The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Former registrar leaves $1M gift
Pomona College scholarship honors Masago Armstrong, who held position from 1955 to 1985
Pomona College’s new endowed scholarship honors longtime registrar Masago Armstrong following a $1 million gift from her estate.
The gift will be used to provide scholarships and ensure that those who need assistance will have access to education, according to a Pomona College news release.
Armstrong, who died in the fall at age 102, is remembered by staff and alumni as a formidable woman with a deep love for and loyalty to the students she assisted in her time as registrar from 1955 to 1985, according to the alumni Facebook page and former director of alumni services, Nancy Treser-osgood.
She was the daughter of Japanese immigrants and one of six children. Armstrong lost her mother in 1942 while being held at a Japanese internment camp during WWII, according to university officials and a federal registry.
Eventually, Armstrong returned to her family’s home in Menlo Park, where she later attended Stanford and graduated with a master’s degree in 1941.
According to a news release about the gift, Armstrong helped guide 8,752 students to graduation during her time as registrar. Her role included preparing and processing transcripts and diplomas for Pomona College students. “She essentially held your fate in her hands,” Treser-osgood said.
The gift came as a surprise to the Pomona College, according to officials. The institution had no prior knowledge Armstrong had intended to leave such a gift for future students.
As registrar, Armstrong went out of her way to make sure each and every student she had contact with could continue their education, according to Treser-osgood.
“She was a force of nature, formidable, yet kind,” Treser-osgood quoted from the Pomona College Alumni Facebook page regarding Armstrong.
“One thing I think is most impressive about Masago was that she knew everyone’s name,” Treser-osgood said. “This was back before Google, and she made a point to know all her student’s names. You didn’t need a computer with Masago because she could keep track of all of it.”
After retiring in 1985, Armstrong remained close to Pomona College, participating in events and residing nearby at Mt. San Antonio Gardens until her death in the fall.
“She and her family were taken away to internment camps at the beginning of World War II, and she found a home after that in a welcoming community here in Claremont and on campus,” Pomona College President Gabrielle Starr said in an interview. “I think she felt that being around students was a connection to a future and to a future that was going to be better than the past because people could learn how to be together productively.”
In the university’s news release, Starr said Armstrong was known for her skill, diligence kindness and care for Pomona students.
“This endowed scholarship will honor her mother’s memory and support generations of students with financial help to attend Pomona,” Starr said.