Extend the Line: The Grisham Family Legacy

In 2020, Gary Grisham, A.B.C. ’20, sat in his suburban Asheville home reviewing his estate plans after a move from Houston to North Carolina, which sparked a compelling question rooted in one word: legacy.

“When we moved up here, I started reading about the probate laws, and I thought, you know, I need to get rid of the will in Texas and get a trust in North Carolina,” Gary said. “Then that made me stop and think, ‘well, okay, who am I going to give all this to?’” 

The question of “to whom” would lead Gary to reflect on an inspiring friendship with a Baylor alumnus.

“He was basically broke, and he didn’t know how he was going to buy lunch, much less the next year’s tuition,” he said. “He went to his student job one day in the business office. His car had just broken down, and everything that could go wrong went wrong. His supervisor asked, ‘what’s the matter?’ and finally coaxed out of him what he was going through. And the way that they supported him, it was just Christian generosity, Christian empathy. Everything that you would like to think that we all would do, they did it. They didn’t talk about it on a Sunday morning. They lived it.”

Among the faculty who helped his friend was future Baylor President Linda A. Livingstone, Ph.D.

“That’s the kind of woman who is leading at Baylor,” Gary said. “That was really the start for me. So, that led me to decide it would please me to no end if I thought I had a hand in helping a talented, smart kid that couldn’t afford Baylor, a kid like my buddy who is one of the smartest people I know.”

From that realization, Gary established the Gary and Barbara Grisham Endowed Scholarship Fund in Engineering and Computer Science — a scholarship which initially would be funded through his estate, but which Gary later decided to fully fund in 2025 so that students would begin receiving support from the scholarship as soon as possible. This would be the legacy.

“It is not just one scholarship,” Gary said. “It is not just one student who will benefit. It will continue, one after the next after the next. What happens when a student who had my scholarship goes on to discover how to power cities without electricity, or solves the fusion power equation or does something spectacular? I have enough faith that even if I’m not around, I will still know. Baylor is the best place I can think of to have a scholarship like this —  to find a Christian university that has a very high academic standard. It all came together in this special way.”

Gary speaks of Baylor as a discovery. After receiving his chemical engineering degree from Tulane University, he went on to attain his M.B.A. in finance at the University of Houston.

He became acquainted initially with Baylor through his now-wife after they met in the singles department at Second Baptist Church in Houston. Barbara Brown Grisham, B.A. ’73, came from a proud Baylor family. Not long after she and Gary began dating, she joked that he was quickly “indoctrinated” into attending Baylor football games and Homecoming — an initiation into the spirited traditions she cherished.

He vividly remembers attending football games with Barbara’s parents, Wayne, A.B.C. ’95, and Dell Brown, B.A. ’50, and becoming acquainted with John, A.B.C. ’96, and Eula Mae Baugh, A.B.C. ’95, through Second Baptist. Through these Baylor families, Gary learned not only about the traditions Baylor Bears cherish, but also of the tradition of giving back to support Baylor’s Christian mission.

The initial idea of leaving a lasting legacy through scholarships came from Barbara, who graduated from Baylor with a degree in education and later changed careers as a wedding coordinator at two different churches in Houston. Barbara entered Baylor in 1969 with hopes for a career in interior design, which at the time was not a degree offered at the University. It was a passion which she pursued later in life, and it inspired her conversations with Gary as they decided to leave their estates to Baylor.

Barbara’s estate will establish two scholarships in interior design and music, honoring her first love and celebrating her mother’s own Baylor legacy where she sang in the Baylor Religious Hour Choir under the leadership of legendary Choir Director Dick Baker, B.A. ’50. She hopes the support will inspire a line of Baylor students to pursue their dreams.

“I hope that they can follow their passions — or their dreams,” Barbara said of their scholarship recipients. “It’s about making a difference in someone’s life, even if we may never see the full impact. We will have left something behind to help someone else. We never could have fathomed that we could do this — God has been good.”

It is this mix of gratitude and a genuine desire to meet students’ needs that comes through as Gary and Barbara speak of their scholarships. It is this care that transforms their giving from a financial decision to a lasting legacy. Gary speaks of the future engineers he hopes will make the world a better place. Barbara speaks of students who are not encumbered as they pursue their dreams. They see these gifts for what they are: a way to help generations of students, one scholarship at a time, as they follow their callings. 

Their hopes are best summed up in the paperwork that documents Barbara’s endowed scholarship, the Barbara and Gary Grisham Endowed Scholarship Fund in Music, where she included a short message to the scholarship recipient:

“As you continue your studies, I pray this support affirms your path and reminds you that you are not alone — your efforts matter, and they are being lifted up in prayer. May your music be a ministry, your education a tool for service, and your life a reflection of the values we hold dear.”

Theirs is a legacy of generosity, of faith and of enduring support for the generations of students who will follow in That Good Old Baylor Line.