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 in 2008.
"She was always there to serve people regardless of their political affiliation," Anderson said. "I think the constituents saw that."
Lamm, who died at 84 on June 4 in Springfield from complications of lung cancer, was Sangamon County's second-longest-serving countywide office holder and for many years the only Democrat in an elected countywide post.
Only former county clerk Noah Matheny served longer, winning nine elections after being appointed in 1838. He first ran under the banner of the Whig Party and then as part of the Union and Republican parties, according to Sangamon County officials.
Lamm was born in East St. Louis at the tail end of the Great Depression and was one of seven children in a working-class family in St. Louis. She grew up and graduated from high school in St. Louis and moved to Springfield when her former husband, John Lamm, a heavy-equipment operator, joined his uncle's contracting business in the capital city.
She and her husband had four children, three of whom survive, before they divorced in 1987.
Mary Ann Lamm got her start in local government as Southern View village clerk, an appointed position, from 1963 to 1971. She was recruited by the Democratic Party to run for the Capital Township Board, a position she won and held until 1976, when she first was elected county recorder.
She defeated Republican opponents in all eight races, though she lost her bid for county clerk to Republican Maralee Lindley in 1990.
As recorder, Lamm ushered the little-known but important county office into the computer age from an era of records on microfilm and microfiche, according to her successor, fellow Democrat Joshua Langfelder, currently the only Democrat in a countywide office.
The recorder's office is the "library of land records," Langfelder said, noting that liens can be filed there in hopes of collecting debts. Workers in the office assist the general public as well as developers, lawyers, banks, title companies and other governmental agencies.
Langfelder, 53, who worked under Lamm in the office for several years before being elected for the first time 15 years ago, said she was "very genuine, knowledgeable and hard-working. She rarely took a lunch break. She treated the office as a professional office and not a political office."
After he was elected, Langfelder said he made sure the recorder's office stationery retained the phrase that Lamm had printed at the top when she became recorder: "Public service, working for you."
Sangamon County Democratic Party Chairperson Bill Houlihan said Lamm, who previously was an office staff member for the late state Sen. Kenneth Hall, a Democrat representing St. Clair County, would mentor other Democrats seeking elective office and introduce them to her friends.
"She was a true public servant," said Houlihan, who added that Lamm was a longtime friend of U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Springfield, and former Springfield mayor Ossie Langfelder, Josh Langfelder's father.
"She knew everybody, and she was a tireless worker in the office," Houlihan said. "And when it came to campaign season, she was tireless."
She would make mostaccioli with meat sauce and bring the meals to families in need. She also would hold an annual, free mostaccioli dinner for the community once a year, Anderson said.
Lamm faced some criticism during reelection campaigns for employing her mother, who retired at age 84 after 18 years in the office, and then her daughter.
But Lamm told the State Journal-Register that she saw nothing wrong with the practice and faced no resentment from the public. Anderson, 54, a Springfield resident, said her grandmother "worked harder than anyone in there."
Lamm was detail-oriented, never regretted not attending college and took pride in the essential role her office played in the community, Anderson said.
Lamm was treated for several bouts of cancer beginning with colon cancer in 2000, then pancreatic and lung cancer before she retired in 2008 to spend more time with her children and grandchildren, Anderson said.
She said her mother, a pack-a-day smoker since age 19, quit smoking after her first cancer diagnosis in 2000. The lung cancer that returned in early 2023 had spread to other organs and led to her death, Anderson said.
"She lived a long life and was able to beat cancer multiple times," Anderson said.
Joshua Langfelder said his former boss knew how to win over the electorate and be respected among her peers.
"The whole secret was being in the office and helping people," he said.
Dean Olsen is a senior staff writer at Illinois Times. He can be reached at [email protected], 217-679-7810 or twitter.com/DeanOlsenIT.
