Strong Fund will Provide Ongoing Support to Eight Benton County Organizations
The Benton County Foundation approved the creation of the Beth Strong Fund in October 2007.
The fund will assist eight local organizations, including the Wardens and Vestry of the Church of the Good Samaritan, Oregon State University (half to the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences and half to the Marine Sciences Center in Newport), Old Mill Center for Children and Families, Boys & Girls Club of Corvallis, Community Outreach, St. Mary’s Stone Soup project, Interfaith Caregivers, and Grace Center for Adult Day Care.
Beth wants to assist these organizations because she believes they are doing good work in the community.
“I’m in the rather enviable position that I have a fairly good income and I don’t spend very much,” she said. She has always made charitable donations, and this is a way to continue her support to the organizations she cares most about.
Beth was born 1915 in New Jersey to Hiram and Mary Frances Strong. She has one sister. The family moved to New York when Beth was in sixth grade and she finished her school years there.
In 1937, she earned a bachelor’s degree at the New York State College for Teachers. After graduating, she joined the Marine Corps and was stationed in El Centro and El Toro, Calif. She studied meteorology, and then worked in a bank and the NCO (Noncommissioned Officers) Club.
After three years serving her country in the Marine Corps, Beth worked at an insurance company for a while before getting a job at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif. She said she moved to Corvallis around 1960 when she accepted an administrative position in the Department of Oceanography (now the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences) at Oregon State University. She retired from OSU in 1977 with the title of assistant professor.
Beth was active in the American Association of University Women and served that organization as treasurer for a term. She has done some traveling over the years, including trips to South Africa, Tahiti, and Finland. She likes to crochet, read, and play bridge.
Beth moved from her home on 23rd Street in Corvallis to Stoneybrook Lodge in 1999. She was one of Stoneybrook’s first residents.