Meet Al Stine, BA-English 63, JD-’66

Al Stine, BA-English 63, JD-’66, has lived a robust life. From St. Joseph, to Columbia, to Greece, to the Netherlands, and finally to the Rockies, Al has traveled and lives in many places. However, Mizzou has always been a part of his journey.

Al Stine came to the University of Missouri in the fall of 1960 from St. Joseph, Missouri as a graduate of Central High. At that time, the University of Missouri required all male students to do two years of military science course work. Al entered into his military life and the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) because of this.

“It was only two extra years of military science coursework to become an officer,” Al said.

Al decided to join the Air Force ROTC  after an upperclassman told Al the pitfalls of joining either the Navy or Army ROTC—you were forced to march with a cumbersome rifle.

“It was too (darn) heavy,” Al described with a chuckle.

The Air Force ROTC was the tip of the iceberg for Al for involvement at the University of Missouri. The 1963 Savitar—the University’s Yearbook—is littered with Al’s involvement. Al participated in the Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity, marched with the Scabbard and Blade military society, put on the Carousel nightclub event for the Missouri Students association, snapped photographs for the Savitar yearbook itself and competed in Quiz Bowl.

Al’s team even won the Quick Bowl in 1963, and Al recalled the winning question, which he answered.

“What staple food was derived of the cassava plant? TAPIOCA,” Allen recalled.

Al  said the most important life event that happened in Columbia was meeting his future wife, Carol.  Carol was a freshman Pi Beta Phi rush who lived in Jones Hall and Al was a first year law student at the University of Missouri School of Law.

They met via a “blind-ish” date—Carol did not know what Al looked like but Al had done some reconnaissance at Jones Hall.

“She was, of course, quite pretty,” Al noted.

They married while Al was in law school. In the summer of 1966, with the backdrop of the Vietnam War, Al commissioned as an officer in the Air Force. Following his service, Al applied for the JAG program—Judge Advocate Jury—to work in law in conjunction with the Air Force. Al gravitated to the security of the JAG program, but he had to convince Carol that living on global air force bases would be good for the partnership.

“I told (Carol) we would never be rich. But we would never be hungry.”

Carol obliged, and Al served the Air Force in the Netherlands, the Mediterranean, Montgomery, Alabama and San Antonio, Texas. In 1988, he landed at Lowry Air Force Base in Colorado and put down roots.

His connection to Mizzou deepened at that time. Al served on the Board of the Rocky Mountain Tiges 1988-1995. In that time, Al also performed various professional roles for the city of Aurora, Colorado after retiring form his Air Force post in 1990. Al prosecuted with the Municipal Court of Aurora. In 1992, the city council elected Al to a municipal judge position

Service was a prominent theme throughout, however, as Al joined the Legal Aide Society of Metro Denver in 1994. The group provided free legal services to lower incomes members of the Denver community. This group today is known as Colorado Legal Services.

Al’s wife Carol ensured that the service remain central—it was important to her. It was at Carol’s beckoning that he served on the Rocky Mountain Tigers Board in 1988. Carl worked with the Denver Post in their classifieds/fashion section in her early years in Colorado. After retiring, Carol donated her time for various literacy groups in east Denver and Aurora.

It is no coincidence, then, that much of Al and Carol’s contribution to Mizzou Alumni Association is through scholarship. They were active donors in Founder’s Day Fundraising Drives and Rocky Mountain Tigers Charity auctions. Al’s Aurora home is a testament to that—decorated with Missouri memorabilia. “We bought a lot of stuff we didn’t necessarily need at the silent auctions over the years,” Al said with a laugh.

The decision to give is personal for Al. He worked a job every semester at Mizzou until his final one when he received a surprise, last-moment scholarship. “It made a huge difference in the quality of my education. That little bit of extra (donation) gave me a whole new experience.”

To become a donor like Al and help Colorado students achieve their dream of attending Mizzou, visit HERE:

Meet Nancy Tipton, BJ ’44

To say Nancy Tipton, BJ ’44, bleeds Black & Gold would be an understatement. She is part of a Mizzou Made family including her late husband Jack, BJ ‘47, her father and mother (with three degrees), her stepfather, her brother and many other relatives, including her great uncle, Walter Williams, the founder of the Missouri School of Journalism.

Both Nancy and her late husband Jack have served as ambassadors and great representatives of the University of Missouri here in Colorado. Jack applied his J-school Missouri Method training while serving as the station manager for the CBS affiliate KLZ-TV, now known as KMGH-TV Channel 7, for 28 years. Nancy also applied her journalism degree skills throughout her professional life with the U.S. Army and Denver Post, and her many years of community service.

Immediately after graduating from the University of Missouri in 1944, Nancy moved to Washington D.C. to serve in the U.S. Army in World War II as a cryptographer, though her initial desire was to work for the Red Cross overseas. As a “code girl,” Nancy spent hours behind the scenes of wartime intelligence cracking secret codes that led to the United States’ victory. This work was classified as top secret by the Army; thus, all code breakers were sworn to secrecy. Nancy entered Arlington Hall every day for twelve days straight and spent hours attempting to “get a hit”. Upon matching the code, she would deliver the broken code to her captain and return to her post, continuing to work with what she called “puzzles” until she got another hit. Though she didn’t know it at the time, her first year was spent cracking Japanese code. Once the U.S. won the war, she spent her second year breaking codes – some in Spanish – to reveal the location of many Nazis who fled to South America after their defeat. The Army recruited thousands of women to serve as cryptanalysts, and Nancy’s success demonstrates how women led domestic efforts during the war. In fact, the program was so successful that Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of WWII commemorates Nancy and her cohorts’ leading efforts.

Nancy’s dedication to service was ever-present through her life’s pursuits. After she finished serving in the war, Nancy relocated to Denver, Colorado, where she first worked as a telephone solicitor at Montgomery Ward and was quickly discovered by the Denver Post, where she exercised her education from the Missouri School of Journalism. Though she enjoyed running the Denver Post’s shopping column – what would have been their advertising section back then – Nancy felt called to step away from work to focus on her family and continue her involvement with Meals on Wheels. For 28 years, Nancy delivered meals twice a week throughout the Denver metropolitan area. Though she stepped away from traditional work, Nancy continued to put her journalism degree to use. She supported a myriad of social causes, provided ad hoc PR services to local business owners and dedicated significant time toward consulting for adoption programs. As a mother of four adopted children herself, she felt compelled to share the beauty of the adoption journey with others.

Nancy is also a diehard Tiger football fan and attended games for over 80 years, starting at the age of 10! As a child, she was a member of the Knot Hole Gang, a group of young Tiger fans under 16 years old that sat with the student section. She remembers they wore blue cardboard identification cards tied to a string around their neck, and the ticket price was 10 cents. Even though she lives in Colorado, Nancy visited Faurot Field to cheer on the Tigers until just a few years ago. She was able to see Drew Lock play in the Black & Gold, and now enjoys watching him in a Broncos uniform.

Since graduating, Nancy has found many ways to give back to Mizzou. She recalls when she and her husband formed the first Mizzou alumni chapter in Colorado back in the early 1950s. Nancy’s close family friend Don Faurot—the Mizzou football legend for which Faurot Field is named—was the chapter’s first speaker. At the time, the chapter had 25 to 30 members. Today, nearly 6,000 Mizzou alumni live in Colorado and the Rocky Mountain Tigers chapter is the second largest out-of-state chapter and one of the most active chapters. When we established our Rocky Mountain Tigers scholarship endowment in 2015, Nancy was one of our first donors, and she has continued to donate regularly to help provide scholarships to Colorado students attending Mizzou. With her help, we have raised over $150,000.

To learn more about Nancy, check out these resources:
Code Girls by Liza Mundy
Library of Congress
The Denver Channel
Denver Post
Channel 9
Fox Denver
Smithsonian
Wikipedia

To become a donor like Nancy and help Colorado students achieve their dream of attending Mizzou, visit HERE: