Another woman talks enthusiastically with Sandra Taylor, former curator of manuscripts in the Lilly Library Reading Room in 1977. Photo courtesy of University Archives, P0029465

Prepared by Indiana University experience

This experience with uncatalogued primary source materials came full circle during Judy’s professional career when she served as president of the James Jones Literary Society. Jones was a noted mid-20th century World War II novelist, winner of the National Book Award for From Here to Eternity. Judy traveled to the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas-Austin to examine some of their then-recently acquired Jones materials. This research was in preparation for a Jones Symposium in Paris.

In The Thin Red Line, the sequel to From Here To Eternity, Jones chronicles his experience as an infantryman in the Guadalcanal campaign, including the time he killed a Japanese soldier in one-on-one combat. Jones was so distraught about killing the soldier that when a photo of him with his wife and their baby fell out of his pocket, Jones kept and cherished it.

Warned by the Ransom Center that the materials she was examining weren’t cataloged, they asked Everson to let them know if she found anything of note. “When I was going through the folders, I saw this small envelope, unmarked, and I opened it up and out fell the photo.” No longer was the incident in The Thin Red Line only about suddenly having to defend himself or die. Seeing that photo added to the pain James Jones had written poignantly about.

“I was prepared for that moment by Edwin Cady and the Lilly Library.”

Developing love for IU

While Cady fueled Judy’s love for research, Robert Gray Gunderson had a similar impact on her approach to teaching. “He brought his passion for 19th century American history and rhetoric into classrooms with undergraduates. This was a guy, honest to God, I think he lived in his mind in the period that he taught and was writing on,” Judy remembered. “I will never forget how much energy and enthusiasm he brought to the task of teaching. He was a wonderful inspiration.”

Just as prolific faculty enriched Judy and Dave Everson’s academic experience, the campus landscape and resources provided a wealth of landmark moments. “I came from a series of small and smaller southern Indiana towns where I had never enjoyed a live symphony concert, an opera, or a foreign film. I had never seen real art, world-class art. My idea of a library was just a little one-room building staffed by volunteers, if at all,” she stated. “When I got to IU, I was like a kid in a candy store. For the first year or so Dave and I were walking around the historic part of the campus marveling at the auditorium, the Lilly Library, the Art Museum, and the Von Lee Theater.

“We made friends for life. We developed interests like opera, art, and foreign films that stayed with us. It was just a wonderful experience.”

Out of adversity comes opportunity

Indiana University did a remarkable job preparing the Eversons for their careers as professors in academia. This includes the fortitude to deal with an unfortunate challenge during Dave’s first stop at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. Campus nepotism rules prohibited faculty spouses from also pursuing teaching opportunities at SIU.

“Two good things happened. Most importantly, I had our son Chris, and that was wonderful,” Judy said. “Then Sangamon State in Springfield, IL formed in 1970, and they were willing to interview Dave and me separately, to consider us individually on our merits and our credentials, to hire us into different colleges -- he in social sciences, me in the arts and sciences.” She felt like she was in utopia. “I got to use what IU had prepared me to use.”

Judy Everson feels that the interdisciplinary nature of her IU coursework distinctly equipped her to be among the 45 founding faculty at Sangamon State, which became University of Illinois-Springfield (UIS) in 1995. “They needed people with versatile training. I had this double doctorate. I could teach American history because of Dr. Gunderson. I could teach American literature because of Edwin Cady. I could teach public speaking because communications had been my other major,” she said. “In a way, my versatility was an asset as a founding member. I think if you're going to be a founder of anything, you have to be fluid.”

Judy points out that this pedagogical flexibility entrenched them in Central Illinois. “Through the years, Dave and I each had a number of offers to leave (Springfield),” Everson said. “We had expended so much intellectual energy into establishing that institution that the thought of separating from it was very hard. We just had too much invested here in the campus and the community and our son’s education and all, that we just couldn't let go.”

Just as Gunderson and Cady mentored Judy, hundreds of Sangamon State/UIS alumni can attest to Judy’s influence on their success. For example, Cheryl Peck was working as a journalist at the Decatur (IL) Herald-Review in the 1980s when she decided to pursue her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Sangamon State. She then became Director of Public Relations at UIS and endowed a UIS professorship in Judy’s name.

“I was absolutely flabbergasted and overwhelmed. It was a wonderful act,” Judy said. “Cheryl said that when she endowed that professorship, she wanted to pay tribute to how the classroom became a life-changing experience for her. Who knew that in the 1980s, when she entered my class on American literature between the World Wars, that it would come to this?”

Judy pointed out that endowing a faculty position broadens the field, changes a department, and in turn transforms the school. “It just snowballs. It's a wonderful thing.”