The most beloved "Dorm Mother" in Hardin-Simmons University's storied history surprised the institution by leaving her entire estate (estimated to be in the mid six-figures) to HSU as an endowment for the maintenance and renovation of Behrens Hall, one of the dormitories where she touched so many lives.

"Miss Cul"

For 59 years, Dorothy Aileen Culpepper, or Miss Cul as she was affectionately known, influenced the lives of countless students, faculty, and staff as dormitory director at Hardin-Simmons University. Although she had no children of her own, she was a mother figure to countless young girls, and served as counselor, nurse, chaperone, seamstress, and friend to generations of students who lived away from home for the first time. As frugal with money as she was mindful of her students, she managed her personal finances as a final gift of love to the University that had been so central to her life.

Dorothy Kiser, university registrar says, "Miss Cul gave her life to the university in every sense of the word. She lived for the students who studied here, and they were the central concern in her life for almost six decades. She truly led a selfless life to benefit others,"

Miss Culpepper arrived on the Hardin-Simmons University campus for the first time as a transfer student in 1938. After graduating in 1940 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, she taught and served as principal in the Ira Independent School District, then at Spur ISD. During World War II, she helped fill the nation's need to keep aircraft rolling off the assembly lines as a "Rosie the Riveter" for Consolidated Aircraft in Ft. Worth.

At the end of the war, HSU President Dr. Rupert Richardson asked her to become Assistant to the Dean of Women at HSU. He had seen the loving, yet firm way she worked with students as a student floor chaperone, and wanted someone with her depth of commitment and Christian values taking care of HSU's girls.

Miss Cul was mentor, counselor, disciplinarian, and life coach to the 6,000 students who lived at HSU during her administration, first as Assistant to Dean of Women, and later as Dormitory Director. She listened to confidences, concerns, watched curfew times, and hem lengths, and even helped the girls cope with tragedy. One such incident happened just after she assumed her duties in 1944. A young woman in the dorm had three brothers in the war, and all were killed in action. "I got the messages and had to tell her three times," she recalled. Miss Cul had found her purpose in life, and was one of those blessed souls who made a real difference in so many lives.

Daily, throughout her life, she would write at least ten letters of encouragement, advice, counseling, congratulations, and good cheer to students, faculty, staff, and even those whom she didn't know. A letter from Miss Cul is many an alumna's most treasured gift. Kiser notes, "I was the recipient of many of her precious letters over the years. When I need a word of encouragement, all I have to do is pull out one of those letters."

One would be hard-pressed to find a more loyal alumna or former faculty/staff member. In 1986, Miss Culpepper was awarded the John J. Keeter Jr. Alumni Service Award, the highest honor given by the HSU Alumni Association. She was named Former Staff Member of the Year in 1993-94, and in 1998, the Aileen Culpepper Endowed Scholarship was established in her honor. In 2002 the University yearbook was dedicated to her.

In an expression of love and thanksgiving, Hardin-Simmons honored her in a way that may be unique for a dormitory director. The university awarded an honorary doctor of humanities degree during commencement ceremonies in 2003. Astonished at the honor, Miss Cul insisted that she was as ordinary as anyone could possibly be, but the legions of women who grew up under her watchful eye disagree.

Miss Cul stayed active on the campus, since her retirement in 1985, with the University Women's Organization, the Former Faculty staff Administration Fellowship, and working where needed. She was an active member of Pioneer Drive Baptist Church.

"The intangible quality at Hardin-Simmons that engenders such love is sometimes difficult to put into words," says Leland Harden, vice president of institutional advancement, "but one has only to look at the life of Aileen Culpepper to see a true expression of this quality. This gift is something she would characteristically do because she believed, with every fiber of her soul, that students should be prepared for life with love, good manners, and solid moral values."