Lewis and Carolyn Ford Bock to receive Friends of the University Award

Lewis and Carolyn Ford Bock of Cape Girardeau and The Woodlands, Texas, have been named the 2017 Friends of the University by the Southeast Missouri University Foundation.

The husband and wife will be honored at 6:30 p.m. Friday in the atrium of the River Campus Cultural Arts Center as part of the annual President’s Council Gala, school officials said in a news release.

The Friend of the University Award recognizes those who support and are closely associated with the mission, purposes, plans and programs of Southeast.

Carolyn Ford Bock is a 1969 graduate of what then was known as Southeast Missouri State College. She earned a bachelor’s degree in education with majors in French and elementary education.

During her college years, she was an officer in Delta Delta Delta sorority and went on to earn a Master of Arts in education from Southeast in 1986.

Carolyn worked as a public-school teacher, general educational development instructor and librarian in Southeast Missouri for 22 years in various districts, including Cape Girardeau, Crocker, Nell Holcomb, Rockwood, Jackson and the Campus School.

She served as president of the Friends of the Cape Girardeau Public Library, a Sunday-school teacher and a member of the Area Board of Young Life. She has been active with the United Way Women’s Council and the United Way After School Study Program.

She volunteers as a tutor in the Read to Succeed program, volunteers for Mothers of Preschool Children (MOPs) and is a group leader with Bible Study Fellowship International, according to the news release.

Lewis Edgar Bock followed in his family’s footsteps when he earned a bachelor degree in business administration from Southeast in 1963.

His mother, Catharine Lewis Bock, was a 1933 graduate of Southeast Missouri State Teachers’ College, and his grandfather graduated from the Southeast Missouri Third District Normal School in 1888. Lewis’ son, Richard, completed the 122-year cycle with his degree in 2010.

During Lewis’ years at Southeast, he was active as the president of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and Westminster Fellowship and as a member of Interfraternity Council and Sigma Rho Journalism Society. He also served as sports editor of the Capaha Arrow student newspaper.

After graduation, he had a brief career in banking and finance in Cape Girardeau before joining Allstate, where he held a series of management positions over 33 years.

His career took him from Cape Girardeau to Kansas City, Missouri; Northbrook, Illinois; and The Woodlands, Texas. He retired in 2000 as a senior account agent and splits his time between Cape Girardeau and The Woodlands.

Lewis was awarded Southeast’s Alumni Merit Award from the Harrison College of Business in October 2000.

The Alumni Merit award is presented to graduates or former students of Southeast who have brought distinction to themselves and the university, school officials said.

Lewis has a long history of community service, officials said. He has been involved with the Jaycees, Rotary International and Habitat for Humanity.

In Texas, he served as the speaker chair for the Montgomery County Prayer Breakfast, chaired the Montgomery County Young Life Board and was an elder, deacon and Sunday-school teacher at The Woodlands’ Presbyterian Church.

Lewis has served for 14 years on the Southeast Missouri University Foundation board. He chairs the Gateway Region Young Life board, and is involved with the Cape Girardeau County Historical Society and the Pleasant Hill Presbyterian Cemetery board. He is a tutor in the Read to Succeed program.

The Bocks, who married in 2003 and are members of Cape Bible Chapel, are the sponsors of a charitable-gift annuity that funds a scholarship for Southeast students. Carolyn sponsors several scholarships, and Lewis has established the Lewis Family/Bock Family Scholarships.

“The Bocks have lived the values we try to instill here at Southeast,” Southeast president Carlos Vargas-Aburto said in the news release. “They have led exemplary lives of service to their family, their community and to this University.”

Lewis said he and his wife are “proud Southeast graduates.”

He said in the release, “It is a wonderful feeling to give back to the place that got you started. We are deeply humbled the university is honoring us in this way.”

mbliss@semissourian.com

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