Magruder, Preston

Henry Preston Magruder was born on January 21, 1918, at Inola, Oklahoma, the son of Henry Campbell and Marteen Pyeatte Magruder. Preston attended local schools, graduating in 1935. He attended Northeastern State College in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, before transferring to the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville for the fall semester, 1937. An art major, he pledged Sigma Chi fraternity, graduating with a Bachelors of Arts in 1939. He spent the following two years teaching in Cane Hill and Decatur high schools in Arkansas. With the onset of the Second World War Magruder joined the United States Army Air Force. While in the states he served as a staff sergeant with the 324th Base Headquarters and Air Base Squadron at the Walnut Ridge Army Air Field in Lawrence County, Arkansas. By 1944 he had transferred to England, where he worked with depot units of the Eighth Army Air Force. He remained in England until November 1945, when he was discharged from the service. Returning to the United States, in 1946 he enrolled in theater courses at the University of Arkansas in preparation for graduate study. He also made a trip to Jacob's Pillow near Becket, Massachusetts, to learn dance from modern dance pioneer Ted Shawn. He later enrolled in the graduate theater program at State University of Iowa in Iowa City, graduating in 1948 with a Master of Arts degree in theater. In 1948-1949 he taught at Tarkio College in Tarkio, Missouri. Beginning with the fall semester 1949, Magruder worked at the University of Arkansas as an instructor of Drama. In 1952 he was promoted to assistant professor and technical director of the University Theater, and in 1956 he was promoted to associate professor. Afterwards he attended the University of Denver in Colorado, completing his Doctor of Education degree in 1958. Returning to the University of Arkansas, he was promoted to the rank of full professor in 1964, and served as chairman of the Department of Speech and Dramatic Arts in 1968-1969. Health problems forced him to resign his duties with the theater, and he turned to teaching and advising students full time. He remained at the university until his retirement in 1983. He died April 18, 1995.