Ted Loftus

Three Loftus brothers from Tomahawk, Wisconsin — Art, Jule and Ted — enrolled at the Alaska Agricultural School and College of Mines in 1922, the first year of classes. Unlike most other students who found lodging in Fairbanks five miles to the east, the brothers filed for homesteads and built a 20-by-22-foot cabin in the flats south of the campus. With the two McCombe brothers, they made up the university’s “full house” basketball team.

Ted married Audrey Stanfield of Fairbanks in 1927. He graduated with mining degrees in 1927 and 1928 and had a long career with Fairbanks Exploration Co., which operated massive gold dredges in the Fairbanks area.

Audrey, who graduated in 1949, became the alumni association director in 1956.

More online about Ted Loftus:

• A brief obituary for Ted Loftus
• A recording of Ted Loftus speaking at the Sept. 13, 1962 rededication of the cornerstone
• Ted Loftus’ recollection of an early field trip to a mine
• Ted Loftus’ recollection of the first basketball team
• Art Loftus’ description of life at the Loftus brothers’ cabin