Hood Senior Studies Legacy of President Truxal for Mt. Olivet Cemetary

Here’s a question: How much have you thought about the design of your furniture, or a special woodcraft item?  

Chances are that you have not given it much thought once you bought it and put it in your home. Yet at the same time, many could not imagine their living space without intricately patterned wooden furniture or decorative objects. Plastic seats and toys do not invoke the same feeling of homeliness and completeness.

The person to thank behind these designs in the woodwork is called a turner. A turner is one who works in woodturning, the craft of carving wood into various shapes and patterns using a lathe and handheld tools. Like a potter does with clay, a turner turns a seemingly ordinary piece of wood into something new and improved, connected to yet distinct from what it was before.

​Now, there are not any famous or revolutionary woodturners known to be buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery. But there is a “turner” interred here that did help craft materials into improved versions, and just like many turners, he has often been forgotten despite the great impact he had. I am referring to one Andrew G. Truxal (1900-1971), third president of Frederick’s famous Hood College as well as the first president of the renowned Anne Arundel Community College.

Mr. Truxal fits the turner mold in two ways. “Truxal” is derived from a German word for “turner,” with the name having many variations including Troxel and Traxal. Like many surnames, people likely received it due to their professions as woodturners. Mr. Truxal was far removed from any woodturning ancestor, but he fit the term in a more metaphorical way. Just as a turner turns wood into something new and special, Mr. Truxal as an educator helped turn young minds to more knowledgeable and moral individuals. It is even more fitting for him specifically, as he was especially concerned with the character of his students, perhaps selectively so.

Continue reading the full story at mountolivethistory.com/stories-in-stone-blog.