The Dr. William Locke & Family Endowed Arboretum & Landscaping Fund

    Ensure Hastings College’s campus remains stunning and well-maintained - a place where learning and community come to life!

    Your gift to this this new endowed fund will generate annual income to help with purchasing:
    • trees and plants to enhance the arboretum and landscaping; 
    • tools and equipment available to students, College staff, and volunteers for upkeep of the arboretum and landscaping; and
    • features in the arboretum including artwork, signs, benches, and water features. 
    The goal is to raise $75,000 by May 31, 2025, including the installation of an entrance to the rain garden. The entrance will symbolize 1961 Hastings College graduate Dr. William Locke’s ongoing legacy of fostering collaboration among Hastings College students, faculty, and staff through outdoor stewardship.

    Celebrate our beautiful campus and Will’s work by contributing to this fund! 

    For more information, contact Alicia O’Donnell '96, Director of Engagement, Campaigns, at aodonnell@hastings.edu or 402.705.7020.

    Our goal for the day is to grow the The Dr. William Locke & Family Endowed Arboretum & Landscaping Fund by $75,000!

    $55,254.65 raised

    73.7%
    of our $75,000 goal.

    Donor Listing

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    About Will Locke and Family

    Dr. Locke, known throughout the community affectionately as Will, and his family have deep, abiding ties to the College. Will, working closely with Hastings College’s Facilities Manager Paul Dooley, has invested more than a decade tending to the Hastings College Arboretum and landscaping so they provide educational opportunities and enjoyment by the campus and Hastings communities. Always focused on teaching, Will continues to work with faculty, staff, and students to help them learn more about the outdoor world.

    A valued educator, alumnus and lifelong friend of the College, Will has never ceased to be a familiar face on campus and an ardent representative beyond its physical borders. He can be found, on most days and in any weather, thoughtfully inspecting some of the campus’ longest-lived residents – the more than 1,000 trees of the Hastings College Arboretum. 

    Will started his career at Hastings Junior High School teaching language arts and history. By the 1970s, he and several colleagues had begun incorporating outdoor education into their curricula. Will’s leadership in this area helped him earn the 1981 Nebraska Teacher of the Year Award.

    Starting first as an adjunct instructor in 1984 and then serving as a full-time professor of teacher education from 1991-2006, Will enriched the minds of Hastings College students. From 1987-2009, Will led more than 1,000 students and educators on Hastings College historic trails classes. They camped, studied and “survived” along the Oregon Trail, Santa Fe Trail, Lewis and Clark Trail, Rocky Mountain Trails and, finally, Rio Grande Trails in 2009.

    Under Will’s care, the Hastings College Arboretum has received the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum’s Affiliate Excellence Award, and the campus has earned the Arbor Day Foundation’s Tree Campus USA designation for nine years.  In addition to his retirement work on the College’s arboretum and landscaping, Will is a passionate environmental steward and volunteer for Hastings’ Highland Park Arboretum and the Crane Trust Nature and Visitor Center. He is a certified Nebraska Master Gardener. 

    Commended for more than half a century of service to the Hastings community, Will received the Bill Sole Community Service Award in 2007 and the Service to Mankind Award in 2011. He was named a Hastings College Outstanding Alumnus in 2009 and inducted into the College’s Pro Rege Society in 2012.

    Will is the son of the late Reverend Dr. Kenneth and Alice Locke. A Presbyterian minister, The Rev. Dr. Locke attended the annual pastor school at Hastings College for years and contributed to the fundraising campaign for the Fuhr Hall of Music. After his death, Alice established the Reverend Kenneth and Alice Locke Family Scholarship, awarded to Hastings College students who plan to attend seminary following graduation. 

    Will graduated from Hastings College in 1961. He met his spouse, Virginia “Ginny” (Braum) Locke ’63, a dedicated volunteer, educator and respected early education specialist, as students at Hastings College. 

    Married for more than 60 years, Will and Ginny have three children: Laura Locke; Kenneth Locke and his wife, Angie; Sarah Fruehling and her husband, Christian; and four grandchildren. Sarah (Locke) and Christian Fruehling both graduated from Hastings College in 1993.