To Be Brave

A non-traditional student who has overcome many obstacles is ready for whatever comes her way.

Story and photo by Myasia C. Butler

This woman is brave. She has been through it all — from dining with Martin Luther King Jr. to walking across the Mexican border every day to go to school in El Paso, to helping her husband battle cancer. Now she is fighting to complete her bachelor’s degree in English at the age of 63. Some people take the easy way out, making short cuts and avoiding hard work, but Rosa Maldonado-Lilledahl is not one of those people.

"Waking up at 4 a.m. to take three buses across the border, not speaking a word of English, Lilledahl trooped to school at the tender age of 6 years old."

Born to cotton pickers on October 28, 1946, in Juarez, Mexico, Lilledahl is the eldest of six sisters and two brothers. Growing up in a traditional Hispanic household where family is first and education is continuously stressed, Lilledahl had many values instilled in her as a child. Being the oldest meant taking on a lot of responsibilities.

While her mother and father got on bended knees and picked cotton under the scorching Mexican sun, Lilledahl had to hold down the house. She had to babysit her siblings until her parents returned from work. Waking up at 4 a.m. to take three buses across the border, not speaking a word of English, Lilledahl trooped to school at the tender age of 6 years old.

She sits with one hand on the table and the other shaking in her lap. Her gray bob is snuggled to her high, tanned cheekbones. She has fine wrinkles on her face, but her beauty overpowers any physical flaw that old age has brought. Her almond-shaped eyes are filled with nostalgia, with slight clouds of tears covering her pupils as she recalls some of her childhood memories.

One of her fondest childhood memories is when she was too sick to attend her dance recital.

"I knew it was something I had to finish. I do not like to start things and not finish it."

Lilledahl recalls, “I woke up and thought it was Monday morning. My grandfather told me that I was too ill to make it to my recital. I was so disappointed, and I think my abuelo (grandfather) could tell. So he made the living room into the stage and let me perform my dance as my family watched.” 

When Lilledahl graduated high school, she was valedictorian and won a scholarship to Pitzer College. She planned to major in linguistics. She had learned three languages, and she acted as her family translator because her parents still didn’t know English. At the time, Pitzer college was just established, and Lilledahl was a part of the first incoming class.

She had received scholarships from numerous colleges in California, but she wanted something different. She chose Pitzer College, which was a part of the Claremont colleges, a group of several institutions that are renowned for academic excellence. Lilledahl received $10,000 for her four years there.

As tuition began to increase, her scholarship money began to dwindle away, and she could no longer afford Pitzer. Lilledahl decided to take time off from college so she could save money and go back. Little did she know she would not return until she was 63 years old.

"If Godzilla was in her way, she would kick him in the shin and make him her dinner if he didn’t move."

“I knew it was something I had to finish. I do not like to start things and not finish it," she says.

But things have changed since she was a girl. Lilledahl has lived through several tribulations, and she still does.

Every morning, Lillendahl wakes up at 4 a.m. to sit in a cold room hooked up to machines that rid her body of deadly toxins.

For two years, Lilledahl had helped her husband, Shon, with his health problems. He suffered from a rare form of stomach cancer. While Lilledahl stood by his side, she neglected her own health. On the day her husband passed away, Lilledahl learned that she was legally blind. Her retina was damaged, and her kidneys were failing after years of having type 2 diabetes and not treating the condition. Lilledahl considers her diabetes a challenge, and refuses to let it defeat her before she completes her major task — earning her bachelor’s degree.

“Throughout my lifetime, I had started many small businesses with my husband, but when he passed, I knew I had to do something to keep myself occupied. It was school or sit at home and rot in front of the television,” Lilledahl says as she chuckles and holds on to her wrist.

When Lilledahl lifts her sleeve, there are two bulging bandages that cover the cathode tube that is implanted in her arm for dialysis. The tube makes it easy for doctors to take out blood, but it leaves bruises

 “At first I had the tube implanted in my chest but it was very dangerous because it can lead to heart attacks, so they removed it and put it in

my arm,” Lilledahl says as she pulls down her sleeve.

 “Lilledahl is a determined woman; she does not let anything stand in her way. If Godzilla was in her way she would kick him in the shin and make him her dinner if he didn’t move,” says Betty Ann Dumont, an employee of Plattsburgh State University. “She’s the type of person that makes you appreciate what you have.”

“At first I had the tube implanted in my chest but it was very dangerous because it can lead to heart attacks, so they removed it and put it in my arm.”

Despite the many obstacles in her life she has managed to turn the negative into a positive. Lilledahl plans to graduate Plattsburgh State University, where she holds a 3.85 GPA, in May 2011. She says she was contemplating attending graduate school, “If my body allows me to.”

 “Lilledahl’s passion for education is inspiring. She has a dream and she's going to finish it,” says Thomas R. Thompson, Lilledahl’s critical reading professor.

“I think as her teacher the roles have changed, and I am the student and she is the teacher. She has taught me a lot.”

Have you overcome any obstacles during your journey through life?

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