| The Jack and Vonnie Schlomer Grant |
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Lawrence "Jack" Schlomer was a CPA who spent most of his career working for the Department of Defense auditing the government contracts. He lived in La Canada and acquired properties as a hobby before and after retirement. Jack was a single man well into his 40s. He met Margaret Veronica "Vonnie" at a church function; Vonnie had been a nun for 25 years prior to meeting Jack. During their courtship they met at burger joints so each would not know that the other had assets – they didn't want to be "married for their money." The Schlomers had one adopted son, but he died before they did, leaving no heirs. At about the same time they met, a man by the name of George Cerecedes was managing a grocery store when he saw Jack picking through the grocery store's trash one Sunday morning to gather food for his raccoons. George told Jack that he would leave him a box of discarded food for his racoons every Sunday so that Jack wouldn’t have to pick through the trash. Over the weeks and months, they became friends. One day, Jack was complaining about a wall between the market and a brand new condo complex next door. George asked him why he should care and Jack said, "Because I own one of those condos." George was incredulous – "You're kidding me, right? I thought you said you were unemployed." "No, I said I wasn't working – I'm retired!" replied Jack. George described Jack as his best friend, the father he never had. They shared a lot of common interests including antique cars. Every Sunday they would attend Mass and Vonnie would fix them breakfast. When Jack asked George to be trustee of their estate, George first declined. Jack asked again 10 years prior to his death, and this time George accepted on the condition that he not be named a beneficiary of any kind, feeling it might jeopardize their friendship in some way. Jack was diagnosed in 2004 with merkel cell cancer and died in 2005. Vonnie was physically incapacitated for 10 years prior to her passing in September 2007. From that point, George had his hands full with the Schlomers' property -- from cabins in Lake Arrowhead to their main residence in La Canada to warehouses in downtown L.A. Finally, he was ready to make a 90% distribution to five designated charities and that ANRF (a 20% beneficiary) could expect 'a very, very large check soon'. “I simply thanked him on our behalf,” related ANRF Executive Director Helene Belisle. “The day the check arrived, though, I nearly fainted … $1.2 million to ANRF! “When I spoke with George later that day,” Belisle continued, “I told him we were naming a grant – the Jack and Vonnie Schlomer Grant – in perpetuity. He cried with me, saying the Schlomers would have really liked that.” The first named scientist, honored as the Jack & Vonnie Schlomer Memorial Fellow is Candace Cham, Ph.D., of Stanford University. She is studying an exciting new mouse model of rheumatoid arthritis. Learn more about how you can donate to the Arthritis National Research Foundation in your will. |