Northridge : CSUN Student’s Gift Raises Flag, Lifts Spirits

DeleaLou Rayburn’s face said it all.

As the flag she donated to Cal State Northridge’s Oviatt Library was being hoisted Tuesday over the heart of the sprawling campus, her eyes moistened and her cheeks reddened with joy.

Just a few months before yesterday’s ceremony, 40-year-old Rayburn said, “I was walking by the library and I looked up and saw the flag was tattered.”

The flag’s deterioration sent Rayburn on a personal quest to do something about it.

The single mother of four and full-time psychology senior with a 3.8 grade-point average found that a new flag would cost $360.

Rayburn spent 10% of her financial aid money on the 12-by-18-foot flag, which she planned to donate anonymously to the university. But a mention of the gift to a friend, Tony Teresi, president of CSUN’s National Leadership Society, culminated Tuesday in an official presentation of the flag.

While the school band played and a Marine honor guard presented the colors, President Blenda Wilson accepted the flag and commended Rayburn for her efforts to strengthen a university still recovering from one of the costliest natural disasters in history.

“It’s really fitting that this flag be raised here in front of the library where we celebrated after recovering from the 1992 earthquake,” Wilson said. “Especially since it is literally the center of the campus.”

“I could not let this pass by anonymously,” Teresi said. “This could be a catalyst for other students to get involved.”

When the flag was finally raised, Rayburn received thanks from students, administrators and library employees.

“If you give back, all the thanks you need you get here,” Rayburn said, smiling and lightly touching her own chest.