The William F. and Catharine K. Owens Foundation, a charitable foundation originally established in 1962 to benefit Mathews County churches and nonprofit organizations, has been dissolved.

The board of directors met for one last time on June 22 to select its 2016 grant recipients. However, that will not be the end of the Owens legacy, foundation vice president Roz White said. Instead, $2.4 million of the foundation’s assets have been used to set up Mathews Community Foundation endowments that will continue to benefit local churches and nonprofits in perpetuity.

Another $600,000 in foundation assets will be used to offer one-time grants to 13 churches and nonprofits that need and prefer immediate support rather than more modest, long-range endowment support, said White.

“We’ve come to a good understanding about this,” she said, “and I’m proud of it.”

While the Owens Foundation has been generous to local churches and nonprofits for many years...