Nov 16, 2014 6 min read

It didn’t start as a Stout-hearted donation.

“I wanted to sell,” Bill Stout said.

For 24 years, he conducted business out of the Brownlee House, a stately structure he owned that predated his company – itself a venerable venture – by a century.

But after selling Atlas Railroad Construction Co. in 2010, Stout did not have an immediate need for the historic building off Route 519 in North Strabane Township. It sat as he and his wife, Sandy, pondered options, including renovating it into a bed and breakfast and putting it on the market.

Enter Washington County Community Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes charitable giving and was itself a frequent beneficiary of the Stouts’ philanthropy. A group of WCCF representatives met with Stout and suggested he donate the Brownlee House to their organization.

“The idea grew on us,” he said. “About a year ago, we worked quietly to consummate a deal.”

One was struck in late December, making it a cheerful holiday season for the foundation. It was getting its first gift of real estate, a two-acre property and iconic building valued at $400,000, for its new home.

Talk about charitable giving.

Though the price tag seemed formidable, that was a typical gesture of the Stouts, who for years supported causes in the region in which they grew up and still live. Their largesse extended from health care to education to the well-being of animals, from community outreach to the arts.

For their continued stout support of the Washington County community, Bill and Sandy Stout are WCCF’s Philanthropists of the Year for 2014. The 16th annual winners will be honored Thursday at the philanthropy banquet, beginning with a 6 p.m. reception at the Hilton Garden Inn at Southpointe.

Three companies – Consol Energy Inc. (large), Observer Publishing Co. (medium) and Channel Craft Industries of Charleroi (small) – also will be celebrated with Charles C. Keller Excellence Awards for Corporate Philanthropy in their respective business categories.

This is the eighth time since the philanthropist award was instituted in 1999 that it is shared by two people and the seventh by a married couple. Betsie Trew, WCCF’s president and chief executive officer, said money, indeed, is not everything when it comes to selecting the awardee.

“It’s also giving time and talent,” she said. “With the Stouts, it’s the whole of their generosity, including volunteer service. Their philanthropic goals are pretty diverse.”

Those goals are as diverse as their county roots are deep.

The Stouts grew up in neighboring communities with similar working-class values, and similar emphases on education.

Bill’s parents, Bill and Mary, were public school teachers from Bentleyville. They had five sons, including former state Sen. J. Barry Stout, WCCF’s top philanthropist in 2010.

A coal miner’s daughter – literally – from Ellsworth, Saundra Kiski Stout became an educator and a staunch proponent of her profession.

The elder Bill Stout launched Atlas Railroad Construction in 1950, a smallish company that eventually boomed and now operates in Charleroi. Son Bill became president and owner in 1986, positions he maintained through his 2010 sale and subsequent retirement.

He flashed his philanthropic spirit through the company, donating construction work at the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum and on a road leading to the Mingo Creek Park observatory.

Sandy likewise is retired following a lengthy career. Her résumé features bachelor’s and master’s degrees from California University of Pennsylvania; a doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh; and being an elementary school teacher in Upper St. Clair, a reading specialist in Central Greene, director of elementary education in Highlands and assistant and acting superintendent in Keystone Oaks.

She also taught at Washington & Jefferson College and in Pitt’s graduate school, is former chair and current member of Pittsburgh Opera’s board of directors, and was a consultant to Carnegie Science Center.

The Stouts help fund two scholarships at W&J, where Bill is a trustee, and one at Cal U., and donate to Pitt’s School of Education.

“We established scholarships because we knew they mean so much to students,” said Sandy, whose master’s was fully funded by scholarship money.

“Education is the backbone of our society,” Bill said.

The couple also donate to humane society centers in Washington and Greene counties, and to a womens’ and mens’ shelter in Naples, Fla., where they have a residence. Locally, they own a home in McMurray and a farm in Nottingham Township.

In many ways, the Brownlee House is a home to them as well. Bill purchased it and the surrounding 26 acres from Charles Miller and his wife in 1986.

“They said it would be a great office, so I purchased it,” he said. “It was an enjoyable place to work.

The Brownlee House, three stories tall with 6,000 interior square feet, is a majestic edifice in the Eighty Four section of the township, on a hill overlooking Wylandville Elementary of the Canon-McMillan School District. Bill sold 24 of those acres to Ryan Homes, which is developing a housing development, Highcroft Preserve, behind the house.

That $400,000 value includes the house, two acres, mineral and gas rights, and an addition Miller erected at the back.

Samuel Brownlee, all of 21, built the house in 1848 for his family, who came from Scotland to farm. It is among the county’s oldest buildings and one of the few featuring Greek Revival architecture, with tall columns and floor-to-ceiling windows. The Brownlee House was included on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.

WCCF is now in charge of it, and a much-needed upgrade. Trew said the foundation, which is leasing space on South Main Street in Washington, intends to move into its new headquarters by year’s end. Renovations are ongoing toward that end, and will continue afterward in other parts of the house.

She said the first-floor meeting room where Bill Stout ran his firm will stay, and a Scotch-Irish museum will be installed nearby. Other offices and a training center are planned.

“We want to restore this,” Trew said. “There is enough work to keep us busy.”

Though he is no longer the housekeeper, Bill Stout is gratified by what is transpiring.

“It makes me feel good,” he said, “that this structure will go on.”