HUDSON: School is out for the summer, but there was a long-belated graduation ceremony Saturday at the Laurel Lake Retirement Community center.
Augustus Francis “Gus” Stuhldreher, who turned 90 on Thursday, received an honorary bachelor’s degree in commerce from the University of Notre Dame, where he went to school for three years – more than a half-century ago.
His education was cut short by World War II.
The graduation ceremony, organized by Laurel Lake spiritual coordinator Mary Tatman, was attended by about 125 residents, dignitaries, clergy, Notre Dame graduates and members of Stuhldreher’s family.
And it came as a complete surprise to him.
“I’m just plain overwhelmed,” said Stuhldreher, who was dressed in cap and gown and surrounded by his admirers. “I certainly never would have expected anything like this.
“They asked me to come, but they were very secretive and did a wonderful job of keeping it under their hats. I had no idea they had this in mind. I am very pleased and appreciative.”
Stuhldreher, a first cousin of one of Notre Dame’s legendary Four Horsemen, running back Harry Stuhldreher, was led into the Laurel Lake auditorium in a procession with a banner carrier front and center.
The banner, in the classic school colors blue and gold, was emblazoned with the words: ND — Notre Dame Fightin’ Irish.
Akron attorney Robert Meeker, a 1966 Notre Dame graduate who played lineman for the Fighting Irish under Ara Parseghian, gave the commencement address.
Meeker told the gathering of the importance of the school’s Log Chapel, the intimate place of worship on campus, off the banks of Lake St. Mary.
It is the symbol, dating to the 1830s, of the school’s deep devotion to the Roman Catholic Church and Our Lady of Lourdes, Meeker said.
In a five-minute speech, Stuhldreher stood at the podium and touchingly described the day in 1943 when he proposed in the Log Chapel to the girl who would become his wife.
It was in his third year at Notre Dame, before his junior prom.
``The two of us went down to the chapel, we kneeled at the communion rail, I took her hand and put the ring on her finger,” Stuhldreher said with a slight, dramatic pause.
“She didn’t take it off, so I presumed we were going to be engaged!” he said as the gathering broke into laughter.
``Since that day, every day of my life,” he said, “I have been thanking God for that wonderful lady.”
They were married for 62 years and had four sons and a daughter.
Eleanor M. Stuhldreher, an Akron native, died July 25, 2006, at the age of 82.
Gus Stuhldreher, a Barberton native and a man of many accomplishments, attended Notre Dame during the three academic years between 1939 and 1942.
He served in the Army from April 1943 through June 1946, rising to the rank of colonel.
As a reserve officer, he graduated in 1957 from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, a graduate school for U.S. armed forces and foreign military leaders, at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
He said he reluctantly left Notre Dame, with all of his counselors except one giving him their blessing, when he was given the chance to attend Harvard Business School.
He went on to earn his M.B.A. from Harvard in 1947 and a Harvard law degree in 1949. He spent nearly 31 years working in Akron for Firestone before retiring in April 1980.
But Stuhldreher’s time at Notre Dame was embedded in his soul, his friends and family said.
One of his sons, Justin Stuhldreher, 59, came from his home in Houston for Saturday’s ceremony with his wife, his two daughters, his son and his daughter-in-law.
The son said he could tell his father was moved, particularly when he began telling the story of how he proposed to Eleanor.
“This day was unbelievably wonderful. It’s a dream fulfilled for him,” Justin Stuhldreher said.
“He always said that not getting his degree from Notre Dame was one of his life’s biggest regrets,” his son said. “To see this fulfilled for him now is absolutely overwhelming for all of us.”
Ed Meyer can be reached at emeyer@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3784.
