An alcohol-free celebration of arts
Join the Springfield Area Arts Council for the 32nd annual First Night Springfield celebration featuring regional and local artists and performers spanning 11 stages at five venues. The festivities begin with complimentary children’s performances and activities inside Springfield High School from 1-4 p.m. followed by a concert on the Barton Theater organ by Mark Gifford…
Right into the new year
It’s nice to have New Year’s Day on a Tuesday this year, giving us our weekend free to enjoy live music at the regular times plus a day of rest before New Year’s Eve. That worked out quite well, thank you very much. You can start your post-Christmas entertainment weekend with a bang on Thursday…
Aquaman a true sea snore
Not the knockout Wonder Woman was or the disaster that was Justice League, James Wan’s Aquaman is a rather plodding by-the-numbers affair that goes far out of its way to provide the sort of under-the-sea spectacle never before seen on screen. On that count, it succeeds, as the world of Atlantis and the six other…
New Year’s Eve: Getting it right
New Year’s Eve is one of those holidays that I’ve always had a hard time getting right. My better judgment has steered me away from participating in activities that would require driving around on a night when the sobriety of the other drivers is questionable. The years that we decided to have a quiet celebration…
LENA FRANCES FERARIS
LENA FRANCES FERARIS Apr. 14, 1925 – Aug. 7, 2018 My mom, Mama Lena, was the oldest of three children born to Italian immigrant parents, Ernest and Dolores Menghini. Mom grew up in Taylor Springs, Illinois, during the Great Depression. Grandpa worked in the coal mine and Grandma embroidered and sold pillowcases for extra money.…
MARK SKUBE
MARK SKUBE Apr. 21, 1951 – Oct. 14, 2018 Memory is mysterious; a repository of images that reflect us as much as they do what is remembered. In our memory, those we’ve loved and lost are as they were at particular moments in our lives. For me, the Mark my mind keeps returning to in…
BERKLEY MOORE
BERKLEY MOORE Aug. 3, 1932 – Jan. 4, 2018 Berkley Moore could talk with equal ease about the hidden gems of scripture or the subtle qualities of beer. But his real passion was music. During a lifetime of 85 years, he amassed an enormous – and eclectic – collection of LPs and CDs, spanning classical, jazz…
WENDELL WAYNE HAHN
WENDELL WAYNE HAHN Aug. 2, 1930 – Nov. 12, 2018 This is dedicated to Wendell Wayne Hahn, born in Springfield on Aug. 2, 1930. To many he was known as Buzz, but to me he was Grandpa. I didn’t realize how incredible this man was and how fortunate I was to have him in my…
BURNELL ALBERT HEINECKE
BURNELL ALBERT HEINECKE June 11, 1927-Dec. 5, 2018Veteran newsman, mentor, public citizen Burnie Heinecke was a veteran newsman, a fixture in community theater and a strong advocate for higher education, traits well-known to his many friends. But to me, he was also a mentor, the guy who first got me interested in the nitty-gritty details…
KAY FEURER
KAY FEURER March 19, 1935-Oct. 18, 2018Champion for the arts “Kay Feurer loved and appreciated the arts,” says Grace Nanavati, director emeritus of the Springfield Ballet Company (SBC). “She left a forever footprint in our city. I adored Kay. She had an internal ticker to my soul. Through her leadership with the Springfield Area Arts…
DONALD L. SQUIRES
DONALD L. SQUIRES March 24, 1934 – May 7, 2018 To many people he was simply the Ice Guy, a moniker he wore so proudly that he had it stamped in metal and bolted to his car. As general manager of Central Illinois Ice for 30 years, he embodied the company so much so that…
VINCAS
VINCAS “VINCE” BAKSYS Sept. 9, 1919 – Aug. 27, 2018Life in the shadow of history Decades before Donald Trump singled out his own “enemies of the people,” my proudly Lithuanian father Vince found out just how dangerous that label could be in the hands of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. It was during World War II…
ROZANNE ‘POSY’ ROBERTSON
ROZANNE ‘POSY’ ROBERTSONMar. 20, 1931 – July 1, 2018 Springfield lost one of its most gentle and compassionate souls on July 1, 2018, when Rozanne ‘Posy’ Robertson passed away. Born in 1931, Posy was a child of the Great Depression, with an inquisitive mind and engaging personality. She knew no strangers and was genuinely interested…
GRADY MYERS CHRONISTER
GRADY MYERS CHRONISTER Nov. 22, 1938 – Sept.14, 2018 Grady was a monster. Ridiculous, right? If you believed all the stories my Qik-n-EZ managers told, you were left with no other choice but to reckon he was a real bear. It seemed as if anytime they wanted something done a certain way, came up with…
EARL LEROY THROOP, SR.
EARL LEROY THROOP, SR. July 22, 1944-June 20, 2018Big tree down Everybody called him “Throop,” like that was his first name. He was my tree guy for the past 30 years, as I nurtured properties in a neighborhood of big trees. I always enjoyed it when he’d arrive in his big new truck – no…
R-LOU BARKER
R-LOU BARKER Dec. 18, 1933 – April 21, 2018Seeing the world with undying wonder A grand dame of the Springfield community passed from our lives this April. This woman had been a special friend to me for 30 years, sharing her joyful stories and her quiet wisdom. I was so fortunate to have been one…
PETER LAZARE
PETER LAZARE April 16, 1952-Nov. 7, 2018“Have a pretty good day” Pete Lazare, almost always, was the smartest man in the room. He never made that clear. He spoke French. He read, a lot. His energy was boundless. He was a master of bad poetry and Springfield’s king of puns. As a businessman, he did…
REV. DR. MARCELLUS JULIAN LEONARD
REV. DR. MARCELLUS JULIAN LEONARD Sept. 19, 1939-Aug. 3, 2018He changed the banks of the river It’s a near certainty that at some point in our lives, each of us meets someone whose impact on us is profound. I am not talking about our grandparents. I am talking about someone who arrives as a complete…
JILL CUNNINGHAM BLACK
JILL CUNNINGHAM BLACK Oct. 25, 1944 – Nov. 2, 2018 State government lost one of its unsung heroes when Jill Black died on Nov. 2. For over 17 years when I ran the Illinois Lottery and the Illinois Comprehensive Health Insurance Plan (CHIP), Jill was a trusted senior aide and confidant. She fortunately never…
DANIEL J. “DANNY” HAWKS, JR.
DANIEL J. “DANNY” HAWKS, JR. Oct. 17, 1945 – Sept. 25, 2018 A life well lived is filled with moments sweet and sad, with smiles and sometimes tears, with laughter and friendships, and with good times and hard times. My dad, Danny Hawks, always had a smile on his face and encouraged my brother, Evan,…
TIM LANDIS
TIM LANDIS Nov. 19, 1951-Jan. 2, 2018A gentleman journalist Tim Landis was no joke as a journalist. Consider the lede in the first story he wrote for the State Journal-Register back in 1995: “Junk mail isn’t junk anymore.” Just five words and seven syllables. The story about escalating paper prices had everything a just-the-facts reporter,…
RUDOLPH DAVENPORT
RUDOLPH DAVENPORT June 2, 1928-April 7, 2018“He always had an idea” Rudolph Davenport – everyone called him Rudy – wasn’t a boastful pillar. One of Springfield’s best-known civil rights activists, he was one of three black men, later joined by two additional plaintiffs, who went to court in the 1980s to force a change in…
ANN FORD
ANN FORD July 26, 1941-Sept. 23, 2018 First Lady of Independent Living If you ever wanted to find Ann Ford, chances are you could find her scooting around the Capitol. Ford, who had contracted polio at the age of 5, used a scooter to get around, but that never stopped her from advocating for the…
WOODROW J. SHADID, SR.
WOODROW J. SHADID, SR. June 29, 1922-Oct. 4, 2018A bookseller who outdid expectations Shadid’s Book Mart, Springfield’s legendary downtown bookstore, outdid the expectations of most local observers by surviving for 14 years after the opening of the mall stores that should have put it out of business. I was not surprised therefore that Woody Shadid,…
REV. DR. R. PAUL SIMS
REV. DR. R. PAUL SIMS Sept. 10, 1926-June 3, 2018A spiritual giant Paul Sims held the highly respected titles of Reverend, Doctor, United Methodist District Superintendent and Assistant to the Bishop. But, other titles reveal more about the life of this remarkable man. Mentor. Loving husband and father. Friend. Teacher. Pastor to many pastors. Spiritual…
CHARLEE WALTON and KARLY PEARCE
CHARLEE WALTON March 10, 2011 – Jan. 19, 2018 KARLY PEARCE June 25, 2011 – Jan. 23, 2018Two little girls Sparkling blue eyes. Fabulous smiles. Mischievous little sisters. Though they never met in person, Karly Pearce and Charlee Walton had many similarities. Heartbreakingly, the 6-year-olds are linked for one more reason: their young lives were…
THOMAS EARL BRINKER
THOMAS EARL BRINKER July 18, 1962 – July 20, 2018The gold standard dad Thomas Earl Brinker was a fundamentally happy guy who saw the best in everyone around him. He had the kind of magnetism that immediately put people at ease and lifted everybody’s spirits when he walked into a room. Thomas was born in…
JOHANNA MARY LEIKVOLD
JOHANNA MARY LEIKVOLD Jun. 19, 1985 – Aug. 5, 2018 I lost my firstborn daughter, Johanna Mary Leikvold. She was born Jun. 19, 1985, and passed away Aug. 5, 2018. She had 31 wonderful years of life and those years were also the best for me. As a little girl, Johanna enjoyed being outside and…
Remembering the lives they lived
About the issue It is our tradition to reserve our last issue of the year for remembering some of the Springfield-area people who have died in the past year. Those we include here are people who have come to the attention of our writers, and others brought to IT by readers answering our call to…
KEN BRADBURY
KEN BRADBURY Nov. 7, 1949 – Nov. 18, 2018He put central Illinois on stage In the late 80s I directed a play at Fulton County Playhouse near Bryant. I was away after the play opened and received a call from an actor: “Ken Bradbury came to the show this weekend!” Ken Bradbury’s fame in central…
