Stroup, Beatrice H., 1908-2006

Mrs. Beatrice Hood Stroup, born February 28, 1908 in Philadelphia, lived an eventful life. Associated with the Society of Friends (Quakers), she dedicated her life to benefit others. Around the mid 1930s, she attended Kings College, University College of London, receiving an M.A. in Literature. At unknown dates, she received a Master's degree in literature from University of Pennsylvania, and attended the University of Oslo, Norway to study AngloLatin and International Law. Between college and the outbreak of WWII, she married Donald Stroup who was in the U.S. Navy. Mrs. Stroup unofficially adopted a boy named Peter Hefmo. In her 50s, she earned a political science Masters from Case Western Reserve University. In 1943 at the outbreak of World War II, Mrs. Stroup entered the Army as a private in WAC (Women's Army Corps). When asked why she joined, she stated, "It isn't just my brother's country, or my husband's country, it's my country as well. And so the war wasn't just their war, it was my war, and I needed to serve in it" (quoted from Alliance for National Defense: A Positive Voice for Military Women homepage, accessed June 20, 2006). This quote is memorialized on the ceiling of the National Museum of Women in Military Service in Washington, D.C. She was promoted to captain after working intelligence in Japan, and in November 1946, she was one of the few women to be promoted to Major. She was active in the Eastern front in Japan, the Western front in Germany, and the home front in Washington, D.C. In 1970, Mrs. Stroup settled in Savannah, Georgia upon the death of her husband in Cleveland, Ohio. She moved several times while living in Savannah, initially living at E. Gordon Street House 19, then Whitaker Street (1997), 54 Timber Ridge Court (1999-2000), and finally Savannah Square Drive, apartment 54. For many years, she was heavily involved in the cultural life of the city and the state of Georgia as a whole. For instance, she bought and then helped preserve a 1799 house, transforming it into a tea parlor known as Laura's House. Additionally, she "served on the Boards of the Savannah Symphony, the Telfair Museum, was president of the Poetry Society and the English Speaking Union, and was a founder of the History Museum and the council on world affairs," and the Ogeechee Four Loving Brothers Society (quoted from Obituary in the Savannah Morning News, August 28, 2006). Mrs. Beatrice Hood Stroup died on August 24, 2006.