She Wanted to Become a Taxpayer

by Dorothy Wynne

I remember one student, Elaine, who, despite many medical problems, wanted desperately to get her history degree. She was a little older, probably in her early thirties. She also had some emotional problems; she was residing in an assisted living environment. She would come in and sometimes have to drop out of classes because she was ill, but she kept saying she wanted to get a degree because she wanted to pay - she wanted to become a taxpayer. I thought that was the most unusual goal. She wanted to pay back some of the money she had gotten through social services. Dr. Plesur, who was also in history, was very helpful to her and she latched on to him.

I happened to have a little collection of pandas in my office. One Christmas she came to our holiday party and wanted to give me a little panda because of the help I had given her. I was very upset that she had spent any money, because as I said, she was broke. She had a great sense of humor. She said she had been housed with a woman, and she said, "She's crazier than I am," and it didn't work out. So we worked out her schedule, and she went off.

That January I got a call that she died of pneumonia just a few days before. So Milt Plesur and I wrote a letter to The Spectrum pointing out that she may not have been an average student, but she was really someone worth knowing. The thing that amazed me was that no one from The Spectrum followed up on our letter. No reporter called to ask why Milt and I felt Elaine was so special. They did publish the letter, but I think it was because Milt's name was on it.

I often think of her and I've still got the little panda that she gave me. As I say, she really wanted to get that degree, and she worked as hard as she could, certainly overcoming a lot of problems.