"I hearby bequeath...": the Sophie Kerr Post

Unless you went to Washington College [Sophie Kerr page on WC site], you've probably never heard of Sophie Kerr [Baltimore CityPaper]. No matter. (The CityPaper article linked is a great introduction.) Sophie Kerr was a romance writer in the 1930s and 40s who bequeathed her estate (over $500,000) to Washington College, my alma mater. She stipulated that the money be invested and each year, the interest would be split: half would go to bringing authors and literary speakers to the college, and half would go to a student writer. The year I graduated, I think the sum was around $20,000. I didn't win. But it did not diminish my love for this woman, who provided so much richness to the reading and writing community in Chestertown, Maryland.

So imagine my delight, when one day at work, among the antique magazines that sometimes show up at the Book Nook, our little bookstore, was this copy of Cosmopolitan, with "Fiction by...Sophie Kerr"!!! I had never read any of Sophie's works and this was just such a thrill.