Meet Our Donors - Dr. Theodore A. Stroud ‘32

For Dr. Theodore A. Stroud '32 of Des Moines, Iowa, the reason he decided to start two charitable gift annuities with Lyon College is simple.

In an interview prior to his death in July of 2005, Dr. Stroud said, "It's mainly out of gratitude. It's out of gratitude for the chance to improve myself and the opportunities it opened up that my education there gave me."

Stroud came to Lyon, then Arkansas College, in 1928. He was only 14 at the time. His family had moved closer to Batesville so that he could attend Lyon. "I was too young to go away" for college, he said.

His family also had a hard time being able to afford the tuition for college. To compensate for it, Stroud worked in groundskeeping for the school for the first three years while he was at the College.

While enrolled in college, the nation fell into the Great Depression. Lyon felt the financial straits of the day. Stroud said the College eventually had to let the school librarian go for financial reasons. Stroud, who was earning a double major in English and mathematics, was chosen to run the library during his senior year.

"I always had an interest in books. I imagine I had read a few more books than many of the other students at the time. I read constantly from the time I was 4 or 5 years old. The former librarian understood and would help me out every now and then, telling me how she catalogued things and such," Stroud said.

After graduation, Stroud spent a year teaching each at Swifton and Pleasant Plains, where he was also principal. The next year he taught in Fayetteville High School while working on a master's degree in English at the University of Arkansas. He would earn his doctorate at the University of Chicago and teach at several universities before settling at Drake University, where he retired in 1984.

"I've lived frugally and have been able to save money. Now I want to use it to show my gratitude to those schools that helped me along in life," Stroud said.