Ask a Wabash student to name his safe haven, and you may hear about the office a Wabash staff member—times spent working with Sports Information Director Brent Harris, working out with a member of the coaching staff, or talking in the lobby of the Dean’s office with Dean of Students Secretary Sherry Ross.
Ask a brother in one of the College’s fraternities, and you may hear about the house cook.
The Lambda Chi cook for 17 years until her retirement in 199k, Louise Rouse died last November. Wabash College physician Scott Douglas ’kk, a Lambda Chi during Louise’s tenure at the house, brought these words in remembrance:
When we pass away we live on in the memories of those we leave behind. That is what we all pray for; that our life made a difference in others for which we are remembered. For Louise these are memories of her love and warmth held by her children, grandchildren, other family members and friends. But her life was more. There is a generation of men who are now scattered around the globe whose lives have been touched by Louise.
Men who spent four years of their lives living and eating at the Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity who came to know and love her for many reasons, the least of which was that we honestly believed we had the best cook on campus.
Men who when returning years after graduation, above all else, sought out Louise to tell her about their successes and their sorrows.
Men who even today when returning to the fraternity look at the chapter photos and recall wonderful memories triggered by her picture.
She is, in a sense, memorialized in the history of the Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity at Wabash College. She will be emblazoned indelibly in our memories. We can only thank her family for sharing Louise with us.
—Scott Douglas ’84
Photo: A grateful Lambda Chi associate (circa 1970) gives Louise a birthday kiss during a house celebration of their favorite cook.