Honoring an Everlasting Love with an Everlasting Gift

On a blind date in 1951, Rosemarie “Rody” Oppenheim Dilenschneider ’54 and John “Jack” Dilenschneider, a Notre Dame student, began an everlasting love. They enjoyed walking through the apple orchards on campus and socializing with other students through games of softball and red rover. 

Jack and Rody married in 1954, and welcomed 10 children.

Dilenschneider was passionate about education and service. She taught in multiple school systems before directing her efforts to the literacy movement for immigrants. Mary Dilenschneider Condon ‘87 recounted that one of her mother’s favorite sayings was, “Teaching children how to learn is necessary but teaching them how to think is invaluable.”

Dilenschneider died January 17, 2020. In her honor, Jack established the “Rose-Marie ‘Rody’ Oppenheim Dilenschneider Class of 1954 Student Research and Travel Grant” endowed fund. The fund’s purpose is to support opportunities for undergraduate students to experience inquiry-based learning in collaboration with faculty and other students.

An endowed fund is created when a donor stipulates that a gift will be permanently invested to create income for a particular purpose. Only the investment income is available for spending. The gift, which serves as the principle, may never be spent.

In the event that Jack passed away before his pledge to the fund was fulfilled, he revised his estate plan to include a bequest of the pledge balance. Six weeks after he documented this commitment, Jack died on September 22, 2021.   

Jack’s bequest in honor of his wife has created a fund that will support generations of Saint Mary’s students in the pursuit of their education.

October 20, 2022