Generosity runs deep in Cubbage family
May 05, 2025 — The class of 1975 is a couple weeks away from celebrating its 50th reunion. Over the months leading up to it, they’ve already been connecting with one another, sharing stories that will become part of a memory book the class puts together in recognition of this milestone.
As a member of the Reunion Class Committee, Al Cubbage ’75 has been spearheading this year’s memory book. But Al and his wife, Charlotte Strader Cubbage ’75, want to do more than look back. They are looking ahead to helping Grinnell students in the present and future by committing $100,000 to the existing Cubbage Family Scholarship through an IRA qualified charitable distribution.
“We felt like Grinnell offered us an amazingly rich, superb education,” Charlotte says. “I cannot imagine anything I’d rather support than Grinnell College.”
For their 50th reunion year, Al Cubbage ’75 and Charlotte Strader Cubbage ’75 have committed $100,000 to the existing Cubbage Family Scholarship.
For the Cubbages, education has been a driving force throughout their lives, as both had careers in the field. “I was a PR guy in higher education for 30 years,” Al says. When he retired in 2018, he was vice president of university relations at Northwestern University.
Charlotte, who fell in love with research as a Grinnell student, became a reference librarian and was head of learning services at Northwestern. She spent the last ten years of her career teaching other librarians how to teach research techniques and skills.
Charlotte and Al discovered Grinnell in quite different ways. Attending the New York High School of Performing Arts (with a graduating class of only 110 students), Charlotte first heard of Grinnell from a college fair recruiter. “Grinnell sold itself to me even without visiting campus,” she recalls. She loved the idea of no requirements outside of her major since that would mean she never had to take another math class. She also knew she’d be lost at a larger school
Al and Charlotte are pictured
during their senior year at
Grinnell.
Al grew up in Iowa and, as he puts it, “Ever since I can remember, Grinnell has been a part of my life.” His parents, Marion Bendixen Cubbage ’48 and Jerome Cubbage ’49 often traveled with their family from Des Moines to visit friends in Grinnell. “We loved going to the stables located where the athletic complex sits today,” Al recalls.
While he didn’t start college as a Grinnell student, Al transferred in his sophomore year, much to his parents’ delight. “I was able to do so because of a generous financial aid package,” he explains. “It’s our turn to give back.”
This generosity runs deep in the Cubbage family. “Despite my dad being a lawyer, my parents didn’t make much money,” Al explains. “But, when my mom died suddenly in 2003, my dad started a modest scholarship at Grinnell in her name and was insistent that it was strictly to help with need-based aid.”
When Jerome died, 11 years later at the age of 91, his children contributed enough money in his honor to permanently endow the scholarship, changing its name to the Cubbage Family Scholarship. It still is used for student financial aid.
“Supporting this scholarship has been a three-generation effort,” Al says, noting that both of their children, Gwen Cubbage ’06 and Geoffrey Cubbage ’08 have made contributions to the scholarship, as have Al’s siblings who did not attend Grinnell.
Clara Bode ’26, a third-year student from Kansas double majoring in English and biochemistry, was a Cubbage Family Scholarship recipient last school year.
“This scholarship was meaningful to me, because it afforded me so many more opportunities to explore what Grinnell has to offer,” Bode says. “I’ve tried to honor the memory of Marion Cubbage by being involved in a wide range of campus activities including swing dance, Pub Quiz, student research, and working on campus.”
Clara Bode ’26, right, is joined in a photo by Beatrice Crist ’25, left, and Alyssa Argent ’25 in front of Edinburgh Castle.
Marion Bendixen Cubbage’s connection to the College and community spanned several decades beyond her student years. Not only was she a parent and grandparent of Grinnellians, Marion also served as her class agent as well as on the Alumni Council for seven years, four of those as president. In 1988, she received an Alumni Award.
As a student, Marion lived with the family of Norman Goodbrod, a professor of music and piano teacher, when she took time off from Grinnell due to an illness. The Goodbrods remained good friends, and Marion would often bring her family to visit them.
Years later, Al started out in James Hall, which is where he met Charlotte. Al asked her where she was from. When she said, “Brooklyn,” he responded, “Oh, it’s nice to meet another Iowa person!”
“It was an interesting way to begin,” says Charlotte. “But our relationship was cemented when we both went to Grinnell-in-London.” They were part of the inaugural group of students. As many class of 1975 alums discuss in the memory book, being the first Grinnell-in-London students both challenged and forever shaped them.
London has been a favorite city of the Cubbages since they took part in the first Grinnell-in-London program in the fall of 1974.
“We were guinea pigs,” Al says, in reference to how participants had to find their own places to live when they showed up to London. “It was kind of a shock, but for me, it was also transformative.” Charlotte agrees, adding, “At the time we were there, of course, we had no internet to help us. Also, most of us didn’t speak to our parents for the whole five months, which is wild to think about today!”
Both Charlotte and Al got to know the faculty well, including one of the program organizers, professor Vic Verette. Coincidentally, Verette and his family lived in the former Goodbrod house in Grinnell where Al spent time during his childhood visits. And so the Cubbage family tradition continued with Al and Charlotte later visiting that home.
In the fall of 1982, the Cubbages went back to the United Kingdom as Grinnell-in-London administrative assistants, deepening their connection with the program. It remains one of the most memorable experiences of Al and Charlotte’s college years, so they were thrilled that their son, Geoffrey, ended up studying abroad in the same program. “Now, there are designated flats,” Charlotte says, pointing out the easier time students now have in securing accommodations.
Serendipitously, Bode also shares this connection with the Cubbages. “The year I was awarded the Cubbage Family Scholarship, it helped me participate in the Grinnell-in-London program,” she says. “That experience was hugely impactful to me.”
—by Melanie Drake ’92
For your information:
The Grinnell-in-London program celebrates its 50th anniversary this spring. A story in the Grinnell Magazine looks back at the last half century of the beloved program.
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