Joe Slanser engineered a legacy for the Marion community, thanks to his lifelong love of trains and railroads and family devotion to his church. His legacy will benefit Marion Union Station and Epworth United Methodist Church with a planned gift to Marion Community Foundation. Joe passed away on July 3, leaving $3.45 million in the Joe Slanser Fund.
According to Marion Community Foundation’s president and CEO Dean Jacob, the Slanser gift is the second largest donation from an individual in the 20 year history of the Foundation.
“Because this was a planned gift, we had the opportunity to thank Joe for his incredible generosity,” said Jacob. “We appreciate this opportunity and this gift to the community. This fund will bear Joe’s name and support the causes important to him with annual grants, literally forever.”
Rev. David Hoffman, Senior Pastor of Epworth United Methodist Church, said, “Joe’s extraordinary gift is an outstanding example of the generosity and faithfulness of our congregation. Epworth has a strong history of serving the community of Marion and this gift will enable us to be an even stronger advocate. The founder of the Methodist movement, John Wesley, believed in this kind of generosity and lived his life in a way that instructed us to ‘earn all you can, give all you can, save all you can.’ Joe’s life and generosity mirrored this philosophy, and we are eternally grateful for his wisdom and actions.”
Love of community was modeled by “Joe Junior’s” parents. His father, Joseph, owned and operated the Slanser Lumber & Coal Company, building homes throughout the city and selling coal to heat them. An avid golfer, Joe Sr. also helped build the Marion Country Club – and personally knew Marion native and golf enthusiast President Warren G. Harding.
It was from his father’s upper level office at the corner of Wilson and Greenwood Streets where 4-year-old Joe Junior began watching the hundreds of trains whistle past, sometimes stopping to deliver lumber and coal from North Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama, and Pennsylvania. Young Joe learned early on to identify the Chesapeake & Ohio, Erie, N.Y. Central, and other freight and passenger trains by their unique whistles – and could imitate many of them.
“During World War II, I’d watch troop trains pick up soldiers at the Marion Depot,” Joe recalled during a 2016 interview, eyes twinkling at the memory. “I was about 10-years-old at the time. I’d ride my bike down to the Depot every day during the summer, sit on a baggage wagon, and watch the trains approach. I was just fascinated by them.”
Following graduation from Harding High School in 1950, Joe worked briefly for the Erie Railroad, then attended The Ohio State University until he was drafted by the U.S. Army in 1953. His interest in railroads continued, but roared ahead during what became a 36-year career with GTE (now Verizon and Frontier).
“I learned all about electricity and electronics because I was constantly building or repairing model trains,” he explained. “I’d read as many books as I could about the subject, too.”
A charter member of Marion’s Model Railroad Club (1950), Joe is credited with helping to develop the Marion Union Station into a family-friendly destination where visitors can relive the time when as many as 200 trains chugged through the city of Marion every day.
Pete White, president of the Marion Union Station Association and friend of Joe’s, recalled how Joe generously supported the Marion Union Station both financially with annual gifts, as well as his time.
“Joe was so knowledgeable he had his own fans. He loved to sit at the station and talk to everyone who came by,” said White. “He just loved to talk about railroads.”
And, Slanser was always pleased by the number of people who shared his passion for trains.
“You wouldn’t believe how many people are fascinated with trains – especially now,” he said. “People come from all over to see how a real train station operates – right here in Marion.”
The Joe Slanser legacy will also “make a stop” at his family’s longtime place of worship – Epworth United Methodist Church.
Joe credits philanthropy to his mother’s influence.
“My mother was a great educator,” Joe fondly recalled of his mother, Hazel Markwith Slanser, who graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1912 with a degree in education. “She has a reputation for being a very good teacher in Marion. She understood children’s limitations, and she knew how to reach them. She taught them how to be independent, how to be a thinker.”
Perhaps the greatest lesson she gave her only child is now being brought to life through her son Joe’s gift to the Marion community.
“She always told me, ‘You want to save money, son.’” A lesson learned, indeed.
Dan Wigton, Joe’s longtime financial advisor, explained how he helped Joe see the value of creating a forever legacy by creating a fund at the Marion Community Foundation.
“It was important to Joe to know his lifelong efforts in saving money will forever benefit the Marion organizations closest to his heart,” Wigton said. “Utilizing the Foundation ensures professional management of the donor’s funds and the awarding of perpetual annual charitable grants – and that’s exactly what Joe wanted.”
The Joe Slanser Fund joins the more than 275 charitable funds at Marion Community Foundation which benefit the Marion area. Additional information is available online at marioncommunityfoundation.org or by calling 740-387-9704.