Elizabeth Dee Shaw Stewart
Portrait of Elizabeth Stewart, 1973
It seems fitting that the first individual to be highlighted is Elizabeth Dee Shaw Stewart, the extraordinary woman in whose honor the library is named. The late Ogden philanthropist Elizabeth Dee Shaw Stewart was born 15 years before the 19th amendment passed. As an adult, Stewart championed projects and organizations that fostered education and cultural arts. Her visionary support of Weber State University exemplifies the diverse ways women have used their words and deeds to shape Northern Utah’s character and culture.
As of Nov. 18, 2019, the cumulative gifts to Weber State from the Stewart Education Foundation, the charitable trust Elizabeth and her husband established in 1977, totaled $58,214,031.67. These gifts have helped every academic area on campus. From Stewart Bell Tower, Stewart Library, and the Dee Events Center to Stewart Stadium, Elizabeth Hall, Stewart-Wasatch Hall, and the soon-to-be named Stewart Center at WSU Davis, the Stewarts’ contributions to Weber State University are nothing short of spectacular.
Elizabeth Dee Shaw was the only child of Ogden natives Mary Elizabeth Dee Shaw and Ambrose Amos Shaw. She was the granddaughter of Ogden pioneer industrialist Thomas D. Dee and Annie Taylor Dee. Elizabeth, pretty, but shy and lacking self-confidence, attended high school at Weber Normal College on Jefferson Avenue between 24th and 25th streets. She stayed on when the school became a junior college, and considered her final year at Weber “outstanding.” She was the associate editor of “The Acorn” yearbook and played Goldie MacDuff, the female lead, in the school play “Rollo’s Wild Oat.”
After graduating from Utah Agricultural College with a bachelor’s degree in English, Elizabeth accepted a position as assistant registrar at Weber College. Later, she became a bookkeeper and eventually, secretary to President Aaron W. Tracy. In 1931, while temporarily placed in charge of the college library, Elizabeth was also asked to teach two English courses and a theology class. In teaching, Elizabeth found her calling. She took classes through Weber to earn an elementary school teaching certificate, and was hired to teach fifth grade at Washington Elementary in the fall of 1933.
At age 38, Elizabeth married former Weber College student body president Donnell “Don” Becraft Stewart. The couple started making small donations to the university for things such as music scholarships, a Jeep for the science departments archeological trips, and equipment for the physics lab. From there they moved on to the iconic bell tower in 1971 with a carillon organ, which she played on special occasions. Next came the expansion of the Stewart Library in 1976 and on to the Dee Events Center in 1977.
Elizabeth kept an eagle eye on the construction of the events center. “Everyone laughed at me because I was continually saying that nothing in there should be chintzy,” she said. When inflation and unavoidable delays hiked the facility’s price tag by $1 million, Elizabeth suggested the college ask her Uncle “Laurie” (Lawrence T. Dee) to make up the funding deficit. He willingly did, and so work progressed.
Elizabeth was the first woman to receive an honorary doctorate of humanities from Weber State College in 1973, first woman inducted into the Weber County Hall of Fame in 1974, and she is the first woman in the country to have a stadium named solely after a woman as the Elizabeth Dee Shaw Stewart Stadium in 1997.
Elizabeth Dee Stewart Press Release
Elizabeth Stewart’s sophomore year portrait from the Acorn, 1925
Elizabeth Stewart with her father, Ambrose Shaw, in front of the Laie Hawaii LDS Temple, 1928
Donnell and Elizabeth Stewart examine a model of the Stewart Bell Tower prior to its construction, 1970
Elizabeth Stewart & two individuals at the console for the Stewart Bell Tower reviewing sheet music, 1972-1973
Elizabeth Stewart receiving an honorary degree from Weber State College, 1973
Elizabeth Stewart, Donnell Stewart, Lawrence T. Dee, and Thomas Dee II with a painting of the Dee Events Center, circa 1975
Elizabeth Stewart speaking at the Weber State College Associated Alumni banquet, 1970-1971
Exhibit in the Stewart Library