2007 Family of the Year Award
The Hubbard Family
The Hubbard’s have had great success combining an active family life
with their children and grandchildren with meaningful academic work and
community service, aimed at helping others. Their contributions to
Monmouth College over four decades have been unique and on-going.
Marilyn graduated magna cum laude in the class of 1964. She
majored in Spanish, with minors in French and Education. Active in
various phases of campus life, including the choir and Drama Club, she
was President of her sorority, Alpha Xi Delta. In recognition of
her outstanding scholarship and leadership qualities, the faculty
selected her as a member of Tau Pi Mortar Board. Marilyn graduated
a semester early so she and Bill could marry. Officiating their
ceremony at the Presbyterian Church was the Reverend Stafford Weeks, the
college Chaplain and the Hubbard’s Religion Professor. In 1966,
Marilyn earned a Master’s Degree at Southern Illinois University.
Bill, a 1962 graduate, is a Monmouth native. Both his mother,
Mary Jane Hubbard, and his father, Harold Hubbard, were 1932 graduates.
They continued to be active both at the college and in the Monmouth
community throughout their life. In the spring of 1961, Bill was
selected by the faculty to participate in the honors program in
government, the Washington Semester, at American University in
Washington, D.C.
The Hubbard’s have made two major contributions to Monmouth College:
First, they gave Bill’s family home to the college. Hubbard House,
which used to stand at 733 East Broadway, served students for many
years. During the twentieth century it gave more than 75 young men
a home away from home. Then, following the death of the last family
occupant in 1988, it became the home of Monmouth College’s Center for
Cultural Diversity. The home was razed in 2002. The second
major contribution was an endowed fund that enables Monmouth students to
study abroad and share their knowledge with others, in the same spirit
that characterizes the Hubbard’s work and travels.
Marilyn and Bill Hubbard exemplify the spirit of Monmouth graduates.
In a busy retirement, they continue to turn their intelligence and
goodwill towards others, working on various projects in their community
of Asheville, North Carolina. They are familiar figures at
reunions and other college events – always
communicative, active, asking questions –
just as they did when they were students. Humble and self-effacing
individuals, they are not seeking this award or any other, but are very
deserving of this special recognition.
