The Filmer Charitable Trust

Philip and Elizabeth Filmer met when they both worked for General Motors. Philip rose through the ranks to a management position at GM, where he worked until his retirement. When their son Philip was born in 1931, Elizabeth stayed home to raise him. Enjoying life and spending time entertaining friends at their home in Pleasant Ridge, the Filmers never expected the turn of events their lives would take. A flu epidemic struck Michigan in the early 1940s and their son died at the age of 13.

Philip G. Filmer, born July 21, 1894, died at age 85 on October 4, 1979.

Elizabeth continued to live in Pleasant Ridge, and then at St. Anne Mead senior care community in Southfield. Elizabeth W. (Kottendoff) Filmer, born March 4, 1904, died at age 101 on May 12, 2005. She remained very alert in her final years and enjoyed the birds that would flock outside her window. While happy, she never failed to mention the loss of her son to her visitors.

Upon Elizabeth’s death, she left her estate to the Filmer Trust and empowered the board to select worthy causes to support in Oakland County, Michigan. The Phillip and Elizabeth Filmer Memorial Scholarship, created through a grant from the Trust, aims to honor the memory of the Filmers by selecting worthy students to carry on their legacy.