When Jon and Ruth Ann Wefald came to K-State in 1986, many said they had quite a bit of work cut out for them.

President Wefald faced the daunting tasks of expanding the university, drawing in more students and figuring out what to do about the poor football program. Likewise, Ruth Ann had her own projects to tackle. Arguably, her biggest and most successful accomplishment during her time at K-State was creating a museum to house the university's extensive art collection.

In the 1920s, John Helm, former K-State professor, began collecting art for the university. A sizable collection of paintings, sculptures, photographs and other works of art had been amassed over the years - including works by Salvador Dali, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso and Gordon Parks - but many people had no idea K-State even owned these works of art because practically no one saw them. Some pieces were hanging in administrative offices across campus, but the bulk of the collection, about 40 percent, was in storage at the Foundation Center.

"K-State has an art collection, but where do you go to see it?" Jon Wefald said in the 1993 Royal Purple. "It's literally being kept in the closet."

Many people over the years tried to build a museum, but none were successful. Ruth Ann Wefald soon signaled that she had decided not to take "no" for an answer.

"To not have it shown any place was a real disservice," she said in a February 1995 Collegian article.

At that time, K-State was the only Big 8 Conference school without an art museum. Ruth Ann Wefald had to campaign tirelessly for 10 years to make her dream a reality.

"She thought the arts were integral to students, as well as community life," said Lorne Render, director of the Beach Museum of Art. "So she started undertaking fundraising for the museum."

Many of the contributors to the fundraising campaign were K-State alumni. R.M. Seaton, the chairman of the art museum committee, gave $500,000 in memory of his wife, Mary. He would later have a gallery built in her name.

The biggest contributor to the funds was Ross Beach, who gave $2 million and had the museum named for his wife, Marianna Kistler Beach for their 50th wedding anniversary. Their contribution encouraged other families to come forward and donate for the future of art at K-State.

"Both Marianna and I are so happy to bring this added dimension to the students of K-State and the citizens of Kansas," Ross Beach said at the grand opening ceremony.

After 10 years of raising awareness, letter campaigns, fundraising and planning, the museum opened on October 13, 1996. For the first time, the art K-State had collected for almost 70 years could be viewed as it was meant to be.

"It was really through [Ruth Ann's] dedication and energy and vision that the museum has come into being," Render said.

Since opening day, the collection has expanded from about 1,500 pieces to more than 4,500. The Beach Museum regularly has workshops, educational programs, lectures and offers something for everyone from grade school to university students and adults.

"I think it provides an enrichment of life of students and gives an opportunity to see and study art from all over the world," Render said. "It broadens what they can take away from the university."

Though the museum long since has been completed, Render said Ruth Ann is still an active supporter of the Beach Museum.

"She still comes regularly to the museum and sits on our [museum advisory] board here," Render said. "When we had the building expansion in 2007, again she was the fundraising chair for that campaign. She [still is] a very internal part and is very involved with the museum."