"Everything Philanthropy"

From an early age, Beth Thorne Stukes was immersed in the vibrant world of orange and blue, thanks to her mother, Barbara. But beyond the colors, Barbara passed down something even more enduring—a deep love for education and its power to transform lives.

 “Mother is a Human Sciences grad,” said Stukes. “She just had the most wonderful time of her life as a student at Auburn.”

 In a heartfelt tribute to their late mother, Stukes, alongside her sisters Barbara “Babs” Thorne Anderson ’88 and Rebecca “Becky” Thorne Carroll ’86, recently made a transformative gift to Auburn’s College of Human Sciences.  Their generous lead donation is going to help fund the construction of a new cutting-edge academic facility which will be known as the Barbara Drummond Thorne Academic and Research Facility.

Stukes says the state-of-the-art building will be a lasting symbol of their mother’s legacy and commitment to education.

“I like to say Human Sciences bakes the cake of life,” explained Stukes. “Mother brought so much of what she learned as a food and nutrition major into being a home economics teacher before her four children came. She planted all those seeds.”

Like her mother, Stukes was an educator herself. She spent 16 years teaching in rural Walker County, touching the lives of students every day and preparing them for a better quality of life. 

“I'm the oldest child in our family, which makes me a Bossy Flossy,” joked Stukes. “I'm a little nurturing, but we must make sure that our students are ready for this world today, that they can be nimble as they go through their life.”

Stukes’ joy of giving can also be traced back to her mother’s influence.

“I started going to Women's Philanthropy Board meetings with mom,” recalled Stukes. “I began to learn things that affect women and their lives and how to be a better steward of my time, talent, treasure and trust.”

That same spirit of intentionality continues to guide Stukes’ life. Her philanthropic support spans the breadth of Auburn’s mission, creating educational opportunities and resources for countless students.

“It’s very important for Auburn to create critical thinkers,” said Stukes. “We need to distribute that back to our state and our community so that all our children have a better head start. As a land grant university, that's our mission. That's why we're here. I'm very proud to say I don't think anybody's doing it better.”

Last year, Stukes’ steadfast commitment to education led her to be recognized as Alabama’s 2024 Outstanding Philanthropist of the Year by the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Alabama Chapter.

This year, Stukes is serving as the chair of The Auburn University Foundation.

“When Auburn comes knocking on your door, you say yes,” said Stukes. “The more I've been engaged, the more I've learned to love Auburn and come to know about the great efforts our different units are making for good change that will benefit our community, our state and globally.”

Stukes finds immense joy in witnessing students thrive. By following in her family’s footsteps, she strives to leave a meaningful legacy herself and inspires others to do the same—an effort her mother would undoubtedly be proud of.

Check out our "Everything Auburn" Podcast website here!

Transcript

0:06

Hey, everybody, War Eagle! Welcome back to the Everything Auburn podcast Dalton Odom here. And I just want to give a huge shout out to my co-host Carter Gustin held the fort down. Couldn't be here last time, but he handled it like a champ. Welcome back from injured reserve Dalton. I am glad. I think everybody involved, myself included, am glad that I am not the solo host anymore. It was fun, I enjoyed it. I'm glad that you're back. I'm glad that Responsibility's not all my shoulders anymore because I've did it once. Let's come back and keep doing it together. I'm good. It was fun, but I'm good. Yeah, that was, we dont have to get into it. We're back. You're back! You're back in. You're all good. Healthy as can be, as can be. But we're just chugging along. Happy to be here today. To be back. We have an incredible, incredible guests with us here today. We have miss Beth Thorne Stukes with us here today. The sticks. How are you? I'm doing great. Is going in. How are you guys? We're doing great. Welcome to the show. Glad you're here. Joining us on our rinky dink little production we got over here. It's my first production studio, so here's fine. Hey. I'm glad. Well, I am honored that you have decided to to to bless us with your first podcast experience. My pleasure. Well, welcome to it. What we're doing is we just want to get to know you better. Right? You've had such an incredible impact on Auburn, and, I think it's really great what you've done. And we want to get to know you a little bit better. One thing that we mean, Dalton both shares, we have a deep love for Auburn. And I think that's what we. That's why we're both here. We both graduated from Auburn. I left Auburn a while ago, and I came back because I loved it so much. And I think the first thing I want to know is why? Why do you love Auburn so much? You have you have a deep and caring and giving heart towards Auburn. And it's clear how much you love it. Where's that coming from? For a long time, I didn't have a choice. It was, you know, from birth. It was a family. My mother had the most wonderful time of her life as a student here at Auburn. And, my dad came for a year or two before he changed majors. And went into dentistry instead of textiles. But, we were here a lot for football, and we followed that. So I really didn't have much exposure to anything else. To tell you the truth, I mean, it was just. Okay, here it is. This is us. This is our family. Let's roll with it. Do you have any good football memories from back in the day? Stick out. We. There were some different players that we loved. I loved, loved like me. My brother loved Mickey Zofko. Later, sister. Babs loved Fast Freddie, like we would just. I guess that could become a little bit of a competition. Oh, yeah. But the main thing, and I think his ties to your question is. Or it's just always been a family thing. Oh, yeah. But, you know, back to the days that daddy just said get in the car. And so we did. And we arrived at. Indeed. Yeah. And then when we when we were older and we had choices of what to do with our weekends and our Saturday, rarely did one of the four of us choose to not be with our siblings and all. This is where we gathered my sixth grade. Students used to say, why do you love Auburn football so much? Well, y'all, it's really not the football that I love is the fact that when I get there, my people are going to. Yeah, and we're going to spend the weekend. Yeah, well, we're talking, we're talking, what, two episodes ago to Kurt Sasser, and he has this thing he says all the time, which is, Oh, gosh, I'm going to butcher it. Trying to quote him so that, I know Auburn and Auburn knows me, and it's that family thing we talked to him. We've talked about with every guest we've had, on the podcast thus far about how much of a family thing it is. It's something that, I mean, we all feel it, and it's we people always talk about Auburn in such a reverent way, and it's like, I don't really know how to explain it, but it's it's that it's family. It's, we're talking about in the office with somebody that day and, it's like, you know, when you're like, thinking about a meal, your mom or your grandmother used to make something, and I miss that. It's like that feeling you have, that's all. Brick. I agree, the a lot of people, I think, around the country at different universe states refer to their family and the closeness in their ties. I'm not sure they all live it out as well as we did. Right? I think I would agree with that naturally to us. And from the student experience, people, you know have had wonderful student experiences that generations to the fact that we've we've had character building sports experiences. You know, you have to, you have to get in there and hang in there, right? Yeah. It's it's a fight, isn't it? So, you know, and I'm, I'm speaking with, quite a few years of experience on that. Okay. So, you know, you're talking about your family. What? I'm talking about the Auburn family. A what would you say to those people? Were the biggest mentors in your life that got you to do where you're at now? Is leading the foundation board for the university that that's the biggest influence that they that they play, the biggest influence, and wanting to give back in the way that you do now. Well, the parental influence has been huge and I am so fortunate that, had parents that were engaged in our local community, local church. So, I witnessed the fact that my parents were engaged in this they period, and that they realized how important communion was, big time. Yeah. And, so they obviously or my, my greatest mentors, but I've had my aunts and uncles were great mentors. I mean, we have an extended family business, that is, we have some children now that are fifth generation. They're obviously not working. They're still in their cribs. But congratulations! When you own a family business, the the sacrifices that have been made. Long days at the office. I can imagine my aunts took on a greater responsibility at their homes. You know, so I got I got to see what family looks like, what extended family looks like. And then I have been really blessed with, great, strong women in my life. And, I don't carry the flag of. Look at me, hear me roar. It is just that. So I taught school. There's so many females in that profession. And when I retired from teaching school I became involved in some Bible studies with strong women, women who had really had some some tragedies, some hard situations in their life. And I looked at them with their joy and I looked at them with the accomplishments they had in our community. So there was no excuse. They pulled no card on you for anything. So my, my example was and my mentors, they just been dive in and let's get it done. Job's gotta get done. Someone's got to do it. Yeah that makes sense. So it's interesting. So my wife is as a former teacher, and, I know a big part of being a teacher is just love and care for these kiddos. You know, whichever age it is. I know it's a big part of it. From my wife, and having already heard you talk, can tell it's a big part of it, for you. And then former teacher. Retired teacher. And now. But you're still giving back to students. You're still creating opportunities for students, just different types of students, you know? Now they're Auburn College students, and it's just it's that same, that same kind of process, just a different or same result, different process, I guess. Is that kind of always been some of the bleeding heart for you with these, these kids and children's and and education and furthering education, creating opportunities for students and the future. I don't know that I knew it was, oh, I like that. I'm not sure. Okay. I knew I was supposed to be a teacher. I had I had worked in Park Park and Rec, and I coached swimming. I've been a swimmer. And I'm the oldest child in our family, which makes me ballsy for seeking the first babysitter. Yeah. Nurturing, maybe. The idea of helping a student. Whether they were a fourth grader or a sixth grader. To nurture them, too. We hear this all the time, but it's true. A better quality of life. To see if I could have some influence on them being prepared for life. Yeah. And for taking care of themselves and your families. Well then here we are at Auburn and that's, that's our job here for our students to have a great student experience because they put a lot of time, hard work and money into this process. Dang skippy. We must make sure that our students are ready for this world today, that they can be nimble as they go through their life. That's a good one and their quality of life. It is just so important and one of the hats that I wear when I'm not in Auburn is, a Community Foundation board member. For County. I see the challenges of a rural state and a rural county and a rural state. I think that real. Yeah. Yeah. That's. So now as a volunteer there. But I saw that as a teacher. So when I look at Auburn I think what can her students do in their communities. In the state of Alabama as a land grant. That's that's our mission, that's why we're here. Yeah. That's why we're here. Mission. And I'm very proud to say I don't think anybody's doing it better. There's always room for us to improve. Yeah. A lot of challenges that are truly outside our doors. That's. Yeah. I want our students to go back. A lot of people say I want them to go out into the world. I don't I want. I want them to stay close to home. Us help out. Mom and dad. Help out. Good Ole mom and dad. They poured into you. Now you're going to pour in to them. It. Is 100%. And it's a hard thing because that's not something that like I know that something you ever going to fully achieve. Like it's always something you're working towards. But you still got to work towards it. You know, it's oh, you're always there's always room to grow. There's always progress to be made. There's always people to help. But you gotta keep. I mean, it's hard when that's like, where's the finish line, I don't know. Yes. It is really hard when the finish line is is not very clear. Number one, it's hard to count your successes. Yeah. That finish line isn't very clear. And for us, we have to keep pushing past that. So it keeps moving, and the world keeps changing. And the things that we use using to meet those goals. You're changing all around us. You guys know how fast the world is changing, though. Too fast. I used to feel like I kept up with it. And then now suddenly I'm starting to feel I'm getting a little bit older and it's like, it's. The throw in. But I think when I was born, the idea was that we would double the knowledge of the world in 20 years. It would take 20 years to do that. This is back 60s JFK era, whatever. But now look in a nanosecond I mean that happens every week. Yes. Not for me but for other people. I mean we have just knowledge at our fingertips now. And you can knowledge can double overnight or with the snap of a finger, but at the same time to we become so dependent on it. Yeah. I heard someone describe as, they're talking about Back to the Future, the movie. And the thing about all these flying cars and all this stuff, because the thought was that, like, we would solve the energy problem, we'd have no it and it would be that would be solved. But we didn't solve that problem. We end up solving information. That was the problem we solved because we have it in our pocket everywhere. And that's that's just the why. Like, I think it's funny watching old movies and so like, what they think the future looks like and how different it really is, is because we solved the problem that we didn't think we were going to solve. We solved the different one, which is a good thing to have done, but it has definitely made growth. And that knowledge and that quickness and change happen so fast. Now the exponential growth, the, I mean, the time coming at us so fast and the change is coming at us so quickly. So I think how very important it is for us to create critical thinkers and some one that doesn't get totally thrown off their game because. What, you went to school for the degree you earned, the things you learned in those classes, that's not going to last for a lifetime like it did when my parents, came here. That's true. To have to really be able to go with it, stay attuned to it. And it requires continue it every day, all day long of your life. Oh that's. No. Yeah, that's real true. Yeah. Speaking of growth and change and continuing that mission of furthering education, you and your sisters have teamed up and you guys have given a generous donation to the university, to the College of Human Sciences. They're they're building a new state of the art facility that's named after your mother, which is awesome. So would you mind speaking on that a little bit? Why did you guys decide to honor your mother? And you know why? The College of Human Sciences or Mothers of Human Sciences grant and our, I like to say human sciences makes the cake of life. Love that. Oh, all our other units. I need to get that on a pillow. Yeah. That's a we'll do it a podcast extra. But we do. We get to food, shelter, clothing. Oh, in fourth grade, because I taught it. You guys learn food, shelter, clothing, the necessities for life. Yeah. So we start with that. You know, our flour, our eggs are butter. Our milk in the College of Human Sciences. But then we add some great things to that. We we look at family development. We look at healthy families. Families look different. Every family is different and unique. There is not one cut out. That all families did not even close. That's right. They're all unique. So we're looking at how do we make sure our children have the best chance. Yeah. From 0 to 5, 95% of brain development occurs. Don't we need to know that? Right? Sure we do. We don't need to. Just no need to know it in the classrooms at all. We need to know how to distribute that. Again back to our state. In our community so that all of our children have a better head start. And while we, we do clothing cannot be good looking. Hey I made one I love it. Not you know. And if we're going to eat healthy food, can it be good? Come on. Hey, look, we recognize where the. You know, Auburn University is located in the south. Yes. I will be eating well, I tell you that. And I will eat it if it tastes good. That is how it goes. That food, shelter, clothing, your relationships with other people, with our community. We're just knocking it out of the park. In the College of Human Sciences, mother brought so much of what she learned as a food to nutrition major, as a home economics teacher before her four children came. She she left. She planted all the seeds and just about, again, quality of life things. She sits right here every time I eat a hot dog. And she's like, yeah. And so do you. Do you know what was in it? Because I don't know what's in a hot dog. I don't know, it's another one of the world's great to say. Or I choose not to research what's. That's right. Ignorance is bliss sometimes, man. It's fine. So you heard, at the College of Human Sciences. Did I just see mother's life? So, I don't know, maybe Marilyn. What, the college did for her at that time, and, it's back to the Auburn family. Nobody does it better. There's just nobody better than my mom. Everybody loves her mom. They should they should they should, but nobody’s mamma is better than my mom. That's right. That's right. So it's it's it it's a good match. Okay. That works for me. So you kind of already talked about a little bit but there's such I just it just it's just oozing from you you this joy that you have of giving and helping. Why, you know, there's so many ways there are to help. Why why is it, I guess this the way you choose to help? And then how would you maybe encourage others who have opportunities to help? To do so, to help Auburn, to help your neighbor, to help whoever. It's a big one. I know. Here. Just by total accident. Mistake. You know, somebody reached out, but I started going to women's philanthropy board meetings with mom. And it's a great program. And, I I began to learn things that affect women and their lives so that they are better stewards of their time, talent, treasure of their trust and how, how we can come off the sidelines. And let me say, I want every person to have their best life. Oh, man. And what my best life looks like does not have to look like your best life. My siblings, who I am just as close to as you can be. And there's some times that we're so close and so the same that it's ridiculous in the since it happened that way. Freedom for our best life. Chosen for different paths. So that should be the same for everyone. But the gospel according to Beth is. Oh, yeah. That if you're on this earth sucking up the air, it should be better when you leave it than when you got here. And everyone has gifts and talents. It's about finding where those gifts and talents best fit. I don't know that I'm in the right place at all, but Auburn's asked me a couple of times to take on a couple of roles, and when all one comes knocking on your door, you say they're hard to say no to. In that I really are. Yeah. Yes. And the more I've been engaged, the more I have to learn to, I've heard people I have met, the more I know about our different units and the great efforts they are making for good change. That will come and that will benefit our community, our state and globally. It's like we can fix it all. We can fix it all. I believe it now. I believe it. Let our people go to work. Let's have let's get a lot of grant research money. Let's look into these things. Let's be data driven and let's let's just have tremendous impact, right. And volunteering leads to philanthropy very often. No, that makes sense. Yes. And so the more you know about a good organization, the easier it is to support it with your time talent. Just look different for every generation. You know right now philanthropically at Auburn University. We're looking at people that are my parents age where they my generation my sons generation and the generations of my nieces and nephews, all of different. So we have to learn all those languages and we have to speak to people where they are and introduce them to the coolest thing going, which is Auburn University. I, I'm in support of that. I mean it's it's such a cool thing because I found I had no idea what to do in my life when I went to Auburn. I, I truly had no idea. I was like, I was I'll figure it out. And I did, against all odds, I did. I found like my life's passion and like I found what I was put on this earth to do. Yeah. You know, I went from what both of you just said. I keep thinking of when I came to Auburn, I very quickly learned a saying. If you have Auburn, Auburn will love you back. And I've heard that the entire time. It's true. And like Carter said, he left and then came back Auburn. I, I never left when I graduated and so it's it's true. And you know, just to kind of wrap things up, I think that you're the embodiment of, you know, giving back and and loving Auburn back. And right before you came in here earlier, there was a one of the student workers in the space that we're in here in the student center. She said she actually was on the podcast and we told her it was you. And she said, oh, one of my best friends works as a major in human sciences. Like, make sure I don't thank you like they're bad. So yeah, that was the five minutes where you walked in. And I know so many students. I have a lot of friends who are alumni of human sciences, and they're so passionate and so proud to be from the College of Human Sciences. So, just on their behalf and on Auburn's behalf, just thank you for all that you do for this university. That just means the world to Carter and I just a whole bunch of Auburn men and women. Auburn has allowed me to live my best life. I think that and that's, you know, I think I could say the same. I hope you know, and that's I'm not even 30. And I feel very confident in saying that I'm close. I'm mad at you, so don't worry about, hey, I move. And that's it's a really awesome thing that it's allowed, like, me to find my passion. And Dalton, I know you feel the same way. And there's so many people, coworkers and friends. Like, I know so many people that went to Auburn who stayed in Auburn, who you can't make somebody who knows Auburn. It just cannot stop talking about it, you know? And, I lived when I, when I moved away for a couple years. And I live in a you see, I lived up in South Carolina and I see Auburn shirts all the time. I mean, it's just people have this reverence and this love for it. It's just different. You know, it's it's very different. Is it Pat Dye who has the Alabama fans love Alabama football. Auburn fans love Auburn. I believe it is packed. And it's so profound and so true. And it's and it's it's there's I just I'm so thankful for Auburn. And that's why I wanted to come back and try to make it make people believe about Auburn the way I feel about. All right. Hey, next time I come here. Oh, oh, have the questions. Oh, perfect. That's a good story. Hey, I mean, if you want to. You want to come back for that? I will, I will answer any questions. You know, they pick two people who are unwilling to stop talking. Yeah. To be on this thing. So, yeah, it's bring it on a good podcast. It gets turned on its head every now and then. We're the. So I, I, I think that was a little bit of a fear when me and Dalton took this thing and kind of started doing it is because, by the book might not be the best way to describe the two of us. We get it done. But. And mine's a little bit over here. It's like not always, you know? It's. It's fine, I promise. Well, a, we're just getting on in time, but, like, again, just like Dalton said, once said, thank you. Thank you for coming. Thanks for spending some time with us and chit chat with us. We had some great time and it's just it's so invigorating hearing someone talk about Auburn the way you talk about Auburn. You know, it's it's I take it for granted sometimes. I'm here every day, you know. And I get to see it every day. And I live it every day. And it's it's hard to take it for granted to hear someone talk about Auburn the way you talk about Auburn. So thank you very much for that. That's just it's it's reinvigorate my day and my week, which is great. And just thank you very much. Thank you for joining us on Everything Auburn! My name is Carter. He's Dalton. Thank you Beth for joining us so much. Thank you today. And thank you for listening. If you want to hear some of our older episodes, we get a whole bunch of episodes. We talked to so many different awesome members of the Auburn family. Go visit our podcast hub. Go listen to us on podcast. Watch us on YouTube if you want to see our pretty shining faces. And we'll be back again next month with another wonderful member of the Auburn family. Until then, War Eagle, War Eagle, War Eagle!