Nov. 20, 2006
MEDIA ADVISORY
Contact: Stacia Momburg
805-756-6260
smomburg@calpoly.edu
THANKSGIVING FEATURE OPPORTUNITY
Who: Sophie Hutching Cubbison, founder of Mrs. Cubbison’s Stuffing
What: Cubbison, dubbed the “Martha Stewart” of her era, graduated from Cal Poly in 1912 with a degree in Home Economics
When: Monday Nov. 20 and Tuesday Nov. 21.
Nancy Loe, head of special collections at Kennedy Library and assistant dean of collection management, is available for interviews. She is an expert on Cal Poly history with insights about the campus environment in 1912.
Digital black and white photos of Cubbison at Cal Poly in 1912 are available via email Monday, Nov. 20, contact Stacia Momburg at smomburg@calpoly.edu.
Where: Cal Poly’s Kennedy Library for in-person interviews with Loe. Please call Stacia Momburg to arrange an interview time.
Background: "Mrs. Cubbison" was indeed a real person -- and is a Cal Poly alumna. She had a hand in one of the key dishes in annual Thanksgiving feasts. Long before women became regulars in the corporate world, the 1912 graduate -- Sophie Huchting Cubbison -- parlayed her knack for baking and her Cal Poly home economics degree into a successful company that still bears her name. “Mrs. Cubbison’s” pre-packaged stuffing and dressing mixes are a fixture in grocery stores throughout 11 Western States.
Cubbison, born in 1892, learned to cook growing up on her family’s ranch in San Diego. As a teen she worked in two mobile field kitchens, cooking five meals a day for family and ranch hands, from breakfast at 5 a.m. to supper at 8:30 p.m. At Cal Poly, she played on the women's basketball team.
The 1912 "Polytechnic Journal" and yearbook lists her as "Sophia Hutching -- A girl of great ability as a student and an athlete. She played three years on the girls' basketball team, and was a representative in the girls' tennis contest. In her junior year, she was president of the class and secretary of the Student Body. In her senior year she was the treasurer of the Student Body and a member of the Journal Staff."
After graduating from Cal Poly in 1912, Sophie Huchting married Harry Cubbison, and the couple took out a $300 loan and opened a bakery in Los Angeles. He delivered the bread and built up sales accounts; she did the baking, in-store demonstrations and giveaways in markets and delicatessens.
In 1925, the couple launched “Mrs. Cubbison’s Melba Toast and Zwieback.” The dried bread products boomed after being linked with movie star weight loss diets. As her company grew, Sophie Cubbison continued baking at home. Friends raved about her stuffing -- and she decided the company should launch a pre-packaged poultry stuffing line.
The male sales staff in her company didn’t think the idea would work and advised staying in the melba toast market, but Sophie Cubbison prevailed. The stuffing line was launched in the 1950s, and Mrs. Cubbison’s stuffing is in grocery stores and kitchens across the West.
Before her death in 1982, Cubbison created two endowment funds for Cal Poly. Since then, the Sophie C. Cubbison Discretionary Endowment has grown to more than $140,800; the Sophie C. Cubbison Food Science & Nutrition Endowment has grown to some $23,500. Interest from both endowments is used to aid departments and education
For more details on alumna Sophie Huchting Cubbison, visit www.mrscubbisons.com.
Top photo courtesy of Mrs. Cubbison's. Middle photo: Sophie Hutching, 1912 "Polytechnic Journal" yearbook. Bottom photo: Cal Poly 1912 'Girls' Basketball Team,' with Sophie Hutching seated in the middle row, right of the CPS basketball.
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