Ray Truedson: Lombard College Alumnus

Above, Ray Truedson at a 2012 Knox College alumni event in Chicago

Ray Truedson, the last living alumnus of record of Lombard College in Galesburg, died Monday, Nov. 10, in Chicago at the age of 104.

Born in Galesburg on February 15, 1910, Truedson attended Lombard for three terms, leaving college to support his family after his father passed away. During World War II he served as a cryptographer for the U.S. military in the Pacific. Following the war, Truedson worked at American Express in its travel department in the Chicago area until he retired in 1975.

"The passing of Ray Truedson represents the closing of an important chapter in the shared histories of Knox and Lombard colleges," Amott said. Founded in 1851, Lombard closed in 1930 as result of financial difficulties during the Great Depression. After Lombard closed, Knox College adopted 7,500 Lombard alumni and their records.

"I was always happy to see Ray at Knox College alumni events, as in actuality, he was a Knox alumnus," said Knox College President Teresa Amott. "Ray had a keen hunger for knowledge and was always active," Amott said. Truedson made the news for his dedication to walking -- he participated in his first 5K race when he was 90 and continued walking on an indoor track past the age of 100.

Truedson and his wife Lela (Holmquist) were married for 61 years, until her death in 2013 at the age of 92.

Lombard College was one of the earliest colleges in the nation to admit women from its founding. After Lombard closed, its charter went to Meadville-Lombard Theological School in Chicago. A total of 83 Lombard students transferred to Knox. Three Lombard professors joined the Knox faculty, and five sororities and fraternities found homes at Knox, including the Alpha Xi Delta sorority which was founded at Lombard in 1893.

Perhaps the most widely known Lombard College alumnus is author, poet and Pulitzer Prize winner Carl Sandburg, who attended in the 1890s. Other notable Lombard alumni include E.H. Conger, congressman, diplomat, and ambassador to China at the time of the 1898 Boxer Rebellion; Sewall Wright, geneticist and one of the founders of population genetics; Theodore Wright, engineer and first director of the Civil Aeronautics Administration; and Evar Swanson, professional athlete in both baseball and football.

In 1935, the bell from Lombard's Old Main was gifted to Knox. The bell, which Carl Sandburg wrote that he rang during his time at Lombard to earn tuition, was placed within a red brick tower on the south side of Knox's Alumni Hall. In 2014 the tower was removed to make room for the Plomin Terrace, now under construction, and the bell will be exhibited on the first floor of Alumni Hall.

Knox also has three cornerstones from buildings that once stood on the Lombard campus -- Tompkins Science Hall, the women's dormitory, and the Alpha Xi Delta sorority bungalow. Knox also continues to honor the accomplishments of Lombard alumni through the Knox-Lombard Athletic Hall of Fame. The Philip Green Wright - Lombard College Prize is named after one of Lombard's most distinguished professors, and is awarded every year to recognized outstanding teaching by members of the Knox faculty.