Missionary work, travel is passion for Tom Nation
By Sharita Forrest, Assistant Editor 217-244-1072; slforres@illinois.edu
Before you ride an elephant, “Take Dramamine.” That was Tom Nation’s advice to anyone contemplating travel by pachyderm. Nation, who retired from the Purchasing Division on Aug. 31, and his wife, Linda, took an elephant ride on one of the three trips they’ve made to Thailand, where they do missionary work, conducting Bible classes and church services. The Nations travel to the city of Chiang Mai, then to the seven villages in the hill country that are served by Able and Ruth Sairattanyu, who are missionaries and friends of the Nations. The Nations also help support 10-year-old Je-ra-da, one of 25 children at the orphanage the Sairattanyus run, where Je-ra-da and the other children receive schooling, religious training and vocational training working at the catfish hatchery, chicken farm and orchard operated by the orphanage.
During the Nations’ previous trips, Tom helped a preacher who runs a mill in the village mill rice, even though neither of them could speak each other’s language. The villagers speak a tribal language, not Thai, although the Nations have learned some Thai from cassette tapes and a book that they bought at a used book sale at the Champaign Public Library.
The Nations became acquainted with their friends when the Sairattanyus visited a Tuscola church to talk about their mission work and recruit church members to help. Not knowing Thai or the tribal language used by the villagers might have been daunting to some people, but not to the Nations. “If you let fear override you, you miss out on so much later,” Linda said.
When they return to Thailand in January, the Nations are looking forward to seeing a boy whose birth they witnessed during their last trip. A nurse and her daughter who accompanied them last January delivered the baby in a bamboo hut and pulled a thread out of a woman’s dress to tie off the umbilical cord.
Prior to their missionary work in Thailand, the Nations lent their helping hands to other missions, having worked on Indian reservations in South Dakota, in Chile and building houses for disadvantaged families served by Habitat for Humanity in Tennessee, Mississippi and Georgia. In a voice choked with emotion, Nation recalled the excitement shown by a boy whose family was to be the beneficiary of the house they were working on. “He was excited that he was going to have his own room and that the roof wouldn’t leak,” Nation said.
Since Nation’s retirement in August, he’s been helping a farmer with his harvest. During the third week of September, he and Linda drove to the Lancaster, Pa., area in their 1941 Studebaker for an international meet of the National Studebaker Drivers Club, one of two organizations for Studebaker enthusiasts to which they belong. “We try to make all of the meets,” Tom said, and added that despite the car’s age it offers a comfortable ride. The Nations also own a 1960 Studebaker Lark convertible, which Tom bought in 1972 by paying a $15 tow charge.
Nation, who began work at the UI in 1990, spent his career in the Purchasing Division, reaching the rank of purchasing officer IV before he retired. “The people were good to work with,” he said, when asked what had kept him in the same department for 17 years.
A native of the Springfield area, Nation earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural industries from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 1973 and worked as a parts manager for a farm implement dealer and for a company that sold drainage tile equipment before he joined the UI’s staff. The Nations are the parents of Kristin, 29, who is a nurse at Carle Clinic, and Courtney, 23, who works for Community Care Systems Inc. in Villa Grove, an in-home health-care provider.
For Sappenfield, retirement revolves around family
By Sharita Forrest, Assistant Editor 217-244-1072; slforres@illinois.edu
Within a month last spring, Betty Sappenfield celebrated her golden wedding anniversary with her husband, Delmar, and her retirement after more than 20 years on the UI’s staff.
“I’ve never been bored a day in my life,” said Sappenfield, a vivacious mother of four and grandmother of 10 whose days revolve around family activities – coordinating care for Delmar, who grapples with multiple sclerosis and the effects of a stroke two years ago; attending many of their grandchildren’s softball games, T-ball games and other activities; and helping their 12-year-old granddaughter with her paper route after school.
“Our family is very close and the support of the kids is unreal,” Sappenfield said. “The grandkids are so compassionate; all 10 are amazing with their grandpa. They’re the first ones to help him get out of the van.”
Last year, Sappenfield joined their daughter, Lisa, and her children in Pasadena to watch the Fighting Illini play the University of Southern California Trojans in the Rose Bowl, a Christmas gift from Lisa to her mother, who, along with Delmar, is an avid Illini fan and season-ticketholder for football and basketball.
Family is the nucleus of Sappenfield’s life, and she is eagerly anticipating the upcoming holiday season and a visit from their son who lives in Dallas. “I look forward to doing some Christmas shopping and baking my cookies and making candy in the daytime,” instead of squeezing it in, sometimes into the wee hours, around her work schedule, Sappenfield said. “I love to cook and make up recipes.”
No doubt her former co-workers will feel a bit wistful in her absence this holiday season; one has already mourned the loss of the chicken and noodles that was Sappenfield’s specialty at office potluck dinners.
Sappenfield began her career with the UI as Extra Help and worked in a couple of different units, including the Institute of Aviation where she was “bumped” out of her job after two years. When she started interviewing for other jobs on campus, she received simultaneous offers from the Office of Continuing Education and the Division of Rehabilitation Education Services, but her children nudged her toward the job with Conferences and Institutes in Continuing Ed.
In Conferences and Institutes, Sappenfield was teamed with Elaine Wolff, the unit’s program director, and together they coordinated the myriad details – such as registration, scheduling speakers, and arranging food and lodging – for about 15 events each year on campus and in locations such as Baltimore; Chicago; Jackson Hole, Wyo.; Italy and Sweden. A perk to her job, Sappenfield found, was occasionally being able to travel to the destinations for on-site coordination during the events.
Although keeping track of the innumerable details involved with staging a large-scale event might have some people at their wits’ end, Sappenfield found that her occupation fit her perfectly. “The job was pretty much made for me,” she said. “I was organized and details mean a lot to me. You couldn’t assume anything,” and she double-checked everything to ensure that drivers, speakers and caterers would show up as planned and not leave participants stranded, uninformed or hungry.
“It was very interesting work,” Sappenfield said. “There were always things coming up that were different. I was always busy and there were lots of deadlines.”
As much as she enjoyed her job, since her retirement at the end of April, Sappenfield has been relishing retirement: reading, gardening, doing cross-stitch projects, playing golf, rooting for her favorite sports teams and decorating her house for the upcoming holiday season. “I love being at home,” Sappenfield said.
One part of her job that Sappenfield especially enjoyed was constructing the databases that the office uses for registration and other purposes. Although Sappenfield has a computer in her home, she’s resisting pressure from her children to get Internet service and e-mail. “They’ve been bugging me to get it, but I have no desire to,” Sappenfield said. “Who wants to sit in front of a computer all the time?”
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