IRVING, Texas (May 3, 2023) — University of Dallas community members and friends of the Vilfordi family gathered on March 30 to celebrate the Gene and Shirley Vilfordi Scholarship Endowment to the University of Dallas. The gift will provide scholarships to one student from each undergraduate class every year on the basis of merit, need and leadership.
UD President Jonathan J. Sanford, Ph.D., highlighted two qualities he found essential to both Eugene, known affectionately in life as “Gene,” and the university: excellence and friendship. Drawing from C.S. Lewis’s understanding of friendship as an act of shared admiration, Sanford said the beautiful works that comprise UD’s Core Curriculum serve that same central role in the university community.
“Our professors just extend themselves into the lives of their students,” Sanford said. That friendship, the act of bonding over the greats, “is just essential.”
Attendees shared memories of Gene, who served UD as a trustee and philanthropist. His generosity left a mark on the campus: The main gates, as well as the plaza that connects UD to DART, bear the Vilfordi name.
“Eugene embodied the virtues of the very fabric of the University of Dallas,” said Monsignor Milam Joseph, former UD president.
Student Aubrey Wieberg, BA ’24, who was able to come to UD thanks to a different scholarship, showed her appreciation to Shirley with a story.
“I sat down at the kitchen table in high school, crunching numbers, thankful for the trustee scholarship that gave me the chance to choose UD,” Wieberg said.
“That choice changed me.”
As she tells it, the Arete high school program cinched Wieberg’s decision to come to UD, and she deposited her first payment to the university three years to the day before the scholarship ceremony last Thursday.
Wieberg is a Truman Scholar and the creator of The Big Event, a day of community service in Irving. Without the generosity of donors like the Vilfordis, Wieberg’s idea would never have materialized into the annual tradition that has helped so much of the Irving community.
Shirley said she wanted to keep up the generosity that defined Gene in life.
“My husband Gene had a big heart, and a large part of that heart belonged to the University of Dallas,” Shirley said.
“He had utmost respect for the faculty and enjoyed meeting and visiting with the students when he was on campus, but most of all, he treasured the goals and ideals set forth by this institution. I can’t help but think how pleased he would be if he could be here to present this scholarship endowment himself.”
Gene passed in 2016. He met Shirley at the early morning Mass at St. Rita Catholic Church in Dallas when she turned in the pew to give the sign of peace. They married in 1984.
“God puts us on this earth, at least in part, to prepare for those that come behind us,” Shirley said.
She shared a quote from Eugene as well from a speech he wrote to commemorate the 50th year of the Catholic Foundation: “We can hope that our gifts, well-placed, and the searching eye of grace, will make an indescribable difference in the community, the nation and the world.”
Shirley also said she felt inspired by Jeremiah 29:11: “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”
“Thank you so much for the opportunity to continue Gene’s legacy through this scholarship endowment,” Shirley said. “May God bless all those who receive it.”
