The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
Last Saturday afternoon at the Historic Raritan Opera House, the audience of “Tales of Henderson County” enjoyed hearing stories of the “good ol’ days” presented by Two Rivers Arts Council (TRAC). The tales were full of verity ranging from the various ways of traveling, to parties and events, ways to make a buck, to food prep and home “healthcare.” Most of the stories came from the 1920s to the 1930s, and they helped paint a picture of Henderson County in those earlier days.
The many narratives touched on the struggles of day-to-day life for Henderson County residents and how the changing world around them impacted those struggles. The narrators who brought the stories to life were Vince Whiteman, Cyndi Helling, Steve Larimer and Emma Wohlstadter.
All the stories that were told were gathered from submissions to TRAC’s Tales from Two Rivers writing contests for senior citizens of Illinois. With the help of Kathy Nichols at Western Illinois University’s Malpass Library, they found about 40 stories based in Henderson County from the thousands that were on file.
The authors of these stories were Vernon Barr, Dorothy L. Brown, Homer A. Canfield, Muriel Carner, Willis E. Dixon, Irene L. Gibb, Sylvia Gillaspie, Nellie Grafton, Mrs. John W. Kane, Virgie L. Mead, Louise Gibb Milligan, Clarence E. Neff, Rev. Carroll Ochsner, Faye Christian Perry, Mabelle Sanderson, Mrs. Carl W. Shelton, Mabel B. Spears, Louise M. Young, and Eloise Melvin Hutchinson.
Along with the wonderful renditions of the stories, guests were entertained by Henderson County native and folk singer, Dan Eilers. His performances included “City of New Orleans,” “Tennessee Waltz,” “Do Re Mi,” and others.
This was a free event, but donations were taken to support the upkeep of the Raritan Opera House. If you were not able to attend, a video of the event was made. The Quill will share that video once it is published at www.facebook.com/theQuillnewspaper.
TRAC is a regional partnership between arts organizations, educational institutions, artists and civic and business leaders in order to promote the arts and cultural heritage of west-central Illinois. It serves the 179,000+ residents of Brown, Calhoun, Cass, Fulton, Greene, Hancock, Henderson, Jersey, Mason, McDonough, Pike, Schuyler and Scott counties.
TRAC publishes “Tales from Two Rivers,” the award-winning series of collected short stories written by Illinois senior citizens and is a registered Illinois not-for-profit corporation with membership open to everyone.
They partner with Illinois Arts Council (with support from the National Endowment for the Arts) to provide funds that encourage and support the arts throughout their service area.
Funding for “Tales of Henderson County” was made possible by TRAC, Illinois Arts Council, Galesburg Community Foundation’s Henderson County Community grant, in partnership with the Twomey Foundation and Cavins Family Foundation Fund.