Three groups puzzled by woman’s $7 million bequest

Three groups sharing in nearly $7 million bequeathed to them by a retired Evansville teacher who died last year are grateful but wondering why she chose them as beneficiaries.

Margaret M. Weeks died in February 2013 at age 94. Her estate left $3 million to the American Cancer Society, $1.9 million to Hoosier Oncology Group in Indianapolis, and $1.5 million to Purdue University's College of Agriculture.

But officials with the organizations don't know of any direct connection Weeks had to their groups.

The director of advancement for Purdue's agricultural college, Eric Putman, says Weeks was not a Purdue graduate and the school doesn't believe her late husband was either.

Putnam told the Evansville Courier & Press that Weeks' "relationship to our college is really one that isn't clear."

Hoosier Oncology Group, located at 351 W. 10th St., is a cancer-research organization established to evaluate promising approaches to treatment.