CONWAY, Ark. (August 16,
2021) – The Hendrix community is saddened by the August 1 death of Eloise Raymond,
who taught in the Hendrix College Department of Economics and Business from
1951 to 1988.
She cam
e to Hendrix alongside
her husband, Dr. Albert Raymond, who was hired to teach biology (and who
retired as the inaugural Virginia A. McCormick Pittman Distinguished Professor
of Biology). The pair were married for 66 years, until Albert’s death in 2012.
Eloise Raymond’s obituary highlights her work for the
advancement of the accounting profession and her mentoring of Hendrix students
as part of that work. She received the President’s Award from the National
Association of Accountants in 1986-87 and was lauded by the American Institute
of CPAs in Arkansas for bringing students to the organization’s meetings to introduce
them to opportunities for networking and education.
In the James E. Lester
Jr. book Hendrix College: A Centennial History, Eloise Raymond is cited
as one of two faculty members responsible for bringing the first courses in
computer programming to Hendrix in 1973. Because of her efforts, by 1982, more
than one-fourth of Hendrix students received some form of instruction in
computer science.
Dr. Lyle Rupert ’82, C.
Louis and Charlotte Cabe Distinguished Professor of Economics and Business at
Hendrix, knew Raymond first as his teacher and academic advisor, and later as
his colleague when he joined the faculty.
“I loved her teaching
style – energetic, challenging, and supportive,” Rupert said, noting that her
encouragement influenced his decision to attend graduate school and to teach. “I
ended up attending her alma mater, the University of Chicago, and was thrilled
to be offered a teaching job at Hendrix. She continued as my mentor and helped
me get a good start to my teaching career. I have many fond memories of her
that I will cherish the rest of my life and appreciate the positive and lasting
influence she had on me.”
Rupert also shared a
story about Raymond’s energy level impressing her students in the 1980s: “Our
classroom was on the third floor of Mills, about even with her office on the second
floor. She came into class and set her materials down. She made a comment about
leaving a certain handout in her office and exited the classroom. Within
seconds, she was back in the classroom with the handout. We concluded she must
have jumped over the railing from the third floor to the second floor,
retrieved the handout, and climbed back up over the railing to get back to the
classroom so quickly. There was no way she had time to use the stairs!”
In addition to her work on
the faculty, Raymond was active in the Hendrix Dames, a group that contributed to
scholarship fundraising efforts, campus beautification, and graduate banquets,
among other improvements to the College; and in First United Methodist Church,
where her activities included helping to start the Clifton Day Care Center, a
nonprofit that provided childcare for low-income workers.