More than six months after his death, the memories of NIU English professor Gustaaf Van Cromphout remain potent within both the department and university.

Morgan Kathleen Giles, a graduate of NIU, has begun collecting memories to preserve his legacy.

“I remember at his funeral, it was a two-hour wait just to get through line. And even when we left, it was still a two-hour wait,” Giles said.

Her father, English professor James Giles, was a good friend of Van Cromphout.

“As I was waiting there, I was hearing all these interesting stories all around me,” he said. “I wanted some way to record them, to show Gustaaf’s family.”

Giles began to document these stories on tape, as part of a tribute to Van Croumphout.

Over time, the project has evolved to a full-fledged biography, covering the life of Van Cromphout, who developed a fascination with America after his Nazi-occupied home of Belgium was liberated by American soldiers in World War II.

“I want people to know I will come to them if they can’t get to NIU,” Giles said. “If they have anything about Gustaff, from a memorable story to just something they want to say, I want to hear it.”

Jan Vander Meer, administrative secretary for the English Department, agrees Van Cromphout’s legacy should not pass away with him.

“We came from common backgrounds,” Vander Meer said. “He was from Belgium and I was Dutch. He’d always come into the office [as part of his] routine. It just became a routine that I miss.”

Wanda Giles, James Giles’ wife, has many fond memories of Van Cromphout.

“We knew him since forever,” Wanda Giles said. “We had dinner with him and [his wife] Luz. We remembered sitting with him and just listening to him, just how much he loved people.

Van Cromphout never forgot the American liberation of his home, Wanda Giles said.

“He became a professor of classical American literature,” Wanda Giles said. “He became more aware of what it means to be an American than most of us who are just used to it.”

It is memories like these that Morgan Kathleen Giles hopes will sustain the narrative course of her biography.