Beverly is completing her 12th year as class agent. In 1996, she offered to step in for a couple of years in preparation for the 50th reunion in 1998. After that, she says it was too much fun to quit, and she's been at it ever since. She also served on the Alumni Council from 1998-2002 and was the Alumni Award recipient from her class at her 55th reunion in 2003.

When Bev came to Grinnell in 1944, she was awarded a $1,000 music scholarship (tuition for four years!) after a piano audition her last year in high school. There were few men students during that first year, but in the spring of 1946, the campus was bustling with returning vets. When she married one of them, Grover Stubbee '49, just prior to her senior year, she was informed in a letter from the dean of women that her scholarship would be terminated, assuming that her husband would cover all of his wife's needs, including college tuition.

"Well," says Beverly, "this was perhaps my first experience in challenging authority (not the last), and I quickly wrote back, explaining the economic realities of postwar marriage, while gently demanding the reinstatement of my scholarship. It worked, and that precious $250 was applied to my bill. I like to think I hastened a critical Grinnell policy revision during those times of changing sexual roles."

Like many Grinnell women of that era, she found it necessary to be pragmatic about employment. While her husband finished his degree, she worked as a public welfare worker in the Poweshiek County Welfare Office. Beverly says, "That chance beginning actually moved me by default into a career which continued to evolve throughout my life."

After several years in the Poweshiek and Polk County offices, Bev took time off to have three children and also served as organist in a number of churches. Returning later to social work, she realized she could not advance without a graduate degree and moved her spouse and three kids to Iowa City so she could earn a M.S.W. degree. Her talents and capabilities grew into an illustrious career, bringing her to Washington, D.C., where she served in several capacities, culminating in 13 years as the director of program and policy in the Children's Bureau of the Federal Government. Beverly retired in 1990, but remains active as a consultant.

Her retirement years in Durham, N.C., have again added the joy and challenge of music. As a member of the Duke Institute for Learning in Retirement, Bev chaired a committee to organize the DILR New Horizons Band in 2002. The NHB now has around 50 members and several offshoot groups. "I feel like a mother, as well as a member of the band - it has enriched my life in many ways."

Retirement also brought closer connections to Grinnell. Bev says, "My Grinnell experience provided not only the necessary platform for learning, but [also] an understanding of self, a curiosity about the world, and a fierce desire to make it a better place." She has used her talents to fulfill that goal. She continues to give back to Grinnell as a volunteer because, she says, "I loved Grinnell, have enduring Grinnell friendships, and this gives me a chance to stay connected."

July 2009 Honoree: Michael Schaffer '70
May 2009 Honoree: Ron Lavender '50
March 2009 Honorees: Carl Adkins '59 and Catherine Foster Alter '60
January 2009 Honoree: Ruth Koehler Bergerson '66
November 2008 Honoree: David V. Evans '64
September 2008 Honoree: Samantha Massingale Gerth '91
July 2008 Honoree: Audrey "Bunny" Howard Swanson '43
May 2008 Honoree: Emily Westergaard '02
March 2008 Honoree: David Rosenbaum '78
January 2008 Honoree: Beverly Burd Stubbee '48