Shirley Bartelmay remembered with a gift to the Postville Courthouse

 

[December 22, 2022] 

On Saturday, December 10th family members including children, grandchildren and great-grandchild visited Postville Courthouse in Lincoln with a donation given in honor of the late Shirley Bartelmay.

Bartelmay was active in seeing to it that the beloved historic site in Lincoln with direct ties to Abraham Lincoln was saved when the prospects were looking grim due to state funding cuts. Bartelmay stepped up and rallied the troops in the form of volunteers to take over the care of the courthouse and promoting it as a premium tourist attraction in Lincoln and Logan County.

Shirley was an accountant in Lincoln for more than 25 years, she was an active member of the Logan County Chamber of Commerce and a charter member of the Chamber Ambassadors.

In 2009, Shirley was the Personality of the Week in Lincoln Daily News. Excerpts from the article entitled “Shirley Bartelmay and volunteers save Postville Courthouse – twice,” include her history with the courthouse.

“Perhaps it was chance, but right after Shirley sold her business and then had a little more free time, she was asked to attend a meeting regarding the fate of the Postville Courthouse State Historic Site. Bob Coomer, Illinois Historic Preservation director, met with 15 local citizens in 1999 to explain that state funding under then-Gov. George Ryan would no longer be available to keep the facility open.

“Shirley had not been active in historic preservation but felt that the site should stay open.

“It was through this meeting that Shirley became chairman of a group of volunteers to man the facility, with the state's only help being in paying the utilities.

“Shirley was quick to state, and said again several times during the interview, that the 40 volunteers who help man the site should receive all the credit. But it was, and is, Shirley's organizational skills and desire to make sure the facility is manned and open as promised that brings us back to giving her measurable credit for keeping the site from closing.

“Noted Lincoln historian Paul Beaver doesn't feel any need to hedge on his words. "Shirley Bartelmay saved Postville Courthouse," he said. "It's as simple as that."

“Tourism director Geoff Ladd said that Shirley and her volunteers saved the site again just recently by having an organized and reliable volunteer group in place. "Shirley is the reason that we were fortunate in keeping Postville Courthouse open when the governor announced several historic site closings earlier this year," said Ladd. "I am grateful to her, and our community should be as well!"

“As Bartelmay talks, her enthusiasm for Postville is catching. "If we lost the courthouse, I believe it would have a big impact on our community," she says. "It's a chance for people to enjoy the history, but not just people from here. We had visitors from 25 foreign countries last year visit us." Shirley says that the foreign visitors, even if their English isn't that good, are enthused about Lincoln, and when they visit they want to see and hear everything.

“She's also seen that the historic Route 66 revival has helped Postville. She says that many of those coming in are driving the historic route.

“When Shirley isn't stressing how important the volunteers are to the historic site, she spends time giving accolades to the city and county, as well as the tourism bureau, for their help in keeping the site attractive and presentable.”
 

Family members on hand on December 10th included Shirley’s daughter Toni Gibbs, daughter-in-law Denise Bartelmay, grandson Nathan Bartelmay, granddaughter Nicole Price, and great grandson Kalen Price. Also joining the group was Stu Churchill and Denise Martinek.

Churchill was one of Bartelmay’s volunteers and went on to take on the management of the courthouse after Shirley. When Churchill decided to step down from the directorship of the courthouse, he was replaced by Denise Martinek.

On that Saturday, as the family gathered together with Churchill and Martinek, they enjoyed a time of remembering the lady who saved Postville Courthouse. They spoke of her commitment to the preservation of the courthouse and their relationship with their mother/grandmother over the years.

The gift presented to the courthouse were four solid wood hand hewn benches fitting to the era when Abraham Lincoln would have frequented the courthouse.

Shirley’s daughter-in-law Denise said that her mother-in-law had passed away on October 2, 2020. During her time of rest at Fricke-Calvert-Schrader funeral home, memorial gifts were accepted in Shirley’s name to the Postville Courthouse. Denise Bartelmay said that with the large sum that was given, the family wanted to do something significant that would be a long-lasting tribute to their loved one.

The benches came to mind, and the search was on to find something that would be just right for the courthouse.

The onset of the pandemic slowed things down a bit, and even as the benches were presented, Denise pointed out that there are going to be brass plaques on the end of each bench, but right now, only two are done of the four benches given.

The benches are placed in the large gathering room on the first floor of the courthouse.

Denise Martinek, the current director at Postville, said the benches were a very welcome and greatly appreciated gift. She noted that what had been in the gathering room was functional and served the purpose nicely for quite some time, but the new benches are a better reflection of the time when the courthouse would have been filled with people seeking seating as they attended trials or awaited their turn to be heard before a judge.

Indeed the benches are a wonderful addition to the courthouse and provide nice seating for those who attend special functions at the courthouse, or just stop in as they travel Route 66.

Thanks to the family for honoring Shirley Bartelmay is such a nice and appropriate manner.

[Nila Smith]