As a direct descendant of patriot Patrick Henry, Margaret Penick Nuttle P63 had a deep interest in honoring the memory of her American Revolution-era ancestor who is best known for his 1775 speech that ended with the phrase, “Give me liberty, or give me death.”
Nuttle also wanted to honor Henry’s other descendants, including her parents and her late son, Philip E. Nuttle Jr. ’63. She did so, before her death in 2009, through provisions for a Princeton scholarship and by creating an endowment for public programs and library projects.
Nuttle’s parents had supported efforts to keep Patrick Henry’s legacy alive. “She followed in their footsteps,” said her great niece Julia Penick Garry ’81, one of several family members who are Princeton alumni.
Through a Princeton charitable remainder unitrust, Nuttle established the Penick-Dabney Educational Fund, named for her parents’ families. This fund will provide scholarship assistance for future Princetonians.
Nuttle made an outright gift of nearly $1 million to establish the Barksdale-Dabney-Henry Memorial Fund for Teaching and Research on Patrick Henry and Early Americana in 2006. This endowment has already facilitated the work of scholars, who can access the correspondence of Henry and his fellow patriots George Washington and James Madison ’1771, among others, recently catalogued in the University Library’s Andre De Coppet ’15 Collection. Her fund also supported the acquisition of more material for the library’s Patrick Henry Collection, and will support an Oxford University scholar’s research this year.
Her brother’s devotion to his alma mater probably helped inspire Nuttle’s generosity to Princeton, Garry said. S. Barksdale Penick Jr. ’25 served as a University trustee, established a scholarship during A Campaign for Princeton, was a member of Princeton’s first Planned Giving Advisory Committee, and is remembered each Alumni Day when the S. Barksdale Penick Jr. ’25 Award for Excellence in Alumni Schools Committee Activities is presented.
“His love of the place helped her keep Princeton in mind,” Garry said of her grandfather and great aunt, “and her intense interest in early American history was grounded in deep family connections with a Founding Father.”
