Carolyn Holloman WarmSun and Larry J. Cooke

This fund is being established by Carolyn Holloman WarmSun and Larry J. Cooke in gratitude for her experiences at Southern Illinois University. This is Carolyn’s story:

I grew up in Vincennes, Indiana. My father had a third grade education and my mother completed seventh grade. Later, when her three children all had college degrees, she got her GED! Dad worked as trackman for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad: a hard, dirty, grueling outdoor rain sleet snow hot sun job. He died at 66. Although he did not have much education, he knew it was the route out of poverty for us kids. We were told from day one that we would find a way to go to college, be professional people, and be financially independent. All three of us completed at least a BA.

I graduated from Lincoln High School in 1960 and worked as a secretary (having been steered to vocational education since I was a poor, bused from the country kid). I saved every dime in order to go to Valparaiso University for my freshman year. Even with their help and a job on campus, there was no way to continue. A friend of my brother told me about SIU. I applied, and even as an out-of-state student, with National Defense Education Loans, activity fees waived, and a campus job, I could do it.

Personal problems got in my way, and SIU let me withdraw in my Junior year. I went to New York City on a greyhound bus, got a job at Chase Manhattan Bank in the Economic Research Department, and began to pull myself back together such that I went to NYU’s Washington Square Campus four nights a week. It was clear that I could not continue that-they took my college credits to make up for my lack of proper high school education and I was starting in a deep hole. Even though I was young, it was also exhausting to work all day and go to school four nights and study all weekend. So back to SIU I went and, again, was helped. I was on the Dean’s list thereafter, because I was really ready. And graduated in 1968. A Masters Degree at University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, was possible because of an Education/Employment stipend through Ana State Hospital, and my new husband’s GI bill.

But SIU made it possible. The University helped me all the way along. Let me withdraw and come back and still helped me. I could not have done it otherwise. I have always said that if I can, I will leave money to SIU so that other kids like me who had the dream but no fairy godmother, could do it. My goal is to help them succeed—both in getting their degree and in life. And should some one of them show great promise and wish to continue to a Master’s Degree and
need financial aid to do that, these monies may be used for that purpose also. This is the fulfillment of a dream for me-to be able to give back to a kid like me.