A $100,000 gift to the Northwest Foundation will benefit students and parents at Northwest Missouri State’s Horace Mann Laboratory School. Northwest alumni Dr. Richard “Dick” Leet and Phyllis (Combs) Leet, of Gainesville, Ga., established The Leet Endowment and will fund a partial remodeling of Everett W. Brown Education Hall.

According to a news release, the improved space will be renamed the Phyllis and Richard Leet Center for Children and Families. The remodeling project will result in the early care and kindergarten programs moving to the first floor space where the Horace Mann library is located, and the library will move to the basement space currently occupied by the early care program. Additionally, the remodeled area will feature a brass sculpture, “Girl with Cat ‘n Cradle,” donated by the Leets. The Leet Endowment will remain open to receive additional contributions.

“The laboratory center and school is a vital part of Northwest as a place where teachers can come to learn about the teaching profession,” Dr. Leet said. “We realize its value in teaching teachers.”

The Leets began their lives together at Northwest, having met in a chemistry lab course. Dr. Leet, who grew up in Maryville, attended kindergarten at the laboratory school when it was housed in the Administration Building during the early 1930s and completed his chemistry degree at Northwest in 1948. Mrs. Leet, a Princeton native, completed her education degree at Northwest in 1949 and then worked to put Dr. Leet through graduate school at The Ohio State University. Dr. Leet went on to build a successful career at Amoco Corporation and retired in 1991 as vice chairman and director.

The Leets have been steadfast in their commitment to Northwest and began investing in the University’s mission in the 1980s when Mrs. Leet gave funds for a capital project at Horace Mann that provided adequate space for the kindergarten program. In 1988, the Phyllis Combs Leet Scholarship Fund was created for entering freshmen in the family and consumer sciences program. Dr. Leet, with Northwest chemistry alumni, also helped establish a scholarship named for his mentor, J. Gordon Strong.

Additionally, Dr. Leet was volunteer chairman of Northwest’s successful inaugural capital campaign during the early 2000s. Both Dr. and Mrs. Leet served on the board of the Northwest Foundation, and, in 2005, Mrs. Leet led the creation of the unique centennial sculpture located in the east plaza of the J.W. Jones Student Union.

This fall, the ECELC is operating at capacity, serving 43 families. Additionally, the center is a training ground for 160 students who work directly with the children and their parents on a variety of assignments.

The Horace Mann Laboratory School, which is located in the same facility, serves 111 students in kindergarten through sixth grades. During the 2010-11 academic year, the laboratory school served about 800 Northwest students from 12 different academic departments.