Tony Levering's Love of Saint Anselm College Leads to Planned Gift

"When you meet a fellow Anselmian, you hug first and ask questions later," said the late Tony Levering, Class of 1959.

It just felt natural ... that is how Tony Levering '59 felt about deciding to include Saint Anselm College in his estate plans.

Although he had a long career in the banking industry, Tony's first love was English. He loved to talk and write. And when he did, his devotion to Saint Anselm College came through, loud and clear. "When you meet a fellow Anselmian, you hug first and ask questions later; that's the way I feel about the school."

Growing up in Philadelphia, Tony attended a Benedictine boarding school, where his mentor was Father Felix Pepin, O.S.B. After serving in the Navy during the Korean War, he wrote to Fr. Felix for advice and learned that he had returned to his home abbey, Saint Anselm.

"I came up for a visit in my 1947 Pontiac and by the time I turned off the ignition, I knew this was where I would go to school. I fell in love with it." He had brought his transcript with him. Two weeks later, he received a letter welcoming him to Saint Anselm.

"I was one delighted young man," he recalled. He attended on the GI Bill and washed pots and pans at a local hospital. He loved every minute of his four years, but one of his most memorable experiences was playing the Gentleman Caller in the Abbey Players' production of The Glass Menagerie.

Tony stayed close to his friends at Saint Anselm. When it came time to send his children to college, he told then-president Brother Joachim Froelich, O.S.B., "There's no way I can afford to send five kids to this college." The president knew the young Leverings would fit in and be successful at Saint Anselm.

"Your job is to get them up here," he said. "I'll work on the financial part." Two Leverings enrolled and graduated: Mary Ellen '86 (an engineer/attorney married to Chris Grover '86) and Theresa '88 (a human resources executive).

"I just want Saint Anselm College to be able to do for others what it did for me and for my family," said Levering. At his death, in December 2021, the college received a generous bequest from his estate.

Learn How You Can Help

If you would like to learn ways you can help more students receive an education like the one Tony Levering received, consider making a planned gift to support Saint Anselm College. Contact Peter M. Labombarde, CFSC, at [email protected] or (603) 641-7228 today, at no obligation.