Note: This article originally appeared in the Nov. 28, 2001, print issue of the Gargoyle. We are republishing it in conjunction with Friday's art auction, "Uni Celebrates the Arts," which will take place from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Alice Campbell Alumni Center in Urbana. The auction will feature more than 20 pieces donated to Uni by Ellie Stoddard Seibold upon her death in May 2002. Ellie graduated from Uni in 1950; half a century later she established the Ellie Stoddard Faculty Support Endowment Fund. Money from the auction will go to the endowment, while ticket proceeds will benefit the Uni fine arts department. The author of this article, Gerry Shih, was a Uni sophomore at the time he wrote it. He now works for The New York Times.

In this photo taken in November 2001, then-Director John Hedeman celebrates with Ellie Stoddard Seibold upon her announcement of a $100,000 gift to the school. Gargoyle photo by David Porreca (click to enlarge)

Ellie Stoddard as she appeared in the 1950 Uni yearbook. (click to enlarge)

IT WAS THE fall of 1946 — the day when the daughter of the new president of the University of Illinois first arrived at the doorsteps of Uni High.

Ellie Stoddard was a newcomer to Champaign-Urbana. Her father, George Dinsmore Stoddard, had been dean of the graduate school at the University of Iowa and commissioner of education and president of the University of the State of New York before taking over at the U of I.

But for the next four years, Ellie truly felt that she was at the one place she could call “home.” Her high school days were so important to her that more than 50 years later, she returned to Uni to present a gift of $100,000 to the school.

Now Ellie Stoddard Seibold of New York City, she announced the gift at the Nov. 2 faculty meeting. The setting was appropriate, because the gift is intended to support faculty members as they pursue professional development opportunities, such as Uni-related travel and research.

The $100,000 donation establishes the Stoddard Faculty Support Endowment Fund. The interest generated from the fund will provide $5,000 per year to selected Uni teacher(s) for professional development support. To be considered for a “Stoddard,” faculty members must submit an application explaining how they intend to use the funds. Applications for the first Stoddard Award are due on Feb. 1.

In explaining why she made this gift, Seibold said: “‘Home’ was Uni High. The faculty was very kind and helpful, especially those who seemed most to care about students. You can have the very best students in the world, but they still need guidance now and then and a feeling of personal interest and contact. I would not want you to lose such faculty or that relationship.”

As Director/Principal John Hedeman put it: “Ellie feels very attached to this school. When she came here, she didn’t know anyone, and it was the faculty who gave her a lot of attention. She knows that they’re still trying to do this today, and she now wants to give something back.”

The fund honors Seibold’s parents, the late Margaret Trautwein Stoddard and the late George Dinsmore Stoddard, who was the 10th president of the University of Illinois, serving from 1946 to 1953.

Seibold, whom music teacher Rick Murphy called the “spunkiest Uni alum,” vividly remembers the days when she strolled down the halls of Uni High as a student herself.

“Uni High in the late ’40s — well, the outside was exactly the same,” she recalled. “The school itself is a lot different inside even if it doesn’t show when you first walk in.”

Seibold was a very involved student, serving as her junior class president, senior Student Council representative, and officer of various other clubs and committees. Her main hobby in high school was singing. She acted in plays during her freshman through junior years, and she was a veteran of four years of the Uni High mixed chorus.

But is it fair to call her the perfect student? In certain classes, the students granted themselves the liberty to play hangman on the desks. “If you started giggling or whatever and got kicked out of class, the punishment was to be sent to the library, which was a treat of course,” she said.

Ellie married Frederick Seibold in 1957, and they have two children, Emilia “Amy” Seibold and Mark Seibold. Until her semiretirement, Ellie was the owner and manager of the Gallery of Graphic Arts, Limited, in Manhattan.

“I have almost nothing but fond memories [of Uni High],” she said, “which some would say means I blocked out all the others. Perhaps. But the friends from then, 50 years ago, are still my friends today. Seeing them at reunions reinforced my wanting to do something special. I figure the students will benefit, too.”