The sights there were devastating and the statistics frightening. Their guide, a Polish man who had once been the Ambassador to England, had spent six years in seventeen different camps. Years later, Eloise was asked how she felt about this experience.“ I don’ t really know,” she responded.“ After seeing the results of torture, it still is inconceivable that there could have been human beings capable of such monstrous acts. To say the least, I was soul sick. I cried for hours until a very wise, older regular Army nurse slapped me, shook my shoulders, and said,‘ You are going to be a basket case.’ That was the second time she had done that – the other was the first time our own American boys were brought in to the hospital from the battlefield and I was shocked, shaken by the sight. So was she, but she was more mature and wiser.”
Following the war, Eloise and her late husband, Howard, settled in West Los Angeles. I asked her what attracted them to Westwood United Methodist Church and she laughed, then said,“ Howard and I used to read to each other every night before we went to sleep. We had been reading a book by the theologian Rupert Jones, and we happened to drive along Wilshire and saw that Reverend Mel Wheatley was preaching on this man the next day. We attended the service and never stopped going to this church.”
Through the years, Eloise was involved in nearly all phases of church life: working with Children’ s Ministries, Friends of the Preschool, Staff-Parish Relations Committee, Administrative Board, Membership and Evangelism Committee, and The United Methodist Women. For years she has opened her home for church picnics and choir parties and frequently volunteers to coordinate receptions following Memorial Services – always providing grace and elegance.
As a former pastor, Reverend Dr. Jim Lockwood-Stewart, stated so eloquently,“ My very first event at Westwood when I came as an Associate Pastor in 1968 was a youth pool party at Eloise and Howard’ s home. Their daughters, Suzanne and Lisa, were members of the youth groups at that time. And, of course, Eloise was one of the leaders of the farewell reception when Odette and I left Westwood to move to Berkeley in the summer of 1992. In between, and I know before and since, Eloise has filled just about every important role that a pastor and a church community can ask. From Sunday School classes
to property care, from personnel concerns to hospitality, from an analytical voice to a supportive presence, Eloise has been all of these and more. The hard question would be to find any important aspects of the life of Westwood UMC that have not felt the touch of Eloise’ s skilled and caring hands. To know her is a great gift indeed.”
Most recently, Eloise was honored by the Westwood Village Rotary Club as Rotarian of the Year for her more than forty years of service. She is the first woman to receive this prestigious honor.
I believe that Eloise’ s thoughts best summarize her life of service. She wrote:“ What did I learn from these( war) experiences? I think I was too young to have answered that then, but later I think my philosophy was partially molded from those three years in the service. And that is: the importance of home, family, and our faith in God. The fundamental principles of morality and the enormity of the experiences are something never to be forgotten. Perhaps, as Dr. Albert Schweitzer said,‘ The purpose of life is to serve, to show compassion, and to be willing to help others.’”
God bless you, Eloise, for your life of service and the example that you provide to all whose lives you touch!
Bette Caldwell is Assistant Principal, Secondary Counseling Services, at San Pedro High School. She has served as Editor of The Spire and the Los Angeles District page of Circuit West, as well as Chi State News, a publication of The Delta Kappa Gamma Society International. She has been a member of Westwood UMC since 1964.
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