All I ever wanted was to dream sunsets with you.

I am calling ALL of my friends and followers alike to please reblog this. As many times as you can. There is no need for another family to ever go through what my family has had to.

Southeastern has taken my family to court in a very unjust trial regarding my Great Aunt Cissy’s home. Can you imagine graduating, giving thousands back to SELU, and then have them disrespect your last will and wishes? We couldn’t either until it happened.

I appreciate all your time and support for my family. Don’t allow the sunshine of my life, Ghee-Ghee, to be thrown on the street without a fight.
A thousand hugs from me to you,
Sloane:)

unethicalslu:

In life, Myra LaRue was very generous to Southeastern University, donating more than $30,000 over the years to her alma mater.

But in death, the fundraising arm of the university is locked in a bitter battle with LaRue’s closest family, going to court to contest her will. Southeastern claims that the will was changed from LaRue’s deathbed to keep the school from getting any portion of her estate.

According to legal experts, lawsuits that contest a person’s last will and testament are not unusual among family members, but very rare coming from a university.

LaRue’s family was stunned that Southeastern contested the will, going to court nine days after LaRue passed away.

“I was very surprised,” said Larue’s sister Mary Elizabeth “Libba” Pardue. “I couldn’t believe anyone would do that to her. Especially after she had befriended them.”

Myra LaRue was one of Southeastern’s oldest graduates, a former cheerleader at the school who went on to have a career as a physical education teacher in New Orleans. When she retired, she moved to a house on 12 acres of land in Greensburg, about half an hour from the Hammond university.

In her earlier will, LaRue – who had no children – donated the property to the school. But when LaRue became ill with brain cancer, she changed her plans, donating everything to three nieces and her sister. Pardue is now living in her sister’s house with her daughter, Barbara Pardue, both of whom moved from Arkansas to take care of Myra LaRue in her final days.

“She told Barbara and I that she’s changing her will,” Mary Pardue said. “And I was surprised, didn’t know she had one, and I still didn’t even ask any questions. Everything was what she wanted to do.”

Documents in the lawsuit – which goes to trial Monday – show that LaRue’s generosity to Southeastern was carefully cultivated.

In an August 2006 document known as a “call report.”development officer and now university Vice-President Wendy Johns-Lauderdale wrote: “Ms. Myra has become one of my best friends and I thoroughly enjoy her company.”

And in a January 2007 report, she wrote: “It was great to spend time with Ms. Myra. I think she will continue to be generous to the university. I believe Ms. Myra has a lot of wealth that she loves to share with those she is closest to, including Southeastern.”

The family believes the university took advantage of Myra LaRue, violating guidelines established by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, including those that warn against getting too personal with donors and taking advantage of the elderly.

“There are greedy people out there who would take advantage of the elderly who have no family living close by,” Pardue said.

But one faction of the family has sided with Southeastern. Second-cousin MeMe LeBlanc, and her husband Maurice LeBlanc, don’t believe Myra Larue would have cut Southeastern completely out her will. The couple said so in depositions obtained by the university. Although they regret the wedge they have caused within the family, they said they are simply trying to convey what they believed to be LaRue’s wishes.

The only will that I ever knew,” MeMe LeBlanc said, “was she told us time and time again, you know I’m leaving my estate to Southeastern.”

Maurice LeBlanc said, “I know even as late as when she was diagnosed and in the hospital, she mentioned to us at that time, that that was her intention. She died about six weeks later and this new will shows up and says that nothing goes to Southeastern. And I was kind of surprised by that.”

The rest of the family, though, can’t believe that Myra would have left her elderly sister without a place to live.

“Well I expected to live here the rest of my life,” Mary Pardue said. “And frankly, I have no idea where I would go.”

To prepare for trial, the university foundation has hired medical and handwriting experts, but its full legal expenses are not known. What is known is that the property they are fighting for is valued at about $250,000.

Johns-Lauderdale did not return calls for comment. But T.J. Seale, an attorneys for the university, said, “The university and development foundation felt that the court proceeding was necessary to honor the will that she had executed, which included a significant gift to the foundation.”

A judge trial is set to begin Monday in Greensburg in St. Helena Parish. To throw out the existing will, Southeastern must show that Myra Larue’s illness left her too mentally incapacitated to knowingly change her intentions.