Photo courtesy Mid Illinois Senior Services

On Tuesday, October 6th Barbra Wylie, Director of the Peace Meal Program at Sarah Bush Lincoln Hospital, spoke to local Sullivan seniors at Mid Illinois Senior Services, Inc. The topics included how the program works, who it serves, the service area, and the work that goes into developing a menu of healthy and nutritionally complete, yet delicious, affordable meals. Last year, Peace Meal served 244,873 individual meals to 2,209 different clients and served 48,000 congregate meals, and sees a 5% increase each year.

•October 14, 2026•

Michael Gramm Coffman, of Juliette, Georgia, has been hired as the first permanent full-time Executive Director of the Illinois Amish Heritage Center in Arthur.  

Coffman is a 2021 graduate of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton GA with a BS in History and Political Science, and a 2024 graduate of Appalachian State University in Boone, NC with an MA of History in Museum Studies.  

Coffman’s vision is to expand the IAHC Living History Farm and Amish Museum where visitors from the region, nationally, and internationally can visit to learn about Amish and Mennonite history, faith, lifestyle, and heritage. As the Executive Director, he will be responsible for all day-to-day operations and providing support to the nine-member IAHC Board of Directors. 

His work experience includes Ride Operations Manager at Tweetsie Railroad in Blowing Rock, NC where he managed 40 staff members at a family-oriented Wild West theme park located between Boone and Blowing Rock, North Carolina, with 250,000 visitors each year.

1966

First place for sports coverage in the annual Illinois Press Association newspaper contest was won by The Moultrie County News. In addition to the first place award for sports, the News also was cited for Best Classified Page, Best Photography, and Best Typography & Makeup.

A 1963 Chevrolet Impala Sport Sedan was $1,425 at Tom West, Inc. in Sullivan.

Getting their Bingo Bucks at the Moultrie County News office was Wilma Reedy, Darlene Standerfer, Darlene Burgess and Wilson Mummell. The four winners shared $100 in prize money. The winning cards came from Ken’s Food Stores and Hezzy’s Drive Inn.

Kilroy Was Here

•October 7, 2026•

by Janet Roney

My family had an Angus herd, but my brothers and I knew nothing about sheep until our neighbor gave us an orphaned lamb to raise one spring when we were kids. That dear little lamb inspired my brothers to get three more grown sheep for 4-H projects. We named the lamb Kilroy after the name in the graffiti phrase, “Kilroy Was Here” scrawled on boxcars and overpasses everywhere during World War II both here and anywhere the GIs served in Europe and Asia. Who was Kilroy? No one seemed to know.   

1966

Miss Pamela Jeffers reigned as Little Miss Peanut during the Kiwanis Peanut Day, and as the Queen, she rode in the Kiwanis float with two runners-up during the homecoming parade. Pamela is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bill Jeffers. First and second runners-up were Miss Maria Burtcheard, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Sam Burtcheard, and Miss Diane Wood, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William D. Wood.

Robert H. Pierce, manager of Help Finance Corp., was named competition director for the Sullivan Punt, Pass and Kick competition.

Two Sullivan High School youths, Charles White and Ralph Oliver, were awarded letters of commendation honoring their high performance on the 1966 National Merits Scholarship Qualifying Test.