Annual gift in remembrance creates opportunities for children

Every year, Deborah Katz-Downie honors her sister's memory the same way.

She gives.

For more than three decades, Deborah and her husband, Stephen R. Downie, have made annual gifts to the Child Development Laboratory (CDL) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in memory of Deborah's younger sister, Lauren Beth Katz, who died in 1989 at the age of 27 after a long illness.

For many Jewish families, giving in memory of a loved one is an act of tzedakah — a way to ensure a person's values continue to shape the lives of others through generosity.

For Deborah, these annual gifts have become a way to carry Lauren's kindness and love of children forward.

"Lauren believed in people and took a genuine interest in others," Deborah said. "She connected through friendship and showed care in quiet, personal ways rather than grand gestures. Her instinct was to support and uplift those around her."

These values drew Deborah and Stephen to support the Child Development Laboratory, where relationships and social-emotional development are at the heart of the program's approach to early childhood education.

Stephen and Deborah arrived in Urbana in 1992 when Stephen joined the Plant Biology faculty at Illinois.

The two first met at a botanical conference in Ontario and reconnected when Stephen began a postdoctoral role at the University of Ottawa, where Deborah was finishing her master's degree.

Their lives have been intertwined ever since.

Stephen and Deborah are plant molecular systematists, studying how plants are related and how they have evolved over time. Together, they have spent decades advancing plant systematics while mentoring students and visiting scholars from around the world.

Along the way, they also built a family. In 1991, they welcomed their first child, Alana, who is honored to carry Lauren’s Hebrew name. Sons Daniel and Saul would follow.

All three children attended the CDL, an early childhood program in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies within the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences. The program provides children with a strong educational foundation while serving as a living classroom for university teaching and research.

"We valued the research component; being researchers ourselves, it was wonderful to see faculty and students working in that environment," Stephen said. "It was wonderful to be a part of that."

"We were looking around at places, and we were just so impressed," Deborah added. "We knew they were really focused on social-emotional development."

Deborah and Stephen fondly remember the lasting friendships their children made, and the teachers who guided, inspired, and championed them. The Downies credit the CDL with providing a "good home" for their children during their earliest years and giving them a strong foundation for elementary school and beyond.

Today, their scholarship helps more children and families benefit from that same experience while supporting the research and teaching that prepare future educators and strengthen early childhood development.  

For Deborah, it is also another way to honor the sister whose kindness continues to inspire her — and uplift others — nearly four decades later.

You can create your own legacy by making an annual gift. Visit go.aces.illinois.edu/give, select Recurring, then choose Yearly.