Louise Stone Shunk

Louise Stone Shunk followed in the footsteps of a Gallatin Valley pioneer family dedicated to education and service. Her grandfather was the Gallatin County superintendent of schools, and her father believed all his children should be well educated.  Shunk graduated from Montana State College with a bachelor’s degree with honors in home economics in 1920. She then pursued a successful professional career that spanned nearly 50 years including State Home Demonstration district director for Montana State University. In 1989, she received the Blue and Gold Award and the Louise Shunk Day Care/Community Center dedicated in her honor. Shunk was also a centennial honoree from the College of Education, Health & Human Development in 1993. In the Stone papers (Burlingame Special Collections), she sums up her impact on her family and on those she served throughout her life. She thanked MSU and the state of Montana for the quality of her education and expressed gratitude for an education that helped her serve her family and the people of Montana. In an era when many women did not pursue education or professional careers, she did both and passed on those core values to her family and many with whom she worked.

With deep roots in Montana and Montana State University (College), Louise Stone Shunk exemplified the core values of the land-grant mission in her dedication to her family, to education and to the people of the state of Montana.