Chapter 5 - THE CAPACITY STORY
The word started appearing quietly.
Capacity.
Celia used it first with the foundation’s outside counsel.
“Mom gets overwhelmed.”
Grant told a board member:
“She’s not who she was.”
Both statements had some truth.
Evelyn tired easily.
Long meetings were harder.
She occasionally lost a word.
Her left hand was clumsy.
None of that proved incapacity.
Still, Celia began collecting incidents.
Evelyn forgot a lunch appointment.
Evelyn signed one document on the wrong line.
Evelyn repeated a question during a long board meeting.
Grant kept notes.
Not secretly at first.
He called them:
support observations.
Then:
decision-risk log.
Then:
capacity concerns.
The language grew more formal as the conclusion became more useful.
Why useful?
The Hart Mobility Foundation bylaws allowed temporary transfer of chair authority if the chair was medically unable to perform defined duties.
Celia wanted the chair.
Grant wanted procurement control.
Neither said:
We are taking Mom’s foundation.
May you like
They said:
We are protecting it.
