitty with a plan, and if the plan was a good one, she might fund it. So, she stimulated a lot of creativity about how we could improve our university programs.”

Each time Miss Kitty agreed to support a particular program or innovation, she could see the impact of her involvement directly. At the same time, she was pleased that people at the university appreciated the support they were receiving.

“People would give her reports of what they were doing with the money they received, and university professionals know how to write well,” Vines explains. “And no one else had ever given her that kind of feedback.”

Through her interactions early on with staff and faculty at the school, Miss Kitty learned the importance of supporting not just with a checkbook, but also the value of attention and personal service. This became a hallmark of Kitty DeGree’s support. She contributed money and, more importantly, her time.

Contributions to ULM would not be the only mark Miss Kitty would leave on the region. A patriot, the wife of a veteran, and a veteran herself, she understood the importance of caring for former military service members. She lobbied extensively for and helped support the creation of the Northeast Louisiana War Veteran’s Home. She also served for a time on the board of directors of the Chennault Aviation and Historical Museum.

She also understood the unique challenges facing healthcare in northeastern Louisiana. Particularly, she wanted to help make sure healthcare in the region remained on the forefront of technology and services. Education continued to play a significant role in her giving, especially because it was through education that an individual could best benefit from her generosity and, eventually, give back to the community themselves.

Recognizing the evolving nature of higher education and the value of a two-year professional training program, Miss Kitty became one of the earliest proponents for establishing Louisiana Delta Community College. She make a substantial pledge and then, in a move that was surprising, she became the face of fundraising efforts for the fledgling campus.

When the first fundraising commercials hit the airwaves, it wasn’t a bureaucrat or politician who asked for the money. It was Kitty DeGree herself, and her message was simple: she was supporting the establishment of the community college, and so should the community. She agreed to match a sizable amount of money, and the community responded. Delta Chancellor Dennis Epps says Miss Kitty still holds a “special place” in the heart of the community college and its students for many reasons.
“Beyond her financial support, DeGree was a leader in strategic thought, guidance and support in many ways,” Epps says. “Her passion and support for the college was critical to its establishment and growth.”

Once Delta was open and educating students, her support continued through service to the new school’s foundation, through capital donations, and with the establishment of a scholarship for nursing students. Miss Kitty’s scholarship was simple.

“In her philanthropy, she established an agreement to pay the tuition for nursing students if they would agree to go to work for St. Francis Medical Center and work for at least five years,” Epps says. “This, in many ways supported the development of nursing excellence at the College and the commitment to bedside care among LDCC Nursing Alumni.”

This was not her first interaction with the region’s Catholic hospital, and would be far from her last. By 2007, the hospital’s downtown emergency room was operating above capacity. At the same time, the facility’s cramped quarters were showing their age. Miss Kitty saw the need, so she reached out to St. Francis Medical Center staff.
“She wanted to make a donation to help us expand our services and build a brand new emergency facility,” says St. Francis CEO Kristin Wolkart. Recognizing the need for an expanded and modernized emergency department at the hospital, Miss Kitty offered a sizable donation. She would give the hospital $1 million to help pay for construction. There was just one problem, as Kristin explains. The hospital had no viable mechanism through which to receive such a donation. “That’s really how our foundation was formed.”

The new facility debuted in 2009, and the hospital named the new facility the Kitty DeGree Emergency Center in her honor. Just a few years later, recognizing another critical need in the community, Miss Kitty donated $350,000 for the creation of a breast health center at St. Francis, which also is named in her honor. Even after her passing in 2012, her legacy continues to have an impact through the charitable foundation that bears her name. Just last year, the Kitty DeGree Foundation contributed some $342,000 to upgrade and improve breast imaging at the facility.

“Miss Kitty lives on at St. Francis,” Wolkart says. “Through her generous spirit, we have been able to add a lot of new technology, enriching and improving the quality of care and service we deliver to patients.”

For her efforts at the university, Vines awarded DeGree an honorary doctorate. Through her involvement at ULM, the School of Nursing bears her name, as does Kitty DeGree Hall, the building in which it is housed. Also at ULM, numerous scholarships and facilities are also named in her honor. At St. Francis, in addition to the Kitty DeGree Emergency Center and the Kitty DeGree Breast Health Center, her legacy stretches deep into patient care and outcomes. Kitty DeGree’s impact on the community she called home is virtually immeasurable.

“Over her period of giving, she gave more than $7 million to the university,” Bruno says. “Her foundation continues to support us today, particularly our healthcare and health sciences programs.”

Moreover, her contributions to each of the organizations she supported are still bearing fruit, and not just through the buildings, equipment or even the scholarships she’s funded. Among the top leadership at Delta Community College, ULM, and St. Francis–the three organizations represent the lions’ share of her lifetime donations–only Bruno knew DeGree personally. Both Epps and Wolkart joined their organizations long after her passing in 2012.

“I never had the honor of meeting Miss Kitty in person, but I’m absolutely aware of how her gernerosity has helped trigger philanthropy and really was the creation of the St. Francis Foundation,” Wolkart says. “She was the cornerstone that helped us build up philanthropy for our organization.”

Miss Kitty’s giving drew attention to the hospital’s needs, and the community responded to those needs and continues to respond to them today. That’s a lasting legacy that Wolkart says continues to impact the hospital.

“Now we’re able to connect across the community because of her generous spirit and what she started all those years ago,” Wolkart says. “Even though I didn’t know her, I still feel connected to her because of all the good she did all those years back.”

Every day, Wolkart witnesses acts of individual philanthropy, whether it’s an individual making a donation to the hospital’s fundraisers, donating to a particular department like the pediatric intensive care unit, or even through acts of personal kindness.

“One mom has been making baby blankets and baby beanies for our NICU patients,” Wolkart says. “These are people giving of their money and time, and they’re asking nothing in return.”

Perhaps this spirit of selflessness is Miss Kitty’s greatest lasting legacy. Throughout her life, Miss Kitty lived modestly and without pretention, and she gave generously. Bruno says there’s a great lesson to learn from Miss Kitty, adding that, if more people lived as she did, the world would be a “much better place.”

“Her contributions to this university will go on for generations,” Bruno says. Miss Kitty is just one example of the kinds of philanthropists who have made investments in the individuals who will come through the university in the future. “Their works and their goodness need to be remembered by those people, too.”