Relatives of a donor to the ISU Agricultural Foundation claim the organization sold a widow’s farm against her will.

Marie Powers left the farm she owned with her husband, Kiley Powers, to the ISU Agricultural Foundation in 1987. In her will, Marie Powers requested the farm “be operated as Kiley Powers Farm” and wrote she was giving it to the foundation “for the purpose of improving and maintaining the farmland and buildings thereon.” Powers died in 1995.

In 1996, the foundation went to court in an effort to sell the land. The judge for the case said that after three years the foundation could sell the farm and use proceeds from the $1.2 million estate for a renovation project in Kildee Hall. The court also ordered the foundation to put a sign on the property to identify it as the Kiley Powers Farm, recite the history of the family farm and state its status as a gift from Marie Powers. The judge also ordered $100,000 of the money from the estate to go toward a scholarship for students studying agronomy and seed science, according to court records.

In March, the foundation board voted not to give $516,000 to the Kildee project, but instead use the money for “educational purposes,” according to a Des Moines Register article. However, the $651,000 which had already gone to the project will not be compensated.

Ramona Lee, niece of Kiley and Marie Powers, said Marie would not have wanted the foundation to sell the farm, as it was specifically spelled out in the will for them to maintain the buildings and the farm.

“They violated Marie’s trust,” she said. “We are unhappy with the way the situation has been handled.”

Lee said she owns land adjacent to the farm and was never contacted if she wanted to buy it.

“Everybody has kept it very, very quiet,” said Bill Lee, Ramona’s husband. “This has been in the works for years.”

Ramona Lee said her uncle was interested in agronomy, which would have had nothing to do with the Kildee Hall project.

“The farm wasn’t supposed to be sold in the first place,” Bill Lee said. “It’s a two-fold mistake.”

Bill Lee said the farm has a lot of significance to the family.

“This farm has a very strong family history for us; it was a Century Farm,” he said. “Making it a permanent memorial was very important to us. It’s just tragic what they’ve done to this thing.”

Ramona Lee said people should consider how their gifts may be handled before they donate to an organization because it may not be used according to their wishes.

“It’d be hard for us to understand how anybody donating to the foundation would have any assurance that their wishes would be honored,” Bill Lee said.

Richard Ross, dean of agriculture, said both the ISU Foundation and the Agricultural Foundation did not know about the will.

“She was expecting something that we absolutely could not do,” he said. “We did the best we could to fulfill her wishes and sought the opinion of the court,” he said.

Jim Christensen, president of the Agricultural Foundation, also said the organization did not know about Powers’ gift until after she had died.

“We just don’t operate farms,” he said. “It’s just not what we do.”

When the foundation received the gift, he said it asked the executor of the will about not operating the farm and then went to the judge.

“It was very simple and very straightforward,” he said. “If we had known about the gift prior [to Powers’ death], we probably would have discussed it with her.”

Tom Mitchell, president of the ISU Foundation, said he was not president when the situation occurred.

“I am not yet familiar with the details of the Powers estate because I was not president of the ISU Foundation at the time,” he said. “It is my understanding that the farm was received through the ISU Ag Foundation and that the College of Agriculture is looking into the details. I have every reason to believe that the college will handle this in a professional manner.”

Christensen said he thinks the foundation is very open about its activities and is trying to help Iowa farmers.

“We don’t go out and raise money,” he said. “We don’t solicit gifts. . We will continue to sponsor scholarships and other programs to continue to fulfill our mission.”