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Willie Sue Smith Stewart, Reagan Classmate, Dies
EUREKA, Ill. (AP) -- Willie Sue Smith Stewart, the last surviving member of the Eureka College Class of 1932 that included Ronald Reagan, is dead at age 101.

College President J. David Arnold says Stewart died Aug. 17 in Houston. He did not reveal the cause of death.

According to Arnold, Stewart had a distinguished postgraduate career as an educator "after coming north as a young African American woman from Houston, Texas to study 'neath the elms at Eureka College."

Arnold told The Pantagraph in Bloomington that he visited Stewart and her family before her 100th birthday last year.

Arnold said Stewart shared stories about taking classes with Reagan, "including that she passed notes between `Dutch' and his girlfriend."

Stewart was among 41 graduates in the Class of 1932, earning a degree in English.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
08 20 11 by Newsroom
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