Community remembers the lasting impact of the life of Ernestine M. Raclin

SOUTH BEND — Ernestine M. Raclin was the type of community leader and benefactor that any city across America would love to have as its own.

Born and raised in South Bend, Raclin, who died Thursday at the age of 95, served as chairman of what became 1st Source Bank and 1st Source Corporation for more than 20 years after her first husband, O.C. Carmichael, died in 1976.

And after her banking career was over, she continued to focus her energy and resources on helping solve needs throughout the community, according to those who worked with her on some of those projects.

Named for Raclin: New inpatient center for hospice patients to open soon in Mishawaka

Take a look and you’ll notice her family name on many of the buildings in the community and on the campuses of the University of Notre Dame and Indiana University South Bend, which named its school of the arts in her honor.

“She was a truly powerful woman in the best sense of the word,” said Rose Meissner, president of the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County. “Her clout didn’t come solely from her title but from the great respect people had for her. She set a very high bar for community service that her family continues to honor.”

Those feelings are echoed by everyone who crossed paths with Raclin.

“Our family is not only grieving the loss of a caring and wonderful mother and grandmother, but also the loss of a mentor, advisor, friend and an endless source of wit, wisdom and love,” Raclin's son-in-law, Chris Murphy, chairman of 1st Source Bank and chairman, president and CEO of 1st Source Corp., said in a press release issued after Raclin’s death.

Beyond her efforts to improve the community, Raclin also set the standard for 1st Source, Murphy said.

"Her values informed how 1st Source does business every day and how our family prioritizes the wellbeing of our hometown," he added. "Her legacy will live on through her philanthropy and through our continued commitment to community leadership and business growth.”

Among other accomplishments, Raclin was the first woman in the country to chair a local United Way chapter, serve on the United Way of America's National Board of Governors and serve as a trustee of the University of Notre Dame. She also was the first woman to head Project Future and to serve on the board of the St. Joseph County Chamber of Commerce.

Additionally, she was co-founder of WNIT, Michiana Public Television Corporation and Stanley Clark School.

When it came to community involvement, Raclin was especially passionate about economic development, the arts, education and human services.

“Ernie was a moderating and unifying force, the kind of leader I wish we had a lot more of in these very divided times,” Meissner said. “She cared about social justice and addressing racial divides. Her influence was felt across many important issues.”

IUSB impact

Marvin V. Curtis remembers meeting Raclin for the first time after he was named dean of the Ernestine Raclin School of the Arts. “She was quite something,” he said. “I remember her walking down the hall in yellow and pearls, and she gave me my marching orders.”

So what were those? “I guess to bring stability to the school of the arts,” said Curtis, who is now an emeritus dean at IUSB and president of the South Bend Symphony Orchestra’s board of directors.

“Ernestine was a wonderful woman whose vision and her insight to the role of the arts in this community was huge,” Curtis said. “She built upon what her mother did, Ella Morris. Ernestine continued the legacy of the Morris-Carmichael-Raclin family, and we are indebted to her as a community ― South Bend and Mishawaka."

Raclin and her first husband were negotiators for a regional IU campus in South Bend and worked on land acquisition. After that was accomplished, she turned her attention to the arts on campus.

“Her passion for the arts and its transformative power live on, every day, in the programs we offer in communication studies, fine arts, music, theatre and dance for our students and our community,“ IUSB Chancellor Susan Elrod said in the release provided by the family.

Besides being a visionary and benefactor, Curtis also gave a glimpse into the type of person Raclin was.

“She had a great sense of humor,” he said. “I had dinner with her at her house several times. For all the wealth she had, she was a down-to-earth person.”

Those attributes were noted by others who worked with Raclin on projects throughout the community.

Morris Performing Arts Center

Raclin and her family provided the lead $5 million gift toward the campaign to upgrade and expand the Morris, which was named for her mother, who saved the structure from the wrecking ball.

Besides Raclin, the money came from son-in-law Chris and daughter Carmi Murphy and the O.C. Carmichael Foundation.

“Sometimes it’s hard to get the momentum going toward a goal,” said Aaron Perri, who helped lead the project as former executive director of South Bend’s Venues, Parks & Arts. “That was really a big vote of confidence.”

More: What you didn't know about theater-loving woman who saved the Morris

Perri said the $30 million campaign has $3 million to go, having finished $10 million in upgrades to the Morris last year, and now is seeking to build the Raclin-Murphy Encore Center and garage to adjoin the Morris.

“The main thing is, this wasn’t about them,” said Perri, who in June began a job as consultant for a Louisville-based firm, Block by Block, that helps downtowns, transit and park systems, and universities around the U.S. to reimagine spaces that need a lift. “They said they wanted the community to be behind it.”

More: Morris Performing Arts Center receives $1 million donation as 100th anniversary approaches

Projects that are “visionary and meaningful” need that type of support, he said.

Countless other efforts in the arts and elsewhere in the community have likewise benefited without the public noticing, he said.

“That generosity is unparalleled, and it’s humbling,” Perri said.

The University of Notre Dame

The same families also were key to the construction of the new Raclin Murphy Museum of Art, which will replace the Snite Museum of Art. Scheduled to open in late November, the new museum is located on the southern edge of campus.

More: Notre Dame receives gift for new $66 million art museum

“Rarely do cultural angels walk among us that think of the whole community so inclusively and extensively as did Ernie Raclin,” said Joseph Becherer, director of the museum. "We at the Museum are deeply moved to be an important part of her legacy and living history in the forthcoming Raclin Murphy Museum of Art.

“Although we won’t be able to physically walk the galleries together, she will be with us as an inspiration to engage, enliven and offer ourselves to all others through direct experiences with art, with beauty.”

Raclin also was a key contributor to the renovation of the Morris Inn, which was named after her parents, when it was restored just over 10 years ago, again demonstrating the ubiquitous range of the family’s community-boosting endeavors.

More: Morris Inn reopens to public on Saturday

The Rev. John I. Jenkins, president of Notre Dame, said Raclin brought a wise and steady presence to the board of trustees and was a transformative benefactor to the university. "She has also been a dear friend to me and many, and, while we grieve her passing, we celebrate a life well-lived. My prayers and those of the entire Notre Dame community are with her family and friends,” he said in the press release.

Services

Though many have people have built fortunes in South Bend, Mishawaka and the surrounding community over the past 100 years, few have left as indelible of a mark as Raclin and her family members, including her sister Mary Lou and her husband Judd Leighton, whose names adorn several of the buildings their philanthropy helped to make possible.

It’s been no accident.

“Her work will live on despite her not being here,” Curtis said. “When you see the names Carmichael, Raclin and Morris, that was her family. They will live on forever. “

Jeff Rea, president and CEO of the South Bend Regional Chamber of Commerce, agreed. "She believed a lot in her hometown and worked hard to make it a better place," he said. "Her legacy is apparent throughout the community and will be felt many years after her passing."

There will be a visitation at 2:30 p.m. July 18 at The Basilica of the Sacred Heart at the University of Notre Dame followed by a Memorial Service in the Basilica at 3:30 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that people send donations to The Boys and Girls Club of Saint Joseph County, the Center for Hospice Care in Mishawaka, The South Bend Symphony Orchestra, The Stanley Clark School, The University of Notre Dame or a charity of your choice.

Tribune staff writer Joseph Dits contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Ernestine Raclin is gone but her legacy will live forever in South Bend