Mrs. Rood Dies
MRS. WINONA STILES ROOD, known as "Mother Rood" to hundreds of Dartmouth men who have boarded or worked at her Hanover eating club, died at the Mary Hitchcock Hospital on January 4 after an illness of many months. An operation last May improved her health for a time, but she was forced to return to the hospital last fall and it was during a third confinement last month that her death occurred.
Mrs. Rood unknowingly started her famous eating club in 1917 when she made room in her College Street home to provide meals for some Hanover girls. Excellent food and a home-like atmosphere attracted more and more boarders, leading to the creation of the Rood Club, which has always been filled to capacity and which in its South Main Street quarters has provided meals in recent years for as many as 175 undergraduates, faculty members, staff girls, and townspeople. Mrs. Rood took care of students and others who had to have special diets, and her help to the poor of the community was quietly but unsparingly given. She also created jobs for as many students as possible, helping an untold number of Dartmouth men to work their way through college.
Mrs. Rood was born in Brookfield, Vt., on March 29, 1874, the daughter of Delia Lincoln and Darwin L. Stiles. She was an accomplished musician, both as a singer and pianist. She was married in 1899 to Herbert B. Rood of Brookfield, coming to Hanover with him in 1914 after living in Orleans, Vt., and Lyme, N. H. Mr. Rood conducted a grocery store where Campion's is now located and later served as Chief of Police in Hanover until his death in 1929. Mrs. Rood is survived by a daughter, Mrs. Isabel Rood Dahlstrom of Charleston, W. Va., and a son Karl, who is continuing the management of the Rood Club. Another son, Reginald, was killed in an automobile accident several years ago. Funeral services for Mrs. Rood were held at St. Thomas Church, Hanover, on January 6 and burial was in Pine Knoll Cemetery. Sidney C. Hayward '26, Nicholas Bielanowski '38, Thomas F. Dunlevy '41, and Edward N. Marlette '41 were among the bearers.
