The oldest member to graduate from Eastern’s Board of Trustees degree program died this week after living life to the utmost caliber.

Mr. Richard R. “Dick” O’Dell, 90, of Monticello, received a standing ovation when he graduated from Eastern this past winter as possibly one of the oldest graduates in Eastern history. He was “an example to students” getting straight A’s and devoted himself to earning a degree in the BOT program for approximately two years, Kaye Woodward, director of the BOT program, said Wednesday.

“He was a wonderful learner and experiencer,” she said. “He truly exemplified what life-long learning is about.”

Mr. O’Dell loved learning and felt age was “not a valid reason” to not go back to school, and strived for achievement in school, Emily Pierce, Mr. O’Dell’s granddaughter, said Wednesday.

“He thought age was a state of mind and he really valued education,” Pierce said. “He really loved his whole Eastern experience.”

Mr. O’Dell died Monday at 11:31 p.m. of a spontaneous intercerebral hemorrhage, a bursting of a blood vessel in the brain, and Pierce said it put him in an “instantaneous coma” at Carle Foundation Hospital.

By coincidence, just two days before his death, Pierce said Mr. O’Dell drove 400 miles to visit his brother, 96, and sister, 91.

Since 1932, it was Mr. O’Dell’s life-long goal to graduate from college. Twice Mr. O’Dell attempted to attend college, but his parents’ deaths and his house burning down proved to be obstacles to his dream, she said.

Mr. O’Dell was involved at Parkland Community College when he heard of Eastern’s BOT program and grabbed hold of the opportunity to make his dream a reality, Pierce said.

The BOT degree program is designed for working adults ages 25 and older. A major is not required and skills and knowledge acquired in a non-academic way can by evaluated for academic credit.

“We’re really saddened (by his death),” Woodward said. “An excellent student.”

Before entering the BOT degree program, Mr. O’Dell taught school in Effingham and Fayette from 1929 to 1934. For the next four years he clerked and administered for a government farm program in Vandalia and Piatt County from 1938 to 1966. From 1966 to 1986, Mr. O’Dell was vice-president of National Bank of Monticello. He also served on the Central Illinois Board of Pensions for 16 years.

During his 50 years as a member of the Monticello United Methodist Church, Mr. O’Dell was a men’s bible class teacher for 15 years, a Sunday school teacher for 34 years, served on the administrative board and council for approximately 50 years and served on stewardship, finance and chairman committees.

Visitation hours are Thursday from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Monticello United Methodist church, 212 S. Independence St. Funeral services are being held Friday at 2 p.m. at the Monticello United Methodist Church.

“He lived his life up until the day he died,” Woodward said. “He wasn’t just an observer, he was a participant.”

Born in Farina, Ill. a brother to 10 siblings, Mr. O’Dell is survived by his second wife, Catherine; daughters, Martha Harter and Judith Stanley; brother, Morgan O’Dell; sisters, Louise, Leona Johnson, Amelia Engelhardt, Odessa Bean and Lillian Gaston; seven grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.

He is preceded in death by his first wife, Emma, two brothers and two sisters.