Sally Rudolph grew up in a small town in southwest Wisconsin. She liked chemistry and thought she might become a medical technologist. A flyer from the University of Wisconsin-Madison prompted her to pursue pharmacy as a career.
“My parents raised me — I didn’t realize it at the time, but I do now — looking back there weren’t any barriers,” Rudolph said. “They didn’t let me know about those."
In the 1950s and ‘60s, most women were limited to careers in nursing, teaching or secretarial work; many were expected to be homemakers.
“I didn’t think much about it. I thought I could do whatever I want,” said Rudolph. “So, I did.”
Rudolph was one of five women in her class of 60 pharmacists. “It was unusual, but I didn’t think much of it,” she said.
Despite her can-do attitude, Rudolph was surprised to be named a McLean County History Maker, one of the county’s highest honors awarded to remarkable residents aged 70 and older.
She said she teared up when she found out she was becoming a History Maker.
“I’m tearing up now thinking about it,” she said. “It was just so wonderful and really surprising. I had no idea I was nominated.”
Rudolph joins Rob Fazzini and Father Doug Hennessy as this year’s class of History Makers. They will be honored during the McLean County Museum of History’s annual gala June 18 at Illinois State University’s Bone Student Center.
Rudolph's family moved to McLean County in 1965. Her husband, Lee, spent his career at the Illinois Farm Bureau. Like her parents, Sally Rudolph’s two children knew no boundaries. Their daughter is a village president in suburban Chicago; their son is an Emmy Award-winning music director with Sesame Street.
Rudolph’s long list of accomplishments includes a decade on the McLean County Board and 25 years on the Zoning Board of Appeals — much of that time as chair. She said in hindsight, she’d “always been a local government person,” but it was an invitation to join the League of Women Voters in 1969 that really catalyzed Rudolph’s political ambitions.
Rudolph participated in the League’s observer program, assigned to sit in on Normal Town Council meetings.
“I was a very young woman, and it was a very eye-opening experience,” she said. “I said to myself, ‘I could do that,’” she said. “I think sometimes we’re too in awe of that sort of thing. I got over that.”
Rudolph edged out a crowded field of eight candidates for her seat on the McLean County Board, serving during some of its most productive years. A structural transformation abandoning the Board of Supervisors led to an influx of new board members and the hiring of the county's first administrator. The Law and Justice Center and the McLean County Nursing Home were built and Comlara Park was developed.
“It was very congenial,” said Rudolph. “There wasn’t the partisanship there is today. I can’t explain [exactly] why. It wasn’t even thought about whether someone was a Democrat or a Republican.”
Rudolph admits that might have to do with a huge Republican majority on the board in her era. In November’s election, the board tilted to a Democratic majority for the first time in its history.
Regardless of the member’s political leanings, she said the board “has to make it work.” And she has a lot of admiration and respect for those who raise their hands to serve.
“It’s difficult today,” she said. “The whole political scene is changing so rapidly.”
After five decades of civic engagement, Rudolph said the best way for community members to appreciate the role of local government is to see it in action — just as she did as a council observer with the League of Women Voters.
“It’s people just like them that are doing good and hard work for their governmental unit,” she said. “They need to see it for themselves more than anything I could say.”
