A Gift That Keeps on Giving: Walter and D’Anne McCoy

When D'Anne McCoy talks about her beloved late husband, Dr. Walter Clayton McCoy, you can feel the passion he had for practicing medicine and caring for patients.

"He was a wonderful doctor who loved what he did," says Mrs. McCoy, adding that his "wonderful sense of humor" was a hallmark of his bedside manner and that he not only remembered his patients fondly, but he continued to call them on their birthdays for many years after he retired.

A Birmingham native, Dr. McCoy practiced internal medicine for more than 40 years and served on the teaching staff at UAB for many years. After what Mrs. McCoy describes as his "partial retirement" at the age of 90, he continued to work two days a week as medical director of a Birmingham plasma clinic and also made regular visits to fellow members of St. Luke's Episcopal Church who were living in nursing homes. He passed away in 2013 at the age of 99.

With six children between them, traveling to visit family was a big part of their life together, Mrs. McCoy says, as was supporting the community through philanthropic giving. One way they chose to support UAB was through charitable gift annuities, which ensured an income stream to Mrs. McCoy for the rest of her life. The remainder of those annuities will benefit the multiple areas that Dr. and Mrs. McCoy held dear—UAB's Center for Palliative and Supportive Care, the Reynolds-Finley Library, and student scholarships in sociology and social work.

"I have recommended gift annuities to a number of my friends and told them what a wonderful thing it is to do," Mrs. McCoy says, noting that the gift annuities provide for both her own financial stability and for UAB's future. She has also established joint gift annuities with her daughter, Anne Hayden Maura, a UAB alumna.

For information on how a charitable gift annuity can provide income to you or a loved one now and ultimately support the UAB program that means the most to you, contact the UAB Office of Planned Giving today at (205) 996-7533 or plannedgiving@uab.edu.