Elon University recently renamed Global Commons to Sato Commons after Toshio Sato — the first international student to graduate from Elon in 1920. However, Sato wasn’t the only international student attending Elon at the time.
There was also 35-year-old Modesto Lopez from Spain.
Elon Archivist and Assistant Librarian Randall Bowman said he is not sure when Modesto Lopez arrived to Elon’s campus, but he was here at the same time as Sato. Though Lopez was a Spaniard, he moved to Elon from Cuba.
“Mr. Lopez had not learned to speak English, so we could not know him well, but his ambition and efforts were worthy and commendable,” Bowman read an excerpt from the Christian Sun, a newspaper of the church Elon had been affiliated with before the university became a multifaith campus.
Bowman said he imagines that Elon supplied Lopez with a translator to help him with his classes and school work. Bowman said he is not sure if Lopez was the first international student to attend Elon.
“I don’t know if he’s absolutely the first, but he’s the first to pass away,” Bowman said.
Lopez died Oct. 11, 1918, after contracting the flu that soon turned into a devastating case of pneumonia. During this time, the Spanish Influenza was well underway, with its initial breakout starting in Kansas in March 1918. Fifty million people died worldwide, compared to the 7.1 million people who died during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the Christian Sun, then-University President Harper and his wife opened their home to tend to those in critical condition from the flu. Lopez died there, and Bowman said he received the best medical attention the school had, according to information the archives have.
According to Bowman, there were only eight students who did not get sick during the Spanish Influenza pandemic. Four students, including Lopez, died during the pandemic.
Lopez’ untimely death began to raise some questions.
“Apparently, the college reached out to the Spanish consulate, which would have to have been in Washington, and on advice of the consulate, he was buried here in the town of Elon,” Bowman said.
According to Durwood Stokes’ book, “Elon College: Its History and Traditions,” the Spanish consulate was unable to arrange the “disposal of the body.” A Christian Sun article published in 1918 said Lopez is buried in Lot No. 113 in what is known today as Magnolia Cemetery.
“This is most likely the case due to the fact that there was a World War going on, plus a pandemic on top of it, and plus travel and moving human remains back then, as it was a vastly different world than today,” Bowman said.
According to the Christian Sun article, students and friends had covered his grave with flowers.
Bowman said he sees the importance of keeping a file about Lopez.
“It’s important as a historical record, because of just the significance of the fact that he was an international student among the earliest, definitely, and that he passed away here in extraordinary circumstances,” he said.
Bowman said he finds stories like Lopez’s interesting.
Senior Alan Kornbluth is an international student from Venezuela. After hearing Lopez’ story, he realized that the history of international students on Elon’s campus never came up during his time at Elon, except at international student catered events.
“It’s tragic. I mean, he didn’t graduate,” Kornbluth said. “But it also kind of reminds me of the current political climate and how a lot of international students are essentially banking on making it because of college.”
For Bowman, it’s stories like Lopez’ that put joy into his job. Due to the fire in 1923, Bowman said there are not many primary sources he can go off of.
“We have a few, but not that many,” Bowman said. “So just having this information is significant.”
Trista Panagakos contributed to the reporting of this story.