Soldiers, Scholars, Gentlemen: Remembering the Legacy of the Stribling Family

Each academic year, Missouri Military Academy (MMA) honors and remembers the legacy of the Stribling family. 

Colonel Charles R. Stribling Jr was born in Berryville, Virginia on January 23, 1897.  He was the great-grandson of Admiral C.K. Stribling, who served as superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy from 1851 to 1853, and grandson of Benjamin Cauthorn, one of the founders of the Missouri Military Academy in 1889.

Colonel Stribling first joined the faculty of MMA in 1920 and served as superintendent from 1933 to 1968.  After 48 years of continued service and dedication to the Academy, he continued his service as the chairman of the board for the Missouri Military Academy.

His son, Charles Stribling III, succeeded him as the academy's superintendent.  Charles Stribling III, a Class of 1944 graduate of MMA, worked his way up as a teacher, then commandant before serving as the MMA president from 1968 to 1993.  Then, like his father before him, he served as the board's chairman.  

Col. Stribling graduated from MMA in 1944 and served in the U.S. Navy from 1945 to1946. After his service, he earned a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Missouri in 1949 and 1950, respectively. He joined the MMA faculty in 1952 and served for 16 years in various positions. In 1968, he succeeded his father as MMA president. He retired as president in 1993 but continued to serve as chairman and then chairman emeritus of the MMA Board of Trustees.

Col. Stribling III served as an MMA instructor, coach, alumni director, commandant of cadets, vice president and executive officer until he eventually became president of the Academy – a position he held for 25 years. Under his guidance, MMA was designated an Exemplary Private School by the U.S. Department of Education in 1985. One of just 65 private schools selected out of 27,000 across the U.S., it was the only military school to be recognized at the time.

Colonel Charles Stribling Jr passed away on December 5, 1983, at the age of 86, and his son Colonel Charles Stribling III passed on September 20, 2017, at the age of 90.  

In 1988, Mr. Strib Koster was elected to the MMA Board of Trustees. In 2008, he was named chairman of the board. Koster is the third chairman of the board, following in the footsteps of his grandfather, Col. Charles R. Stribling, Jr. and uncle, Col. Charles R. Stribling III. Koster is the is co-head of the Basic Industries Investment Banking Group at Citigroup Global Markets.

The 2025 remembrance ceremony was held on March 28, the day before Col. Stribling III’s 98th birthday. Each spring, we commemorate the Stribling family's more than century of lifelong service and contributions.  

A pillar of honor and decency, Col. Stribling III taught thousands of cadets how to be soldiers, scholars and gentlemen. Today, cadets honor his memory and pay their respects by laying a wreath at his gravesite.

In order to maintain Col. Stribling III's legacy for all current and future cadets, a statue of him stands on front campus, a place where every cadet walks daily as they pass from the barracks to Barnard Hall. Artist Javier Campuzano, '82, created the life-size bronze statue of Col. Stribling standing with a cadet. The cadet is modeled after Phil Baum, '63, who donated funds for the project materials. 

View more photos from the remembrance ceremony on Flickr.