Bob and Susan Childers left remarkable charitable legacy
During their life and at their death, Bob and Susan Childers made generous gifts to the Community Foundation for worthy causes. They gave real estate and they gave mutual fund shares to benefit the people in the Nebraska Sandhills where Bob and Susan enjoyed living and working.
Thanks to the Childers, the Community Foundation administers endowment funds that make significant grants benefiting people in the four counties of Hooker, Logan, McPherson and Thomas in Nebraska.
The charitable bequest also accomplished something else that the Childers wanted – it saved estate taxes. Robert Childers was born and raised in the Nebraska Sandhills. After serving in the armed service in Korea, Bob returned to the Sandhills.
Susan Quick came from Indiana to attend Chadron State College. After graduation, she taught in a rural school in the Sandhills. Susan and Bob married in 1968 and they continued living in the Sandhills, raising hogs and cattle.
By working hard and spending carefully, they survived some lean years and acquired land. Later in life, Susan received a good sum from a family enterprise back East that she invested.
They got much happiness out of their ranch life.
They loved the many Border Collies that helped work their livestock.
Bob was a fine horseman and both Bob and Susan enjoyed driving horse-drawn carriages and wagons and often took horses and buggies to parades in the region.
Bob and Susan were a wonderful team. Bob knew how to do everything a cowboy needed to know how to do. Susan did the cooking, handled the paperwork, paid the bills and did the banking.
Susan Childers died first in 2019 and then Bob Childers died in 2020.
Bob and Susan did not have any children. In various ways, they adopted people they cared about into their life. The community dearest to their heart was the Sandhills area around where they lived.
Bob and Susan added meaning to their lives by giving to others. They left a remarkable charitable legacy in endowment funds at the Community Foundation benefiting people of their Sandhills area.
Many organizations have applied for and received funding from Childers Funds for projects benefiting people in these counties. Charitable grants from Childers Funds have been used for many purposes, including helping pay for ambulances, helping meet fire department needs and paying for improvements at fairgrounds, parks and meeting places.
Robert and Susan Childers were inducted into the Nebraska Sandhills Hall of Fame in 2024.
