Published: June 28, 2008 10:30 pm         

Syracuse’s Becky Fox receives IU alumni honor

SYRACUSE, Ind. — Two things that have played important roles in the life of Syracuse Realtor Becky Fox are Lake Wawasee and Indiana University.

Since retiring from teaching and moving back to Indiana in 1998, the area around Lake Wawasee and Syracuse Lake has once again become a central part of her life and her second career as an agent for Todd Realty.

And now the university she loves has rewarded her dedication and support. At a banquet in Bloomington earlier this month, Fox was presented the Gertrude Rich Award by the Indiana University Alumni Association in “recognition of her significant contribution to the Alumni Relations Program of Indiana University.”

Fox graduated from Indiana in 1965 with a degree in physical education. She met her husband, Stan, when they were both juniors, but says she promised her dad she would not get married until she got her degree,

“We got married five days after we graduated,” Fox said in an interview on June 19. “And today is our 43rd anniversary.”

A life member of the IU Alumni Association, Fox has served as secretary for both the Nashville, Tenn., and Kosciusko County chapters, and has also been involved in IU Alumni Association chapters in New York, Michigan and Ohio. Stan has also been deeply involved in IU alumni affairs, chairing the Kosciusko County chapter as well as serving on the executive council and board of managers, including a stint as chairman of the IU Alumni Association.

The award Becky Fox received was started in 1972 and was named for Gertrude Rich, wife of long-time IU Alumni Association President Claude Rich. Fox received her award at IU’s annual Cream and Crimson Alumni Weekend on the Bloomington campus, and was joined by several former recipients of the same award, including Pat Ryan, wife of former IU President Dr. John Ryan, and Fox’s dear friend and mentor, Audrey Beckley.

The Foxes remain active in the Kosciusko County chapter of the IU Alumni Association, which sponsors many activities every year, including a golf outing and basketball parties.

They have been back in the area for 10 years, although Becky recalled her long love affair with the lakes of northern Kosciusko County began in 1949 when her father bought a cottage on Fish Hatchery Road on Lake Wawasee’s eastern shore for $5,000. Her family would make the trek from Anderson each year and she spent every summer of her childhood on the lake.

In 1998, Stan retired from General Motors and Becky retired from teaching physical education and the couple moved into their condo on the lake. They lived there for three years before moving to a home on Syracuse Lake.

For the past eight years, they have been agents for Todd Realty in Syracuse, where they were top producers in 2002 and 2005

Stan and Becky Fox have one son, Jeff, and three grandchildren.

“We have been blessed, very blessed,” she said.