KU to honor Washington alumni for outstanding volunteer service

The Kansas Alumni Association will honor Larry D. and Nancy Tade Stoppel, KU alumni and Washington, Kan., residents, for their longtime volunteer service on behalf of their alma mater.

Kevin J. Corbett, president of the Alumni Association, will present the Stoppels the Mildred Clodfelter Alumni Award in recognition of their support of the Kansas Honors Program during a 6:30 p.m. dinner and awards program March 8 at Annunciation Cigna Center, 402 N. Maple St. in Frankfort. The Kansas Honors Program, sponsored by the Alumni Association and the KU Endowment Association, since 1971 has recognized the top 10 percent of high school seniors in each Kansas county.

Thirty-four seniors from Marshall and Washington counties and their parents will join in honoring the Stoppels. Larry Stoppel, an optometrist with Reeves & Stoppel, earned his KU bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1973, the same year Nancy completed her KU education degree. She also works full time at the optometry clinic.

Both Alumni Association life members, the Stoppels coordinated the Washington County KHP from 1983 to 2004. Nancy also served on the board for statewide outreach for the Lied Center of Kansas, the performing arts center on the University of Kansas campus in Lawrence.

The Mildred Clodfelter Alumni Award, created in 1986 by the Alumni Association, honors volunteers who serve as KU ambassadors in their home communities. The award is named for Clodfelter, who received a bachelor's degree in 1941 from KU and worked at KU for 47 years, 42 of them at the Alumni Association. Clodfelter, known to countless Jayhawks nationwide, retired in 1986 and currently lives in Lawrence.