A Higher Glyphic

Media Credit: Jason Johnson Ryan Rendleman, a former journalism student at SIUC, died as the result of a car accident April 29.

Editor's Note: Ryan Rendleman, the student who reported this story, was killed in a car accident April 29. He put together this slideshow as a part of an assignment in online journalism class in the spring semester of 2007. The written story was reported for the Daily Egyptian on April 18, 2007. We have chosen to publish his work again in his memory. The story below was selected by the jlab staff.

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Carolyn Collier had to leap from her moving taxicab to avoid being harmed.

Collier, 53, who is commonly known by students as the "Soup Lady" or "Lunch Lady," said she was working the 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift at Carbondale Yellow Cab more than five years ago when she was threatened by a customer.

She said she jumped out of the moving taxi in order to avoid harm from a thief, who escaped with $30.

"It got too dangerous, really, for anybody to drive," she said.

The cab scare motivated the Murphysboro native to seek employment in the food service industry at SIUC.

She began working in the Student Center, but shortly after she started she slipped on water and fell into a freezer, forcing her to have surgery on her shoulder.

The incident got her transferred across campus to the Communications Building, where she has served students, faculty and staff for almost five years.

Collier, the oldest of three children, said her parents ingrained in her a hard work ethic she still carries.

Collier said her parents were more strict with her because she was older, but she said it didn't stop her from running away to Mexico when she was 14 years old with her best friend and her friend's boyfriend.

"My mom and dad had the FBI after us," she said. "They finally caught up with us and held us."

Collier said she married her fiancé, a man nearly 10 years her senior, a month after she returned home. Two years later she had her first of four children.

By the time Collier was 24 years old, she was divorced after a 10-year marriage. She said she faced many pressures as a "baby raising babies."

"It was hard because I was still a kid," she said. "You don't know what to expect when you're just a kid."

Now that she is older and wiser, Collier said she is able to help those who are inexperienced like she was. She said she enjoys interacting with students and helps them whether they have relationship problems or need money to buy lunch.

Despite her gruff tones, she said she likes the students.

"I know I give a lot of them a hard time, some of them are scared of me," she said.

Evan Kimball, a senior from Carbondale studying cinema and photography, said Collier seemed short-tempered when he first met her, but he realized she just liked to joke around with her customers.

"After a while, when you get to know her, she's really talkative, really nice," he said.

Kimball said Collier has developed friendships with both students and staff.

"All I can say is once you get to know her, it's good to have her around," Kimball said.

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