Foundation Receives One of its Largest Gifts of all Time

Featured photo caption: Dan Icenogle and Debbie Kramer, the cousins of Randolph “Randy” Adkins, present Lake Land College with the second-largest cash gift in the history of the College’s Foundation. Pictured (from left to right): Lake Land College Foundation Board President Larry Blackerby, Executive Director for College Advancement Christi Donsbach, Lake Land College President Josh Bullock, Dan Icenogle and Debbie Kramer.

The Lake Land College Foundation recently received a gift of $1,275,000 from the estate of Randolph “Randy” L. Adkins. The gift marked the second largest cash gift and the fourth overall largest gift in the history of the Lake Land College Foundation.

Lake Land College alumnus and former Foundation Board Member Randolph “Randy” Adkins.

The donation will establish the Randy Adkins Endowed Scholarship to provide support every year to Lake Land College students who graduated from Mattoon High School.

Adkins’ cousins and co-executors of his estate, Dan Icenogle and Debbie Kramer, recently presented the estate check to Lake Land College President Josh Bullock, Lake Land College Foundation Board President Larry Blackerby and Executive Director of College Advancement Christi Donsbach.

“On behalf of the Lake Land College Foundation, I want to express my deepest gratitude to the family of Randy Adkins for this transformational gift,” Donsbach said. “This endowment is going to make a monumental difference in the lives of many students for years to come.”

A lifelong resident of Mattoon and alumnus of Lake Land College, Adkins served on the Lake Land College Alumni Board from 1994-2019 and was an active member of the Coles County community. He attended First United Methodist Church in Mattoon, served as a board member of Camp New Hope in Neoga and was a member of many local organizations, including the Jaycees and Corn Belt Shrine Clubs of Mattoon, the Coles County High 12 Club, the Coles County Low 12 Club, the Wabash Masonic Lodge 179 of Etna and the Valley of Danville Masonic Center in Danville. Adkins passed away in his hometown of Mattoon on December 1, 2024 at age 81.