(262) 653-0667
3016 75th Street, Kenosha, WI 53142
Eileen Powers Buchanan, age 80, died on Saturday, November 21, 2020 in Kenosha, Wisconsin, of complications arising from Coronavirus.
Eileen was born on June 18, 1940. She graduated from Evanston High School and received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Northwestern University. She married David Buchanan on June 18, 1961.
Eileen taught briefly at Mount Carroll High School. In 1967, she started teaching at Shimer College. She and Shimer shaped one another for the next forty-five years.
Eileen was preceded in death by her husband, David Buchanan, and her sister, Anita Prouty. She leaves her sister, Jean Todd; her brother, Arthur Powers; her children Elisabeth Buchanan (Karl Juskevice), Katherine Buchanan (Darius Peckus), and Rebecca (Richard Carter); six grandchildren; and a large “Shimer Family” whom she counted as her own.
Casey Family Options Funerals and Cremations
Stephen P. Casey, Owner/Funeral Director
3016-75th Street (262) 653-0667
www.CaseyFamilyOptions.com
Mon - Fri: 8AM - 4PM
(262) 653-0667
3016 75th Street, Kenosha, WI 53142
Elizabeth Vandiver says:
I remember Eileen’s classes with great fondness, and playing Natasha in Three Sisters and Olivia in Twelfth Night under her direction were wonderful experiences. But my favorite memory of her is of her personal kindness to me. I was one of Eileen’s students in the Shimer in Oxford program in the Fall of 1975. When I cracked a bone and tore a ligament in my ankle and couldn’t walk, she took me in as though I were her daughter and let me stay with her family until my ankle healed enough that I could manage the 3 flights of stairs to my bedsitter. It was late in the semester and she insisted that I stay with them through Christmas, including me seamlessly in her family’s celebrations. I have never forgotten her generosity and in my own career as a professor tried to “pay it forward” whenever I could. She will be missed. My deepest condolences to Elisabeth, Kate, and Becky, whom I remember as delightful little girls in 1975.
Jim Lazar says:
In the fall of 1969, I left Los Angeles, a 16-year old boy who knew EVERYTHING. Two weeks later, when placement exams were over for me as an Early Entrant at Shimer, the universe of knowledge had suddenly expanded so explosively that I knew only enough to place out of Hum 1 and Soc 2.
Which meant I landed in Hum 2, a class which I detested. Taught by a hot young babe professor, Eileen Buchanan, whom I adored. At least until I figured out she was married.
I detested two things about Hum 2. First, we had to read all these books. Fiction books. Literature. I didn’t read that sort of stuff. I still don’t. Then, we had to write something about what we’d read. I detested that, because I figured out I could not fake that part with reading the books.
But failure was really not an option. It was 1969. There was a place for young men who had not finished high school and did not stay in college. That place was Vietnam.
Indeed, failure was not an option. So I read the books. And I wrote the papers. And my tutor helped me turn my words into sentences. And my professor helped me turn those sentences into paragraphs.
I eventually determined that being a Great Books scholar was not my calling, and I wandered off to eventually get a degree in environmental economics. I’ve had a long consulting career in energy economics. And my ability to write has been a very important part of that career, something that has set me apart from most of my colleagues.
I’ve written dozens of pieces of expert testimony, a form of writing at least as obtuse as Haiku. And much longer. I’ve written dozens of technical reports. In my current role, as an instructor and trainer in energy policy, I’ve written handbooks on a variety of technical subjects dealing with utility regulation and energy conservation.
There is no question that learning to express myself in the written word has been an important part of my success. I detested that class. But damn! It was good for me. Nothing. Nothing was more important than learning to write.
Thank you. You made a difference.
matthew oconnor says:
Eileen was a professor of mine at Shimer in 1996-97. She was wonderful and warm. She seemed old and wise even then. She had a way of correcting your grammar without seeming pedantic or making you feel stupid. In terms of literature she never lectured or pushed her own opinions – just drew ours out and guided the discussion in traditional shimer professor fashion. She was more than a teacher of one of my classes though – she was an institution at Shimer. Kind of the unofficial matriarch of the whole place. I hadn’t thought of her in years until i learned she’d died. Aging sucks and should be abolished. We still need her wisdom.
Jeanette Johnson says:
I’m so sorry to hear about Eileen’s passing. She was a wonderful educator. I was fortunate to have her for my Humanities instructor at Shimer. She was also Director of theater at Shimer. I performed in a couple few plays which she directed although I was not part of the theater class. I remember she once told me that that she saw me as an actress, a model or a flight attendant. I did not choose either path. I actually chose that of an educator. She will be greatly missed for her inspiring words if wisdom that she always have me.
CM Heinisch says:
Hi Jeanette, I would really like to connect with you.
Christine H
Jeanette Johnson says:
Hi, omg!!! I just saw your message. This is so bizarre because I was just thinking about you the other day. How are you ? I’m looking forward to hearing from you.