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news
CSULB alumna
among victims
By Jamie Rogers
On-line Forty-Niner
Cal State Long
Beach lost one of its own Tuesday when United Airlines Flight
175 carrying Dorothy de Araujo crashed head-on into the side
of the south tower of the World Trade Center in New York.
De Araujo was traveling
home to Long Beach after a three-week visit with her son,
Tim de Araujo in Bedford, Mass., a suburb of Boston.
De Araujo was a
long-time faculty member of CSULB, starting in the clerical
pool and later working as secretary to the CSULB business
manager.
"She was my
friend from the very beginning," said Louise Plusch,
who was in charge of the clerical pool at the time. "She
was a good friend through all of the years. She came to the
college in 1959 and worked for more than 20 years. She worked
on and off to get a fine arts degree. She was way up there
in the years but she worked until she earned that."
De Araujo not only
studied art at CSULB but also at several institutes in the
United States and abroad. She eventually graduated in 1992.
In Sao Paulo, Brazil, de Araujo studied pastel painting under
French painter Colette Pujal. She also studied with watercolorists
Rex Brandt, Robert Wood and Noel Quinn.
Her paintings appeared
in exhibits at the Villa Riviera Building, the Orange County
Fair, Barnsdall Park All-County Shows, Griffith Park, Hollywood
Bowl Sunday Shows, Long Beach Symphony Association, San Luis
Obispo and Santa Barbara county fairs, Annual Naples Breakfast
Shows, and the Annual Sea Festival Shows in Long Beach. She
also donated many paintings to several colleges on the CSULB
campus.
"She had a
number of art exhibitions around Long Beach," said Barbara
Parks, editor and writer for University Publications. "She
traveled extensively and studied art in Brazil. She was born
in Chicago and began taking art classes at the Chicago Art
Institute when she was 15 years old."
De Araujo retired
from CSULB in 1983. She completed her bachelor of fine arts
in 1992, emphasizing in drawing and painting. She lived on
Naples Island for 30 years where she owned a home.
She remained active
in the community throughout her years, working as a member
of the Fine Arts Affiliates, the Long Beach Art Association
and a member of the Collectors Club. She was a staff emirati
at CSULB and was known by friends as a generous person with
both her time and talent.
"Everybody
liked her," Plusch said. "Her son had breakfast
with her Tuesday morning, then he put her on a plane and that
was it. It is just terrible. When a friend is a part of this
it makes it that much worse. I don't even realize it yet."
De Araujo is survived
by her son, his wife Rita and their two children, Jonathan
who is finishing his last year of college this year and Jason
who is a senior in high school. A memorial service will be
arranged in the near future.
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