First year with no football game, Lovington Homecoming continues
by Florence Hallford
Lovington Reporter
This year’s Lovington homecoming theme, ‘There’s No Place Like Home: Follow the Purple Brick Road’ carries with it the hopes of Lovington Alumni to continue the tradition of homecoming, even without a high school.
A banquet to be held at Yoder’s Kitchen on October 19 will feature bricks from the old high school and honor former students. Read More
Last month’s historical meeting helps some get acquainted with long lost shoe company
Barry Featheringill
Sullivan Reporter
In October of 1929 the Brown Shoe Company of St. Louis, Missouri signed an agreement with the city of Sullivan, to build a shoe factory. The facility was to cost $300,000 and the city of Sullivan was to provide $125,000 of that amount, secure the site which was 321 South Hamilton Street, and pay all property taxes for 10 years. Brown Shoe was to have an employee base of approximately 400 and came to have a great relationship with the city of Sullivan for 45 years.
These were the opening remarks by former Brown Shoe employee Gerald Watkins at the Moultrie County Historical Society meeting Thursday September 19. Read More
Photo by Erika Schultz, The Seattle Times
Kathy Best, (above), is a 1975 SHS graduate and was recently promoted to Editor at the
Seattle Times, the first woman ever in the paper’s history.
Once an NP staffer herself, Best becomes first female to lead the Times
By The Seattle Times Staff
Kathy Best, whose family has published newspapers in Sullivan for 50 years, has been named editor of The Seattle Times, Seattle Times Publisher Frank Blethen announced last week.
Best, who most recently has been one of The Times’ two managing editors, replaces David Boardman, who resigned after 30 years at The Times in August to become dean of Temple University’s School of Media and Communication in Philadelphia.
Best, daughter of Bob and Marion Best, is the first woman to lead The Seattle Times. She is the sister of Robert R. Best, the current publisher of the News-Progress. Read More
Photo by Keith Stewart
The Jackson Family of Dealerships recently completed renovations to the Sullivan location, including the addition of a new showroom. Pictured from left to right are owner Mark Jackson, Jeff Parkison, Zack Bryan, and Drew Danalewich.
After nearly two years, dealership’s new look and features complete
by Barry Featheringill
Sullivan Reporter
Jackson Family of Dealerships of Sullivan offering Chrysler and General Motors brands of cars has completed a new facility on the west side of Sullivan.
After purchasing the former HPR dealership in 2010, the Jackson Family of Dealerships moved from 107 E Jackson Street in Sullivan to 1320 W Jackson Street.
Then approximately two years ago, the dealership decided a face-lift, among other things, was in order. Read More
C.E.F.S. Economic Opportunity Corporation recently showcased their 48th year of accomplishments demonstrating the fact that community action helps people and changes lives. During the 2013 annual meeting, two locals were recognized who had overcome obstacles in obtaining or maintaining self-sufficiency. According to C.E.F.S. Chief Executive Officer Paul White, “This past year our programs and services truly made a real difference in the lives of residents of the community.” Read More
New record studio grand opening during block party
Photo by Keith Stewart
Local band Slant Six is seen here, with members Stan Smart (left), Mike Harmison (center), and Julie Maloney (right). After first organizing in 2008 and then dissolving, the band reformed in 2011 and will perform live during the block party in Bethany October 12.
by Emily Scott
Bethany Reporter
Mike Harmison of Sullivan has loved music ever since he learned to play the guitar at the age of five years old. In his teenage years he went on to play both the guitar and drums.
“That’s how I identify myself,” he said. “I’m a musician.”
Harmison has been recording local bands on his own since 1979 with his own recording equipment. While he admits the recording processes he once used were not the most high-tech, he enjoyed helping bands record and considers the time recording on his own successful. “Everyone ended up with a tape by the end,” he said. Read More
Photo by Keith Stewart
Courtyard Estates’ resident Eloise Heidbreeder (left) dances with her daughter Carol while the Melvin Reynolds Jr. band performs Saturday during the five year celebration of the facility.
Area bands, family and friends make for special day
by Barry Featheringill
Sullivan Reporter
Five years ago this October, Mary Jane Harshbarger made the transition into assisted living, a move that can often times be difficult to make given many older individuals’ long-held love of independence. But it was upon her niece’s kind coercion and in light of Harshbarger’s difficulty taking medication on time, that Mary Jane became the first resident of Courtyard Estates in Sullivan.
On Saturday, she along with her fellow residents, family members, and friends celebrated five years of assisted living at the Sullivan facility. Read More
Submitted
Glenn Austin informs guests about what it was like to be students and teachers at Center School, a one-room school house located at The Great Pumpkin Patch.
Submitted by
Ann Wheeler
From the early 1900s until the 1950s, one-room school houses dotted the landscape in east central Illinois. Today, most of these structures have gone the way of the rotary dial phone: only a few exist and even fewer are actually used for their original purpose. Perhaps only Center School, which has found a home among the pumpkins and mums at The Great Pumpkin Patch in Arthur, has been used as the site for a winning raffle ticket. Read More
First year of many to come
by Jake Dilley
Reporting in Sullivan
Christina Whitford knows all too well what the struggle with Alzheimer’s is like. The Sullivan resident lost her grandmother Nora Hatley five years ago to the disease and has since worked to not only honor her but to help others who are affected.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, an estimated five million Americans 65 years and older have Alzheimer’s, and the number is expected to triple as high as 13.8 million unless other, more effective measures, are discovered and put into practice in the treatment of the disease. Read More
Newly formed tennis association tries to bring tennis and active fun to area youth
by Emily Scott
Reporting in Sullivan
The Okaw Valley Tennis Association will sponsor a Tennis Fun Day noon-2 p.m. Saturday in Wyman Park in Sullivan in cooperation with the Nickelodeon Worldwide Day of Play to encourage children to stay healthy and active. Read More