Lincoln University of Missouri in Jefferson City unveils the

Dorothy E. Steward Art Gallery

Julie Smith/News Tribune Second lady Claudia Kehoe, right, Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, second from right, join members of the Steward Family in prayer Friday at the beginning of a ceremony to name the art gallery in Richardson Auditorium at Lincoln University after Dorothy E. Steward.

The gallery is named for the late Dr. Dorothy Elizabeth Massingale Steward, who passed on June 20, 2020. She was the mother of David L. Steward World Wide Technology founder and chair. She was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters from LU in recognition of her lifelong accomplishments and love for education and service. Born March 10, 1928, Steward was the only child of James Frederick and Martha Ann Wilson Massingale. She attended the Lincoln School in Clinton, Missouri, where she skipped two grades. To further her education during a time of segregation, her family later moved to Chicago. She loved music and took college courses in Chicago as well.  Steward and her husband, Harold Lloyd Steward, were married in 1946, and together they had eight children. 

In addition to working as a housekeeper and later as a typesetter and layout designer for the Clinton Daily Democrat, Steward was Grand Matron of the Order of Eastern Star, founding member of the Samaritan Center Development Board and the Henry County Library Board of Directors, an institution that earlier in her life had denied her entry due to segregation. She also founded and was the den mother of the first integrated Boy Scout Troop in Clinton. 

The Dorothy E. Steward Art Gallery unveiling is free and open to the public