As part of the Homecoming festivities held on the Truman State University campus each fall, the grand marshal has the special honor of leading the parade as it travels from downtown Kirksville through the campus.
Dr. Jack Magruder (’57)
Dr. Jack Magruder began his career at Truman, then Northeast Missouri State Teachers College, in 1964 as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry. He served 22 years on the faculty before becoming head of the Division of Science in 1986. Magruder was named acting Dean of Instruction in 1989 and was later appointed Vice President for Academic Affairs. On July 1, 1994, Magruder was named the 13th president of Truman State University. He was honored in 1999 by having Truman’s Science Hall building renamed Magruder Hall, and retired President Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of Chemistry on June 30, 2003.
Dr. Magruder served as a member of the Board of Trustees for A. T. Still University and chair of the Board of Trustees Education/Research Committee before being named president of A. T. Still University in 2008. He was granted the title of President Emeritus upon his retirement from that position in 2012.
Magruder was born in rural Lentner, Missouri, located in Shelby County before he and his family moved to Kirksville in 1943. He attended Northeast Missouri State Teachers College, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and mathematics in 1957. While earning his degree, he taught a math class in Hurdland, Missouri, and chemistry and physics at Kirksville High School. He received a master’s degree in chemistry and science education from the University of Northern Iowa and his doctorate in chemistry and science education from the University of Northern Colorado. He completed additional graduate work at Louisiana State University. Magruder was a 1992 graduate of Harvard University’s Institute of Educational Management. He was honored in 1999 by the University of Northern Colorado as the recipient of the Administration Achievement Award, and he was granted an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2002. Magruder was honored in 2003 with the Hall of Fame Award from the Kirksville Area Chamber of Commerce.
Dr. Magruder was appointed and later served as vice chair of the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MOHELA). He served as a member of the Missouri Foundation for Health Community Advisory Committee. He was a member of the Missouri State Fair Commission and the Missouri State Fair Foundation Board and chair of the Blue Ribbon Panel for Accountability, Credibility, and Efficiency for the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission. During his time at Truman, he served as a member of the Board of Trustees for The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association, chair of the Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education Committee on Transfer and Articulation, President of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges, President of the Council on Public Higher Education for Missouri, and President of the Board of Directors of the Truman State University Foundation.
In 2009, Missouri Governor Jay W. Nixon inducted Magruder into the Missouri Academy of Squires. Magruder is also an honorary Phi Beta Kappa and a Harry S. Truman Library Institute member. He was an ex-officio member of the Highway 63 Transportation Corporation. He held memberships in the American Chemical Society, Beta Gamma Sigma, Phi Delta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, Sigma Delta Honor Society, and Science Teachers of Missouri. Magruder served on the Missouri Rural Biotech Commission, on the Board of Directors of the Missouri United Methodist Foundation, and is a member of the Kirksville First United Methodist Church, the Missouri Fox Trotting Horse Breed Association, and the Missouri Farm Bureau. In 2010, Dr. Magruder was honored with the American Osteopathic Association’s President’s Citation for exemplary service to the profession, and in 2011, Dr. Magruder was listed as one of Ingram’s “50 Missourians You Should Know.”
On June 4, 1954, Magruder met Sue Brimer while standing in the class registration line on campus. They married ten weeks later, a special union that lasted nearly 67 years until her passing in 2021. Mrs. Magruder graduated from the University in 1955 with a B.S.E. in Elementary Education and again in 1977 with an M.A. in Science. She was granted the title of First Lady Emerita from Truman State University in 2003. The Magruders have three children, all of whom are Truman graduates: Julie Magruder Lochbaum (’80), Kerry Magruder (’85), and Laura Magruder Mann (’92). They also have seven grandchildren, three great-grandchildren and one more on the way!
Dr. Magruder is delighted by the number of family members who have graduated from Truman, including his sisters, Marjorie Glass (’44) and Carolyn Baughman (’46), and brothers, Charles Magruder, Jr. (’53, ’59) and L.M. Magruder (’62). His nephew Charles Glass (’77), his wife Tina Glass (’77), and their daughter Jennifer (’06). Niece Charlotte Mayahi (’83), her husband Issa Mayahi (’75) and niece Jane Baughman (’79). Other family members include Beatrice Magruder (’34), Mary Alexander (’43, ’67), Dora Gilbert (’63), Baily Bleigh (’73), James McClintock (’74), Shirley Hall (’79), and D. Lyn Calhoun (’81).
In addition to his three children, Dr. Magruder is especially proud of his Daughter-in-law Candace Magruder (’86), His granddaughter, Anna Lochbaum Matheny (’16) and her husband Matthew Matheney (’17, ’19), his granddaughter in-law, Brianna Mann (’18, ’19), and his grandson, Jonathan Truman Mann, who is currently a senior studying Agricultural Science.
Previous Truman Homecoming Parade Grand Marshals:
2022: Dr. R. Keith Beeman (’79) & Lu Ann Beeman (’80)
2021:John Garlock (’90)
2019: Russ Sloan
2018: Ray “Ricky” Armstead (’84)
2017: Louis “Lou” Coco (’67, ’70)
2016: Clifton “Dickie” Ray (’69, ’76)
2015: Victor Childers (’55)
2014: Robert A. Dager & Jane Dager
2013: Darrel Gourley (’50)
2012: Edwin C. Carpenter & Nettie (Brown) Carpenter (’76)
2011: Ray Klinginsmith & Judie Klinginsmith
2010: Marietta (Jonas) Jayne (’41)
2009: Larry Moore (’67) & Ruth Ann (Winter) Moore (’68)
2008: Stan Bohon & Doris (Pickens) Bohon (’43)
2007: Dean Rosebery (’41) & Amy (Ayres) Rosebery (’43)
2006: Gerald “Shag” Grossnickle (’42) & Sarah Grossnickle
2005: Judge James Reinhard & Shari (Powell) Reinhard (’58)
2004: Richard “Dick” Erzen (’49) & Edith “Edie” (Ford) Erzen (’49)
2003: Delbert Maddox (’37)
2002: Harry Gallatin (’49) & Beverly (Hull) Gallatin (’49)
2001: Bob Holden & Lori Holden
2000: Dwain Horn (’50)
1999: Charles McClain
1998: Dick Franklin (’56)
1997: Larry Lunsford (’81, ’83)
1996: Steve Gaw (’78) & Fannie (Bowdish) Gaw (’84)
1995: B.D. “Bud” Hunter
1994: Mary Alice Bunney (’38)
1993: Frederick “Fritz” Lauer (’50)
1992: Ruth Warner Towne (’39)
1991: Larry Moore (’67)
1990: Marshal E. L. McNeely (’40)
1989: Martha Decker Blair (’40)