By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Tarkio Tech – the former Tarkio College – just got a big boost from a local donor: a million-dollar boost.
The $1 million donation from the estate of Dean and Joanne Curnutt will have a major impact on efforts to revive the campus in extreme northwest Missouri, according to President John Davis.
“First of all, it says that we definitely have support from our local community. That’s critical for me,” Davis tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “If you are going to do something like this and your local community is not behind you, then you’re fighting a losing battle.”
Dean Curnutt, the Atchison County Collector for 30 years, graduated from Tarkio College in 1951. Curnutt died in 1989, leaving a trust fund to his sister, Joanne. When Joanne died in February of last year, she bequeathed the remainder of the trust fund to Tarkio Technology Institute. It wasn’t the first substantial donation given the college by Joanne Curnutt. Davis says she had made donations of $100,000 and $175,000 previously.
Davis says Joanne designated those donations for college operations.
The trust fund donation totaling $1,060,554 will largely go toward Tarkio Tech’s Heritage Campaign, a $3 million campaign to restore the historic buildings on the campus in extreme northwest Missouri. The money will be used to complete restoration of the Thompson Learning Center and repair the flat roof portion of Rankin Hall. A dorm will be created to house 18 students now that Tarkio Tech has attracted students beyond commute distance from Tarkio. A cafeteria will be refurbished and reopened.
The impact of this donation from the Curnutts might well go far beyond restoring historic buildings on the Tarkio campus.
“This kind of a donation gets attention,” Davis says. “You want as many corporations, as many foundations supporting you as you can get, but they’re not going to have that if you don’t have some significant involvement in your giving and a million-dollar donation gets people’s attention.”
Tarkio College was founded in 1883, but the campus closed in 1992. When alumni suggested restoring the college, Missouri state higher education officials suggested it come back as a technical school offering courses such as welding, plumbing, wind energy, and computer information technology. Tarkio Tech began offering classes in January of 2020.
Davis says the donation will help further efforts to raise money for Tarkio Tech.
“I’ll guarantee you, there’s people that we haven’t even heard from yet that we’re going to hear from now because they want to know, okay, what’s going on there? This is impressive.”
In total, Dean and Joanne Curnutt have donated $1,904,650 to Tarkio Tech since 2020, completing a legacy of service, according to Davis, the type of legacy he hopes Tarkio Tech can impress on its students.
“Your role here is to learn a trade, but then it’s to go out and use that trade to serve other people, not just make a buck.”
This article has been updated since first published with additional information.