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L

ouise “Lou” Kearns’ memorial outside the entrance of the Slocum Supply Store is packed with sticky-notes of love and well-wishes. Pink daisies and white lilies dot the display, along with a small knitted mitten. But, among these more typical gestures is a collection of Lay’s potato chip bags.

Rachel Ly, a fifth-year architecture student at Syracuse University, said the chips are a memento. Ly worked with Kearns, who was the manager of the Slocum Supply Store.

“(Lou) frequently asked us — during (our) shifts — to buy her snacks throughout the day, and her favorite request was usually a bag of Lay’s for her to snack on,” Ly said in an email to The Daily Orange. “For her memorial we wanted to do something that honored her — something like an inside joke for all of us working, for her and her alone.”

Kearns died on April 14, School of Architecture Dean Michael Speaks announced the following day. She had worked at the university for 27 years.

Three students in SU’s School of Architecture — Dylan Fromm, Jediel Ponnudurai and Jingge Zhao — created a petition shortly following Kearns’ death. The group, along with at least 160 other architecture students, signed on to name the Slocum Supply Store after Kearns.

Between the School of Architecture’s undergraduate and graduate populations, there are around 820 students in the program. Over 19% of the population of the entire school signed the petition.

As of 11 p.m. on Wednesday, the petition received 224 signatures in total.

The store is integral to students in the School of Architecture, serving as a hub where students can buy materials for their modeling projects.

In a school-wide email Wednesday, Speaks confirmed that the bookstore will be renamed. The sign, which greets students as they walk through the College Place entrance of Slocum Hall, will read “Lou Kearns Supply Store” starting Thursday afternoon.

Fromm and Ponnudurai wrote an email together to The D.O. saying Kearns deserved a permanent memorial to honor her. The pair noted her hard work, kindness and diligence.

“(Renaming the store is) the best way to ensure that Lou’s immeasurable contribution to the work of everyone in the architecture community is remembered by future students who sadly cannot have the privilege of knowing her,” Fromm and Ponnudurai wrote.

Maya Simms, a third-year student in the School of Architecture, said Kearns would always ask about projects architecture students were working on and provide any advice she could.

“Lou was the best kind of person to run the supply store,” Simms wrote in an email to The D.O. “I’m abroad this year, and it still hasn’t set in that someone else will be running the store when I get back to campus.”

Simms recalled that at the very beginning of her freshman year at SU, she found herself overwhelmed by the options in the store. She was building her first-ever model and was faced with the choice of dozens of glues. Kearns talked her through which glues were the best to buy, Simms said.

Other students such as Luis Martin Lopez, a fifth-year architecture student, shared similar stories.

Kearns’ experience in the shop was helpful for younger students, Lopez said. Different professors in the school have different styles, and through Kearns’ work and conversations in the supply shop, she was able to point people in the right direction based on which professor they had. She was also extremely familiar with the materials in the store, as she was an artist herself who specialized in ceramics and metalworking, Lopez said.

“Lou, to the architecture school, is kind of like a grandmother,” he said.

Ly had been receiving advice from Kearns even before Ly started working at the shop. As the two got closer over time, their conversations moved from advice on materials to life outside of architecture, she said.

Once the two were working together, Ly saw how Kearns worked with other students.

“She was a light in many people’s lives and was kind to everyone that she met,” Ly said. “Love was her way of life, and I’m sure that everyone that met her could see that.”

Lopez, starting in his first year at SU, also worked in the store with Kearns. He said students would come to the shop to not just buy their materials, but for a shoulder to cry on. She was the main draw to work at the store, Lopez said.

Third-year architecture student Lisa Sandson called Kearns a friend and a confidant. Sandson said the School of Architecture can sometimes be stressful, but that Kearns was a tranquil, calm presence in the building. She was a voice of reason, Sandson said.
“She genuinely thought of us as family,” she said.

Ying Na Li, a fifth-year student in the architecture school, said she started working with Kearns this semester. In an email to The D.O., Li said that Kearns would invite students over who were not going home for the holidays. Li said she and Kearns shared so many special little moments that they both cherished.

“I honestly think that the emotional support that she (gave) students and the love that she showed all of us was a huge point of positivity,” Sandson said.

Ly said she and her co-workers always thought Kearns would see them walk and receive their diplomas. Kearns would constantly talk about how excited she was for the ceremony in mid-May, Ly continued.

“When she left us, we were all distraught at the fact that she wouldn’t be there to be with us,” Ly said. “However, I think throughout all the time we spent with her and the fond memories (and) lessons we made with her, she’ll always be with us.”

To end the email announcing the name change, Speaks thanked students who supported the effort to change the name of the store.

“The bookstore has always been and will always be Lou’s,” he wrote.

Photo illustration by Meghan Hendricks | Photo Editor