TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Washburn University officials say the plan to use a $1.1 million gift to endow a scholarship fund.

The university in Topeka recently received the gift from the estate of Mabel Asenath Clem Henderson, who died Sept. 22. It will endow the LaVern B. and Mabel A. Henderson Scholarship Fund.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports Henderson named Washburn University as a beneficiary because she believed in education.

Mabel Henderson graduated from the former Strickler’s Business College in Topeka and worked for the federal government for 35 years. Her husband, LaVern, graduated from Villanova University and worked in engineering and consulting. The couple moved to Topeka in 1991. Neither attended Washburn.

JuliAnn Mazachek, president of the Washburn University Foundation, says the couple asked that the donation be used to provide scholarships.