Caroline John had very specific ideas about what she wanted to do with her money after her lifetime, but she was concerned she would not be able to fulfill her wishes. Her attorney, G. Steven McKonly, introduced her to the concept of endowment at York County Community Foundation (YCCF) and explained her options. When Mrs. John died in 2014 at age 95, she left $1.6 million in her will to YCCF to create the Caroline and Adolph John Fund, an endowed fund to benefit her church, Emmanuel United Church of Christ in Hanover.
Mrs. John was a forward-thinking, confident career woman who broke the glass ceiling and advised men in leadership positions how to build community libraries. Her best friend, Barb Hoerneff, church secretary at Emmanuel United Church of Christ in Hanover, said that “Caroline wanted people to know who she really was.”
Her career was so important to her that she put off marriage until after her retirement at the age of 68. After she married Adolph John, they moved back to her hometown of Hanover, where they enjoyed their community together for 22 years. When her husband died in 2009, Mrs. John found “family” at Emmanuel UCC, where she was a lifelong member. Her very specific giving needs were met when she sought guidance from Hanover attorney Steve McKonly. “As a career woman for her entire life, Caroline was very aware of the importance of endowments to nonprofit institutions,” said McKonly. “She did not, however, know how to go about establishing an endowment. She was unaware of community foundations and the opportunity that they provide to make an estate gift last forever. When we talked about that option, she was very eager to benefit her church by establishing an endowed bequest, and not just give a onetime gift.”
Mrs. John was born in Hanover in 1919. She was a 1941 graduate of Wilson College in Chambersburg, received her Masters Degree in Library Science from Drexel Institute of Technology (now Drexel University) in 1942. Her long library career began at the Hanover Public Library while she was still in high school. Her career then took her to Chardon, Ohio and Norfolk, VA, before she settled on Long Island, NY at the Valley Stream Public Library followed by the Amityville Public Library. She retired in 1983. Mrs. John died in 2014.
