Members of the Elon community gathered in Whitley Auditorium March 7 for a College Chapel service to celebrate the life of Dr. Isabella Walton Cannon '24, who died Feb. 13 at age 97. Details...
Chaplain Richard McBride opened the service by sharing video clips of Cannon’s commencement speech to the class of 2000, as well as her interview two days later with Bryant Gubmel on the CBS Early Show. “It’s a Wonderful World,” by Louis Armstrong, a song she requested be played at her funeral, was also played for the chapel service.
President Leo M. Lambert shared the eulogy he read at her funeral, held Feb. 16 in Raleigh. He said that Dr. Cannon is remembered as a person who stood for strong principles. He said her life serves as a call for commitment to public service.
“There are simple, everyday acts we can perform that Isabella would have admired as much as a special occasion honoring her: to commit ourselves to service in our own neighborhoods and communities, to recognize that communities are interconnected all around the world, to love our neighbors, to nourish the poor in spirit, to speak up for the downtrodden, to live fully and to live joyfully. This is our charge.”
Students Rich Evans and Ashley White, both Isabella Cannon Leadership Fellows, shared their thoughts about Cannon, who endowed the Fellows program and the Isabella Cannon Centre for International Studies at Elon. “It was clear to me early on that Dr. Cannon was no ordinary alum, giving money to Elon,” Evans said. “She had a clear vision for her program.” He alluded to the fact that Cannon, who had no children of her own, considered Elon students as her symbolic children. “As one of her many sons, I hope to have a life half as rich as her’s, in both experience and enrichment.”
John Barnhill ’92, assistant to the vice president for institutional advancement, first met Cannon when he was an undergraduate. “She never, ever thought of herself as old,” Barnhill said, adding that Cannon didn’t believe in slowing down or shying away from new challenges. “She would challenge us, to this day, that we should live our lives fully.”
Involved in public service most of her life, Cannon made history in 1977 when, at age 73, she became the first woman elected mayor of Raleigh. Known as the “little old lady in tennis shoes,” she had never run for office before her election.