Dr. Hubert Park

L-R distinguished alumnus Dr. Hubert Park leaves the College $140,000

Dr. Hubert Park, a 1931 graduate of Lenoir-Rhyne College, loved to teach and counsel college students. After his death at age 94, he left his alma mater $140,000, which will be added to the Hubert V. and Mary Herman Park Scholarship Endowment.

Park taught mathematics at N.C. State University for 57 years, the last 10 years as a part-time volunteer. He received Outstanding Teacher Awards in 1966 and 1969, and was cited in the top 5 percent of the faculty as those “who contributed most to my education while at NCSU” in 1969, 1974 and 1976.

In 1986, he received NCSU’s Watauga Medal, the university’s highest nonacademic honor. At that event, Chancellor Bruce R. Poulton praised Park as “professor extraordinaire, a teacher whose dedication to students, mathematics education and the university for more than 50 years has given new meaning to the definition of outstanding teacher.”

“Dr. Park’s estate gift is typical of how he dedicated his life to supporting education”, said Dr. Wayne Powell, president of Lenoir-Rhyne.  “The Park endowment will provide in perpetuity opportunities for students to grow and develop intellectually.”

In 1987, Park received the Lenoir-Rhyne College Distinguished Alumnus Award. The program for that event included the following statement: “He is the sort of man who epitomizes what Lenoir-Rhyne strives to produce in a graduate. Firmly committed to helping others through his vocation, he is also a fine churchman, community citizen, and husband, father and grandfather.” In 1997, he and his wife, Mary Alice Herman Park, established an endowment at L-R to support scholarships for students majoring in sacred music or mathematics. Hubert Park died on Dec. 28, 2006. His wife of 63 years preceded him in death. He had been an active member of Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church of Raleigh since 1934.

After graduating from Lenoir-Rhyne, he earned a master’s degree and doctorate in mathematics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In addition to teaching at NCSU, he also served in several administrative posts with the Mathematics Department and was president of the NCSU Scientific Society of Sigma Xi. He was also a member of Phi Kappa Phi and was listed in Who’s Who in American Education.

Hubert Park served on the L-R Board of Trustees from 1965 to 1968, and was a member of the college’s Institutional Advancement Council Church Task Force. He and his wife were members of the college’s Founders, President’s and Heritage societies.

It was his love of teaching and helping students that distinguished his life. In 1984, the N.C. State University magazine published a feature article about him. In that interview, he said, “For years, I have tried to learn to know my students as well as possible. The first day or so of class, I get a copy of their schedules, and as soon as possible, I give them slips setting up interviews. I interview all my students, getting to know their backgrounds, families or anything they want to tell me. After that initial interview, I leave my door open. They can stick their heads in the door or come in and sit down for a talk. This, I think, makes for a good teacher-student relationship.”

He described his interest in his students and unselfish giving of himself as his “calling.” He said at the time, “I feel my greatest contribution in life has been the influence that I’ve had on the lives of students. I hope in many students that this influence has contributed permanently to a better attitude toward life.”

Memorial gifts may be made to the Hubert V. and Mary Herman Park Scholarship Endowment at Lenoir-Rhyne College. For more information about contributing to an existing endowment, contact Vickie Eckard at 828-328-7446 or eckardv@lrc.edu. For information about establishing an endowment, contact Rich Duncan at 828-328-7339 or duncanr@lrc.edu.

© 2007 Lenoir-Rhyne College