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closeA local judge has approved a $100,000 donation to Mission San Miguel from billionaire heiress Phoebe Hearst Cooke.
Conservatorship attorneys had no objection to the gift because it was consistent with Cooke’s longstanding giving to the mission, said John Ronca, a San Luis Obispo attorney representing Cooke’s co-conservators -- her twin brother, George Hearst Jr. and his son, George Hearst III.
Cooke has given as much as $1.3 million to the mission over the past five years to help it keep running after the devastation of 2003 San Simeon Earthquake, said the Rev. Ray Tintle, pastor of the San Miguel parish. The earthquake caused large cracks in the church’s sanctuary, and its rebuilding continues today.
“We could not have reopened without her help,” he added.
Cooke said in an interview with The Tribune that she gave to the mission, even though she is not Catholic, because “we Hearsts have always supported the missions.”
The family’s support goes back to her great-grandmother Phoebe Epperson Hearst’s giving to the Mission San Miguel a steel cap for its roof, which helped the church from completely collapsing in the last earthquake, Tintle said.
The Hearsts, who are the largest private landowners in the county, have owned huge tracts of land in San Simeon and the North County near the Mission San Miguel since the late 1800s.
The gift, which was given in memory of Cooke’s late husband, Jack, needed the court’s approval after the 81-year-old granddaughter of William Randolph Hearst was placed under temporary conservatorship by the county public guardian last July.
Complete coverage Wednesday on SanLuisObispo.com and in The Tribune.
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