In September nearly 40 friends of the Tower gathered in the lawn of the historic Stover House on Mirror Pond pledged their support of the new Stover Society Fund. The fund, named after longtime Bend civic boosters Byron “Dutch” Ruth Stover, will underwrite the Tower’s growing effort to provide educational outreach family programming at the theatre in area schools.
Stover friends Harriet Langmas Joan Steelhammer reminisced about how the Stover home, now on the National Register of Historic Places, was regularly the site of parties recitals by local students traveling celebrities. Following a challenge from Steve Cynde Magidson to match their $2,500 contribution, the group stepped up raised $6,500.
“The Stovers were beloved influential leaders in Bend for decades, with an unsurpassed passion for young people, theatre the arts,” said Tower development director Pat Roden. Dutch managed the Capitol Theater, coached youth football represented Bend in the Oregon Legislature. Ruth was a charter member of the Allied Arts Study Group.
“The Tower Theatre Foundation is extending the Stover’s legacy by making educational outreach family programming a priority,” Roden added. “This new fund is specifically for donations to take performers into our schools bring students into the theatre.”
Projects the Stover Society Fund will support this season include school assemblies workshops with performers from Pushcart Players (Cuentos Del Arbol), ArtsPower (Are You My Mother?) Sign Stage (Stuart Little).
The public will be asked to contribute to the Stover Society during the Tower’s year-end fundraising campaign later this fall.