November 4, 2025 - The estate of the late Lindell and Jean Loveless, well-known Macoupin County pork producers, have made very generous equal gifts to The Partnership for Educational Excellence in CUSD7 and to the Carlinville CUSD1 education foundation.
The gift, the remainder of a family trust established to ensure high quality end-off-life care, was divided upon the passing of Jean Loveless and passed in equal halves to the education foundation in each of the public school districts: Gillespie CUSD7 and Carlinville CUSD 1.
“It was my parents’ desire to use these remaining funds to support and enhance career and technical education programs in our schools,” says Tim Loveless, local businessman and son of Lindell and Jean. Tim recounts the commitment of his parents, grandparents, and great grandparents to hard work and the acquisition of life skills.
“The spirit of this gift is to prepare students for life in general, and to prepare them to earn a living by learning a trade. My dad and my mom believed strongly in supporting the bottom half of the class,” he says. “The top of the class has plenty of advantages when it comes to scholarships, qualifications for jobs. The bottom half of the class needs financial education and skills. A person can learn and earn their way to success.”
Tim recounts his parents’ and grandparents’ many attempts - farming, cattle, turkeys, nursing homes, meat processing, swine production, and subdivisions - before they achieved success. “The point is that a high level of education is not necessary for success, but motivation and good skills are,” he concludes. “It is our hope as a family that this gift will help the school districts give a needed boost to students who aren’t sure they can ever succeed.”
John Fassero, Jr., president of The Partnership for Educational Excellence in CUSD7, responds, “This Loveless family gift is a perfect fit for the established goals and policies of The Partnership.”
“Since our founding in 1992, we have awarded nearly 600 scholarships that ignore GPA and class rank. We look only at goals and hard work,” Fassero says. “In fact, we have several named scholarships that are targeted to the trades: nearly 20 scholars have gone to trade school schools in the past four years alone.”
In addition, two-thirds of The Partnership’s giving is directed to curriculum enhancement in all three schools and in all specialties, including shop and FFA.