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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 disabled, from attending live music events and concerts, or from meeting up with friends and family.

Life in the shadow of history
Fearing for their lives, in late 1944 Dad’s family fled everything they had ever known by horse-drawn wagon and on foot. As homeless refugees, they were traumatized by exposure to the elements, “food insecurity,” forced separation from each another, and the final, desperate phase of WWII.

A 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.

The gold standard dad
Thomas was born in Vardaman, Mississippi. His family moved to Springfield when he was a small child to find a better life outside the Jim Crow South. Thomas graduated from Springfield High School in 1980, where he played basketball his freshman and sophomore years.

He 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.

Two 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 unexpectedly cut short in January 2018.

Seeing 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 of the many beneficiaries of her spirit.

He 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 Illinois was already fixed. Bradbury, who died Nov.

Champion 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 Council (SAAC), she made everyone’s life better.

“Have a pretty good day”
Whether you ever stopped for a cup, you knew Lazare without knowing it, just by traveling past Grab-A-Java on South Sixth Street.

A gentleman journalist
The story about escalating paper prices had everything a just-the-facts reporter, or busy reader, could want – a first sentence that sucked you in and pretty much every question, from how much paper costs to how many newspapers are in a pound of newsprint, answered in 658 words.

ROZANNE ‘POSY’ ROBERTSON
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 in everyone she met.

Veteran 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.

MARK SKUBE
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.

A 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.

BERKLEY MOORE
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 and folk.

GRADY MYERS CHRONISTER
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 a new rule or just wanted to strike fear into someone, it was because of Grady.

“He always had an idea”
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 Springfield municipal government, which had been under control of white people for decades.

WILLIAM WALKER MEYER
Dad taught me and my sisters the meaning of fun, honesty, respectfulness, good morals, ethics, work habits and that complaining gets you nowhere. He always worked two jobs, yet he found time to take us sledding and skating in the winter or camping in the summer.

LENA FRANCES FERARIS
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.

DONALD L. SQUIRES
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 most people just assumed he owned it.

JILL CUNNINGHAM BLACK
She fortunately never hesitated to offer me her opinion even when she knew it differed from mine. From 1989 until 2003, she was the Chief Public Affairs Officer for CHIP.

JOHANNA MARY LEIKVOLD
As a little girl, Johanna enjoyed being outside and playing with her younger brother, Carsten, in the backyard in their pool, tree house and on their trampoline. More adventurous days were spent walking across the road into Lincoln Memorial Garden.

DANIEL J. "DANNY" HAWKS, JR.
My dad, Danny Hawks, always had a smile on his face and encouraged my brother, Evan, and me to do our best and live our best lives, to appreciate the little things in life and enjoy every moment – sipping a cup of coffee, watching the sunset, looking out over a country field, listening to music or singing a song – he taught us to enjoy life.

EARL LEROY THROOP, SR.
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 matter what year it was, he had a big new truck – to scope the work and give me an estimate.

WENDELL WAYNE HAHN
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 life until I got a little older.

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.

Aquaman a true sea snore
Too bad that can’t be said for the rest of the film. As written by David Leslie Johnson- McGoldrick and Will Beall, the screenplay is nothing more than a series of action sequences held together by the barest of origin stories.

Right into the new year
You can start your post-Christmas entertainment weekend with a bang on Thursday when Josie Lowder (yippee, she’s back for a bit!) joins Devin Williams for a blast at Buzz Bomb Brewing Co. Word has it Devin will start cruisin’ for a bluesin’ at 7 with Josie crammin’ for some jammin’ after that until around 9.

BAND SPOTLIGHT | Vigor Mortis Band
Hailing from Taylorville and consistently booked all over central Illinois, this classic rock band resurrects good songs, layering sweet harmony and strong lead vocals over an assortment of instruments not regularly found in area groups to allow for an extremely wide variety of material.

PUB CRAWL
Deep Hollow and Square of the Roots with Jeff Berendt.

THE CALENDAR
First Night Springfield Kids Activities.

FAIRS & FESTIVALS | An alcohol-free celebration of arts
Join the Springfield Area Arts Council for the 32 nd 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.