MURIEL STUCK McCORD,
known affectionately as Moo to her friends and Gramoo to her three grandsons, passed away Saturday, November 13th, in her adopted hometown of North Little Rock, Ark., following a lengthy illness. She was 92 years old.
Muriel was born in White Plains, N.Y., to parents A.W. and Gladys Stuck on October 9, 1929. Muriel was the youngest of three children. Her father was an advertising executive on Madison Ave., and her mother’s family was in the theater. Muriel was soon exposed to the New York City art scene.
Muriel attended Randolph-Macon College in Virginia in 1947. Accompanying friends on a trip to the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, she would meet an ambitious journalism student named Robert McCord, and would soon transfer to the U of A. Muriel worked alongside Robert at the student newspaper, The Arkansas Traveler. She joined the Chi Omega sorority. Moo and Bob married on December 16, 1951.
They moved to Lawton, Okla., where Robert served in the Army. The couple then relocated to New York City where Robert attended graduate school, and it was there that their first daughter was born.
Moving to North Little Rock, where Robert was raised, they cultivated a large circle of friends and began an annual New Year’s Eve party tradition that went on for over 50 years. A son came along in 1957, and a second daughter in 1962. Muriel worked at the weekly North Little Rock Times when Robert bought the paper in 1958. While raising three children, Muriel still found time for other passions, including painting. Muriel did years of fund raising and docent work at the Arkansas Arts Center. She also served on the board of the Quapaw Quarter Association and fundraised for many community organizations like Wildwood. She was a long-time member of the North Little Rock Junior League and won the Outstanding Sustainer Award in 1981. She was active in the Symphony Guild and AFS, and the McCords hosted several exchange students in their home. She was a member of the Aesthetic Club and a docent at the Clinton Library.
After the children left home, she and Robert would travel extensively, and when grandchildren began to come along, they became Muriel’s passion.
Robert retired in 2006, and as his health began to fail, she became his caregiver. He passed away in 2013, ending a wonderful marriage that lasted 61 years. Soon thereafter, Muriel’s health began to fail.
Muriel is preceded in death by her parents, husband, sister Elise Armstrong, brother Donald Stuck, and nephew Philip Armstrong.
Muriel is survived by her children, Kim McCord, former sonin-law Douglass Andrews, Jeff McCord (Catherine Crane), and Stacey McCord (Susan Gunnels), and her grandsons, Robert Andrews, Dylan Andrews (Crystal Andrews), Benjamin McCord, and many loved nieces and nephews.
The family would like to thank the many wonderful caregivers who cared for Mom during her illness.
The family will announce plans for a memorial for Muriel at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials be made to Heifer International, the Arkansas Foodbank, or the Humane Society of Pulaski County.