Wall Street Journal Donor of the Day: Marjory Walters
On Thursday, March 7, The Wall Street Journal featured Marjory Walters as its “Donor of the Day.” Walters just completed a $1 million pledge to endow the NJSO’s Principal Oboe chair—now The Arthur E. Walters and Marjory S. Walters Chair. She spoke with The Wall Street Journal about the significance of giving to the Orchestra in memory of her late husband.
Marjory S. Walters knows a good thing when she hears it. At least when it comes to the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.
Ms. Walters, 88 years old, has been a fan of the orchestra for decades, practically since the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra formed more than 50 years ago. She is among the orchestra’s most significant benefactors, recently completing a $1 million pledge. She endowed the symphony’s chair for oboe in memory of her husband, Arthur, who died in 1999.
“We had both loved the symphony so much and my association with him and the symphony has meant so much to me,” she says, adding that her late husband was the driving force behind her love of music. Because of that, every donation she gives is made in his memory.
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[Her] experiences gave Ms. Walters a platform to appreciate music and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra has become a kind of home. She attends rehearsals for fun and has traveled to Europe with other patrons of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. Her tickets are in the first balcony so she can look down and see the whole orchestra.
“It’s very hard to describe, but after I’ve been to a concert I just feel good,” says Ms. Walters. “I can sit there and listen to the music and forget all the rest of the problems of the world. And just enjoy it, I don’t try to analyze it.”