Remembering

Penny was a big sister, a serious student, a smiling teenager who dated regularly. She was an earnest college student studying math, business education, and library science. She was a teacher with high expectations of her students. She was a wife, a working mother of two who doted on both her son and daughter. She […]

To her large, extended family, the July 6 shooting death of Sonya Massey was a shocking and devastating loss of a single mother and a God-fearing woman struggling with mental-health issues who loved her two teenage children and was loved. To the world, the end of the 36-year-old Woodside Township Black woman’s life – brought […]

Heaven’s a lot more fun since Mary Lynn has arrived. And you can bet everybody’s been through her etiquette class. She fits right in as the new “special events coordinator” for God himself. Count on a welcoming front porch just like hers in Washington Park, an Irish welcome, an ear to listen and a hand […]

Barry was a special man. He would put everyone before himself. Barry would give the shirt off of his back if someone needed it, or his last dollar. He was called “Mr. Fix-It” because he could fix anything that was broken or that could be fixed. He also could build anything that you wanted him […]

“Bob always wanted to talk about issues and, frankly, he took an interest in the local political scene, too,” said his longtime friend Taylor Pensoneau, a retired Statehouse reporter and lobbyist. “He always wanted to discuss individuals, political movements and people that he considered to be on the right side of things, and then there […]

Tony Young was a pillar of the Springfield community, and not just for the theater. He was diligent, encouraging, hilarious and hard-working. To many people, Tony was a role model, a mentor and a confidant.  Many people remember Tony because of his beautiful baritone. His voice was as captivating as his presence. He welcomed you […]

Larry Benedict was a man of many talents and an endless well of warmth and wisdom. Known affectionately as “Granddaddy Larry,” he brought joy to those around him with his unshakable cheer and gentle spirit. In his garden, he found a sacred connection to the earth, nurturing each flower with care and a radiant smile. […]

Bone marrow transplants saved Lauren Engleke-Smith’s two young sons, but the mother’s bone marrow transplant wasn’t enough to stop the raging leukemia in her own body. One bone marrow transplant is brutal for a family, but three seems untenable. Yet, Lauren radiated unending hope and faith until the very end. Lauren, 46, of Springfield, died […]

I’m just going to say it: One of the first things anyone would notice about Bob Prichard had to be his hand. It was brutally mangled – some fingers missing, the rest unartfully rearranged. Honestly, I couldn’t bring myself to ask what had happened to him, and when Bob voluntarily told me, some years into […]

Have guitar, will play, could perhaps be the calling card of Bill “Mr. Machine Gun” Evans, one of the Springfield area’s most renowned, respected and revered guitarists ever to pick on those six strings. William J. Evans was born in Topeka, Illinois, and along with his lifetime pursuit of music-making, worked at Springfield Memorial Hospital […]

Some call Theresa Faith Cummings “a force” in the best way. “Aunt Theresa always worked to serve others,” says her niece, Rev. Vanessa R. Cummings of Oxford, Ohio. “She always stood up and spoke up. She could work until two or three in the morning, then be up at six to keep working.” Cummings couldn’t […]

After my mom passed away, I found a folder in her desk marked “funeral.” The folder contained her self-written obituary, a poem and a copied short story. The story was about how your date of birth and date of death are important dates but the most important is the dash between the two. The dash […]