June 4, 1998Endowment
Through a bequest to the KU Endowment Association, Dane G. and Polly Roth Bales have arranged to give $2 million to maintain the Dane and Polly Bales Organ Recital Hall. The remaining $200,000 of the Baleses' bequest will be divided equally between colorectal cancer research and breast cancer research at the KU School of Medicine.
Before the recital hall opened in 1996, the Baleses, along with the Dane G. Hansen Foundation, gave more than $1.3 million for the recital hall and its 35-foot-tall pipe organ.
"We are profoundly grateful to Dane and Polly for their continuing generosity," Hemenway said. "Their vision will guarantee that this unique recital hall will continue to be used to train KU organists and delight concert goers for generations to come. Their thoughtfullness will provide needed support for life-saving research in colorectal and breast cancer."
Born in Whitewater, Polly Bales studied organ at KU in 1940. After she married Dane Bales in 1941, she settled in Logan and became active in the community and in politics. A Republican Party precinct committeewoman for 40 years, Polly Bales served as Phillips County Central Committee Officer for more than 30 years.
She is president of the Dane G. Hansen Memorial Museum Association, past president of the Business and Professional Women and a patron member of Kansas Press Women. She also is a former board member of the Kansas State Historical Society, Wesley Foundation, Huck Boyd Memorial Foundation and Travel Industry Association of Kansas.
Bales is an officer of PEO and past officer of the Library Board, Knife & Fork Club, the local American Red Cross chapter and Native Daughters of Kansas. She is a charter board member of KOOD Smoky Hills Public Broadcasting Service TV station in Bunker Hill and has been a member of Hospital Guild, Community Concerts and the President's Advisory Committee of Bethany College in Lindsborg.
Polly Bales is listed in Outstanding Civic Leaders of America. She was twice chosen Woman of the Year by Logan's Business and Professional Women. In spite of her full schedule of civic and other activities, Polly Bales still finds time to play the organ. She has been the organist at her church for the past 46 years.
A Logan native, Dane Bales graduated from KU in 1941 with a bachelor's degree in business. He went to work for his uncle, Dane Hansen, in road and bridge construction, then served in the Army Air Corps during World War II. When he returned from service, he joined Hansen's oil exploration business.
Today he manages the Dane G. Hansen Trust and is a trustee of the Dane G. Hansen Foundation, which provides scholarships for students at KU and other Kansas educational institutions. The foundation also has provided fine arts scholarships in memory of Kate Hansen, a sister of Dane Hansen. Kate Hansen graduated from KU in 1907 and in 1913 received a bachelor of fine arts degree in piano.
Dane Bales has been an active member and director of the Independent Petroleum Association of America and the Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Association. He was in the first class of inductees in the Kansas Oil and Gas Hall of Fame in Great Bend. Bales is also a flying enthusiast and flies a powered glider.
Through the years, Dane and Polly Bales have been involved in a number of KU organizations. Dane Bales has served on the board of advisers for the School of Business, and Polly Bales has served on the board of the KU Alumni Association.
She also is a trustee of the KU Endowment Association, was a charter member and continues as a member of the School of Fine Arts Advisory Board and was on the steering committees for the Lied Center and Campaign Kansas, KU Endowment's 1987-1992 major fund-raising drive. In 1984, Polly Bales received the Fred Ellsworth Medallion for unique and significant service to the university.
Dane and Polly Bales are members of the Chancellors Club, KU's major donor organization; the Williams Fund for athletics; the Elizabeth Watkins Society, which honors donors of planned gifts; and the KU Alumni Association; the Fine Arts Deans Club; the School of Business Deans Club. The Baleses have coordinated the Kansas Honors Program in Logan since its inception. They are also members of Jayhawks for Higher Education.
The gift will be administered by the KU Endowment Association, an independent, nonprofit organization serving as the official fund-raising and fund-management foundation for the university. Founded in 1891, the KU Endowment Association is the oldest foundation of its type at a public university in the United States and one of the largest.
Story by Lynn Humphrey, (785) 832-7400