Tuesday, January 15, 2008 10:37 PM CST
A caravan of camels: Collection showcases a lifetime of world travel for Eulalee Anderson
By Nicole Milstead
She sits on her overstuffed couch with perfect hair and makeup as if she was in a film opposite Fred Astaire straight out of the 1930s.
She spends most of her time on that couch, surrounded by the mementoes of her trips all around the world. She rarely leaves her Brookstone Estates apartment now, let alone travel the world, but she has a fire in her eyes as if she were still on an adventure.
In the 1950s, oil was needed in the United States and the Middle East was flooded with geologists to assist in the mining process. Eulalee Anderson of Charleston was relocated there with her husband, a geologist. The land was filled with adventures and it was there that Anderson’s camel collection started.
“I felt sorry for (the camels) really. They would load them down with so much stuff and then (people would) climb on top of that,” she said.
She started buying and collecting camel figurines. Some of her figurines are small; others have real hair or are carved out of rare woods.
Anderson tells stories of far-off worlds, different cultures and how they all have played a part in her life.
At the age of 88 Anderson doesn’t get around like she used to. She hasn’t traveled out of the country in a while, and she is comfortable in her apartment at the assisted living center. She sits in the middle of her fluffy couch, no taller than the back, and tells the stories of her life.
She was born in Brazil and came to the United States with her family at the age of 16. She was a senior in high school and had never had a class in English.
“Before we came here I spoke Portuguese and went to a German school,” she said.
She had always been interested in language and went on to college at the University of Oklahoma. She was told by her adviser that because she was going to be in the international program she had to take classes in home economics because she had a house girl growing up.
“At the time I was like ‘OK, sure’,” she said.
While at Oklahoma, she met her husband, and they moved to several different places because of his work.
More than 300 camels from all over the world are crammed into display cases in her one-bedroom apartment. There are 600 eyes looking at her — 600 eyes that have seen the far-off lands she has seen. Other people brought her some from their travels, as well.
“There are camels in places you would never expect there to be camels, like Australia,” she said.
Her grandson and two great-grandchildren live in Australia but she gets to see them every day.
She has a small digital picture frame in her apartment connected to a modem. Her grandson uploads pictures in Australia so she gets to see her grandchildren and great-grandchildren from Charleston.
After moving around the Middle East for a short while, her husband brought her to Mattoon because there were oil interests there.
It was her love for university life that brought her to Charleston. She found out that Eastern Illinois University was close, and she couldn’t wait to get back to the atmosphere that surrounds a university. There is such desire and passion in a university, Anderson said.
She first started coming to Eastern for the symphonies.
“I would get there so early to get front row seats,” she said, laughing. “Now that I sponsor the symphony I always have a seat.”
She also started working with the international students. She advised then for years, and hundreds of them became a part of her life. She has their wedding pictures displayed in her apartment and the ones who are still close by come to see her.
Anderson was able to help them fit in, and learn the culture and language as they taught her theirs. She was honored the first Saturday of October at the first international students reunion.
She said the real honor was seeing all those students she had once loved. Her love caused her to form the Eulalee Anderson Fund for International Students.
“I am specific about what to do with my money,” she said.
She said she was always the proudest of them on graduation day. Anderson has volunteered at and seen hundreds of graduations at Eastern.
“My husband used to say, ‘How do you sit and listen to the same speeches over and over?’ I just loved it,” she said.
She would always make an effort to find the families of the international students she worked with.
“I didn’t know all their languages, but I tried to make them feel welcome,” she said.
For her efforts she was awarded an honorary doctorate from the university in 2004. It now hangs on the wall in her apartment with her many national awards, next to her cases of camels.
In her living room on the overstuffed couch, Eulalee tells her stories, the fire still in her eyes.
Milstead is a graduate student in political science at Eastern Illinois University.
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