Sentence:  Twenty-five thousand to each of the great-nieces in Oregon ( not much to blood relatives out of millions ) ten thousand to this friend and that , five thousand to another ; to Brian Thayer , the sum of ten thousand dollars ; to the Pecks , ten thousand each ; to Joan Sheldon the conditional bequest of ten thousand to be paid to her in the event that she <WSD>was</WSD> still in Mrs. Meeker 's employ at the time of the latter 's death . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)