Office of the Mayor

Proclamation

Lawrence, Kansas

WHEREAS:   The year 2011 celebrates the 150^th birthday of the greatest benefactress to the University of Kansas – Elizabeth Miller Watkins; and

WHEREAS:   Elizabeth Miller Watkins grew up in Lawrence, and although was not able to attend the University of Kansas due to financial hardships, her gifts to the University and Lawrence endure to this day; and

WHEREAS:   Some of the gifts left by Ms. Watkins include:  her residence, “The Outlook”, which has served as the Chancellor’s residence; more than 25,000 acres of southwest Kansas Farmland, which are still managed by the KU Endowment Association; the original 50-bed Lawrence Memorial Hospital building in 1929, with an addition to the north in 1937; a home for the nurses at the hospital; and two scholarship halls for female students at KU – Watkins and Miller Halls;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Mike Amyx, Mayor of the City of Lawrence, Kansas, do hereby proclaim the week of April 16 – 23, 2011 as

Elizabeth Watkins Week

in the City of Lawrence.

                                                          Mike Amyx, Mayor

April 12, 2011