Monday, August 11, 2008 9:28 PM CDT
COLUMN: An ambassador of goodwill
By BILL LAIR, Managing Editor
blair@jg-tc.com
Many of Eulalee Anderson’s friends stopped by the Neal Welcome Center Sunday to bid her farewell at an open house.
Mrs. Anderson (I have never been able to call her Eulalee) is moving to Missouri to be closer to her daughter.
Mrs. Anderson has lived in Mattoon and Charleston for more than 45 years so quite a few folks stopped by to say goodbye.
Unfortunately, the gathering of friends was not as great as it could have been.
But that’s because some of Mrs. Anderson’s best friends are scattered around the world. They are the international students who have come through Eastern Illinois University and the area for the past 40-plus years.
Mrs. Anderson has been Eastern’s ambassador to the world for many years.
She isn’t able to get around as comfortably as she would like so she is moving to be near family. It’s our loss.
Cheryl and I have known Mrs. Anderson for about 15 years. We were introduced to this special lady by a former Rotary Youth Exchange student who had returned to Charleston to attend Eastern.
Our paths have crossed many times ever since. Two years ago, we invited Mrs. Anderson to join us at Thanksgiving.
My family has hosted a number of international visitors for Thanksgiving dinner over the years.
Among those at the table were Brazilians, Russians, a Chinese family and our son-in-law, who is from South America.
Mrs. Anderson sparkled, even though she is approaching 90 years. She spoke Portugese, Spanish and even a little Chinese with the others. She also knows some German, French and Russian.
She comes by it naturally, having been born in Brazil to American parents.
She and her husband Rudy moved to Mattoon in the 1940s. Not too many years later, she got involved at Eastern.
In a 2001 Journal Gazette/Times-Courier article, she said:
“My interest in international students is natural. I find them fascinating and I like to help them,” Mrs. Anderson said. “When I came to the U.S. from Brazil, I thought in Portuguese. That’s why I understand international students. I know the problems facing those students. I empathize with them.”
She soon began attending events at Eastern and never stopped going, whether it involved concerts, plays, international teas, speakers or other gatherings.
She attended every Eastern graduation for more than 40 years so the international students would have a friend at the ceremony to take their photos and celebrate their achievements with them.
“She saw the importance of globalization way before others in East-Central Illinois recognized it,” said Sue Songer, the current international student adviser at Eastern. “She was a pioneer. She was so tenacious at looking out for (international students).”
Mrs. Anderson earned her bachelor’s degree in economics from Oklahoma University in 1940. She later achieved three master’s degrees from Eastern: in Spanish, in student guidance and counseling and in gerontology.
She was the university’s international student adviser from 1973 to 1978 and she has been the international students’ good friend for the past 30 years.
Others have noticed her contributions.
She was selected as a Woman of Achievement by the university’s Women’s Advocacy Council, was named one of Eastern’s Outstanding Graduate Alumni in 2005 and is a past recipient of the Eastern Alumni Services Award and the Livingston C. Lord Distinguished Service Award.
In 2004, she was awarded an honorary doctor of public service to go with her three master’s degrees.
The Mattoon Exchange Club also named her a Book of Golden Deeds recipient.
She also got involved with the Coles County Retired Senior Volunteer Program helping at the Lincoln-Douglas Debate Museum, Tarble Arts Center, International Teas, social services at Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center and hospice.
And she was the runnerup in 1994 in Eastern’s search for the design of the university’s Centennial Lapel Pin.
But international students are her passion. After the Sept. 11 attacks altered the kind of personal information that was available to non-family members, Mrs. Anderson no longer could get from Eastern contact information on newly arriving international students.
But Mrs. Anderson attended Wesley United Methodist Church in Charleston, which hosts a luncheon for international students each fall.
Mrs. Anderson offered to work the table that handed out name tags and, as the international students picked up their name tag, she had them write their local address and phone number for her.
Mrs. Anderson has visited 32 countries and, according to Songer, has maintained contact with dozens of former international students all over the world.
She is one of a kind. There won’t be another person like her in our community.
Brazil had a saying, “Live to Serve,” she once said. Her father also started Rotary in Brazil, a club built on serving others.
And because she was taught that motto as a child, serving has always been a part of her life. “I was born feeling I owe my life to help.”
She certainly has done her part. Eastern and the Charleston-Mattoon area are better places because of her service.
And many people around the world have a better image of this area because of the caring nature of Eulalee Anderson. She will be missed.
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