Mark and Laurie Churchill’s early exposure to public TV inspired decades of media support rooted in truth, education and community values.
Laurie Witters-Churchill vividly remembers her first experiences with public television – when her teacher pushed the TV cart into the classroom.
“I was in third grade in Grand Island and the newspaper came out and did a story and took pictures of us watching,” she recalled. “Educational television was a new thing.”
Laurie’s early connection to public media led to a lifetime of consuming news. She and her husband Mark Churchill both value information. They married 45 years ago, after their paths kept crossing. “We kept bumping into each other until it stuck,” said Mark.
His corporate job took them from Lincoln to Kansas City, Des Moines, Houston, California and then finally back to Lincoln where he started a new career in financial planning.
“We’d watch the network news, then PBS News Hour and of course we read the newspaper,” explained Mark. “Nebraska Public Media puts out an unbiased, truthful news product. I don’t have to worry if the information is vetted or if it is accurate.”
While they lived in Houston, Laurie earned her doctorate in educational administration from Texas A&M and worked for the Houston Independent School District. “It was very urban and very diverse. The experience helped me realize how important it is to support the public schools,” she said.
The couple also supports public libraries and has increased their gifts to public media in the past ten years. “We choose to support things that everyone needs – things that will help all people,” said Laurie.
Mark’s background in financial planning is valuable as the couple makes decisions about their charitable giving. They support several organizations through a donor advised fund at the Lincoln Community Foundation; a process Mark explains is simple.
The Churchills watch Backyard Farmer, Nebraska volleyball and NSAA high school sports. “We like programs that parents can watch with their kids,” said Laurie. After a long career working with special education students, she retired from Lincoln East High School in 2014.
“We need to support, to the best of our ability, what supports our values,” said Mark. “We are very concerned about the truth being lost, so that is why we support public media.”