Planned Giving : Wesley W. Emmons, Jr. BFA '54 (Jewelry)

“When are you going to get a real job?” his parents asked Wesley W. Emmons, Jr. BFA ’54 (Jewelry), 20 years into his successful career as a jewelry designer in Philadelphia. Emmons, who created original jewelry and religious ornaments for Eleanor Roosevelt, Buddy Rich and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as well as a beautiful altar for Old Zion Church on Broad Street, excelled not only at the job he loved—making art—but at the art of living.

A selfless teacher and mentor, Wesley’s passion for crafts and his compassion live on through his family’s generous planned gift to UArts. Before his death, he established the Wesley and Ellen Emmons Scholarship Fund for Jewelry and Metalwork, to which his two sons and wife of six decades, Ellen, continue to contribute. A member of the UArts Legacy Society, Ellen has left a portion of her estate to the scholarship fund, increasing the family’s gift, augmented by contributions from UArts alumni who continue to recognize Wesley’s impact through gifts to the scholarship fund.

“My dad worked very hard and we did struggle at times,” says Wesley’s son, Hoyt Emmons, an environmental health professional. “But it was amazing to grow up with someone who had such a spark of wonder and amazement about life. Giving back was very important to him, supporting younger artists, setting an example. He would stay up all night helping a young artist complete a design promised to a client.”

Wesley, who taught at UArts and worked with student interns in his store on 16th Street at Spruce, was awarded the UArts Silver Star Alumni Award (a silver medallion he designed), presented to outstanding graduates. Nonetheless, he was less interested in accolades than in his awe for life. “He taught us to appreciate both the influences of nature’s art and the beauty of human-made objects,” says Hoyt.

To improve his health in middle age, Wesley, known locally in Philadelphia as “the jogging jeweler,” turned himself into a competitive runner. His longest run: a 267-mile, six-day ultra marathon. Longevity and stamina mattered to Wesley, as evidenced by his per­sistence to pursue his art and his planned gift to UArts. “My parents were not wealthy,” says Wesley’s son Wes, “but a planned gift of any size is a valuable asset. It helps the school sustain its programs and grow. My dad had a wonderful life and he wanted to make sure that future students of UArts could have a chance for the same joy, pleasure and success.”