Remembering

In commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Volunteer Services Department at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, our staff humbly offers a collective remembrance to memorialize the 191 volunteers who have passed over the last two decades. These dedicated individuals faithfully served our institution and the Springfield community by sharing the life and […]

When Mary was 10 years old, she auditioned for a professional production of South Pacific. One other youngster auditioning that afternoon was called to the stage and sang loudly; her voice reaching the back row of seats where we sat. Then Mary was called. With shoulders squared, her shiny black hair streaming down her back, […]

Will Burpee passed away on Jan. 7, 2024 – just over a month after turning 69. When he relocated to Springfield to attend Sangamon State University, he carried with him a lifelong passion for writing (and also for the New England Patriots). As befitting a person whose middle name was Byron, Will was a keen […]

Gail Lorenzini was an educator, an entrepreneur and a business owner who immersed herself into the community and took advantage of her varied points of contact to support area causes. Gail did nearly all of this in partnership with her husband, John, before she died unexpectedly July 4 at the age of 71. Gail and […]

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 […]

Long before Susy Woods began advocating for children with disabilities throughout Illinois, she graduated from high school at Ursuline Academy and was preparing to become an Ursuline nun and teach. She left the convent after an accident caused her to have seizures that interrupted her studies. “The Ursulines felt that their way of life would be […]

We all know the saying, “Life is a journey.” None of us know how and when each journey will end or what joys and challenges are along the way. One little girl, June Dallas, was only given three years on this side of eternity, but what a difference her journey made. And continues to make. […]

Todd Maisch never held elective office, but he was a fixture in Illinois politics for more than 30 years. Tall, handsome, always smiling, his face was one of the best-known in the Statehouse. At a time when folks jump from job to job, Maisch had the same employer for almost 30 years. As president of […]

When it comes to memorable people in my life, Vince Speranza ranks in the top tier. He was born into a large Italian American family in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan and grew up on Staten Island. During World War II Vince was eager to do his part and enlisted in 1943. After completing […]

It’s probably fair to say that Eric Welch never got over SOHO. A gregarious and unfailingly humorous presence at local music events for years, Eric founded the SOHO Music Festival, which ran every summer from 2004-2016. The festival was both a showcase for original musical acts from the area and a charity event, raising thousands […]

Mary Ann Lamm’s work ethic and personality were key to her decades of electoral success in Sangamon County, friends and family members said. “She was always a public servant first,” Lamm’s daughter, Melissa Anderson, said of her mother, the former Democratic Sangamon County Recorder who served for 32 years – from 1976 until her retirement […]