FLORA PENNELL
DODGE
Flora was first employed at Illinois State
Normal University (ISNU) in 1890 as secretary to President John W. Cook. Other ISNU presidents whom she served as
secretary to were Arnold Tompkins, David Felmley, Harry Brown, and R.W.
Fairchild.
Flora was hired because of her ability to
operate one of the first typewriters in the community.
She could also operate a hectograph, an early
version of a copy machine. These
abilities were considered special accomplishments at that time. Her services were sorely needed by the
administration of a growing and dynamic educational institution. Flora’s
starting salary was $7.00 per week,
with the understanding that a portion of her wages would come from her
providing instruction in shorthand and typing to those who desired it. Her regular duties were taking dictation,
typing letters, mailing out catalogs, and keeping records of faculty
and
graduates. In time, she could no longer
take time to give lessons in shorthand and typewriting.
In 10 years, her annual salary rose from $360
to $480, a raise of $2.00 per week (20 cents per year)!
She was undoubtedly a wonderful asset to the
administration, and she was definitely a bargain!
One example of Flora’s expertise in her
job was that on top of her regular duties, she learned simplified
spelling,
which was favored by President Felmley, although it was not universally
accepted. Simplified spelling largely
meant not using silent or double letters in words.
During Felmley’s presidency, catalogs, board
reports, university bulletins, even the cover of The Index,
ISNU’s yearbook, employed simplified spelling. Part
of Flora’s job was to keep track of when
and to whom to use conventional spelling vs. simplified spelling.
During the last seven years of her
employment, she served as the Alumni Secretary.
As Alumni Secretary, she undertook to keep an organized
record of alumni
by securing names and addresses, photo where possible, and other
information on
over 10,000 alumni. She kept the
information on index cards, and sought addresses in the Alumni
Quarterly. Flora finally retired on July
1, 1941, after
51 years of faithful service.
Flora’s sense of humor came to the foreground
in a lighthearted letter to Madam Askmee’s Department in the 1910 Index. Flora related that she and Pres. Felmley were
having a friendly contest in which she kept track of the mistakes in
correspondence they both made. At the end
of the year, the one who made the most mistakes must buy the other a
box of
chocolates. Flora was anxious that the
tally would either make her look incompetent or would cause him to be
offended. She asked, “Which shall it be,
Scylla or Charybdis?” (The phrase between Scylla and Charybdis means
being in a
state where one is between two dangers and moving away from one will
cause you
to be in danger of the other. Made famous in Homer’s Odyssey
and Greek myths).
In her personal life, Flora never
married. However, for the 51 years that
she was associated with ISNU, she was wed to her job and had a large
alumni
family to which she faithfully attended.
She had lived her entire life in