LDN - Diaspora

People all across this country and, in fact, around the world, claim roots in Logan County. They have very interesting stories to tell, and some of them like to connect with those of us who stayed at home. Logan County Diaspora publishes the stories of former Logan County residents. With their permission, we also include their e-mail addresses so that old friends might be reunited. If you wish to be part of the Logan County Diaspora, e-mail ldneditor@lincolndailynews.com.

Needs copy of local birth certificate

I was born in Lincoln but moved away quite a few years ago. I recently moved and can not seem to locate my birth certificate. I am going on a trip to Canada in a week and would like to have my certificate. Can you tell me who I should contact about getting this? Thanks!

Philip Gehlbach

- - - - - - - - -

Philip,

You can get that information from the county clerk's office, (217)732-4148.

Jan Youngquist

(6-15-00)

Former residents Len and Rita Remmert "sure enjoy reading LDN"

Hello everyone in Lincoln/Logan County.

Len and I have lived in Henderson, Nev., for 16 years now and get back to Lincoln quite often, but I check the LDN every day to see what's happening. I was thrilled when my sister, Lana Miller, told me about this.

We used to co-own Landauer's in Lincoln. I sell real estate in the Las Vegas valley, and Len is sales manager for a ready-mix concrete company. Our son, Chad, is married with one daughter and expecting a son in November. He and his wife, Sandee, work for Southwest Airlines here in Las Vegas.

We attend Central Christian Church, where Gene Appel, former Lincolnite, is senior pastor. We just moved into a brand new church building that seats approximately 3000 people.

I would like to see more letters from people who have moved away from Lincoln/Logan County, so let's hear from you.

Rita Remmert

RitaRemm@aol.com

(7-13-00)

Brad Boss serves with the Army in Kentucky

As a person who is lucky enough to call Lincoln my hometown, I just wanted to say what a great Web site you have.

I am a resident of Lincoln not currently living there, because of my job. I'm serving on active duty with the Army at Fort Campbell, Ky.

I was born and raised in Lincoln, and have come to appreciate just what kind of community I come from. Lincoln isn't the biggest town I've lived in, and actually I guess it's about the smallest town I've lived in. Both of my parents, Roger and Connie Boss, and for that matter most of my immediate family, still live in Lincoln.

My mom routinely clips out sections of the Courier and sends them to me so I can keep up on what's going on back home. Recently they showed your Web site to me, and Mom, I think you can retire the scissors. It's great that I can just pull it up on the Web and see what my friends and family are doing, no matter if I'm in Korea or Kentucky.

You have a good thing going here. It helps all of us out here from feeling so homesick when we can't go take a walk around the courthouse square or down Broadway to the Depot.

Thanks again for a great Web site, and keep up the good work...

Sgt. Brad Boss

(7-6-00)

Nancy Eichelberger still gets homesick for the Lincoln area

I graduated from L.C.H.S. in 1956 and would love to hear from some classmates.

We have been gone from the Lincoln area for over 20 years. I still get homesick even after so many years. I lived in Lincoln for eight years and then moved to a small town (Emden), where we lived for the next 22 years. We lived in Clearwater for 16 years and moved to Odessa Fla., which is really northwestern Tampa several years ago, as we wanted to be in the country again.

Both my husband, Wayne, and I are farm people and my parents lived in Lincoln until their deaths. The city was fine for a while but as they say, you can take us out of the country but you can't take the country out of us. We have over an acre of land here and really like living where we can hear the birds and see the horses and llamas daily. Yes, I did say llamas, our neighbor has six of them and they are beautiful.

It would be nice to hear from people that I used to know.

Nancy (Hatfield) Eichelberger

ike3@aol.com

(7-7-00)

Brad Dye would like to communicate with classmates

Hello, my name is Brad Dye and I graduated from LCHS in 1960. I attended the old high school, near downtown, for two years and then the new high school at the edge of town when it opened.

I have hardly been back to Lincoln since I graduated. My parents moved to Decatur and I went off to see the world. So far, that desire to see the world has taken me to about 55 countries. I often think of Lincoln and wonder what has happened to my old friends in the last 40 years.

I live in Dallas now and work for a radio paging company, which will be no surprise to those who remember me as an avid ham radio operator.

My sister Pam, who lives in Miami Beach, and I are both wondering if there will be a class reunion this summer for the class of 1960? We would like to attend. If anyone knows about this (date, time, place, etc.), please let me know by e-mail to: braddye@directlink.net and to Pam at: pgoldfaden@aol.com.

I would love to communicate by e-mail with any of my former classmates.

I have a homepage on the Internet at: http://braddye.com

Best regards,

Brad Dye

(6-7-00)

‘Doc’ Chandler lists memories of Lincoln

I have fond memories of Lincoln as I was growing up...

The Lincoln Lakes was the place to go in the summer time.

I used to play basketball pickup games at the Central School outside courts. I couldn't believe the last time I was home in Lincoln…The drinking fountain is still by the basketball courts.

I can remember the racetracks and the A&W root beer stand.

Riggs Dairy was on Woodlawn Road…the old football field on Woodlawn…

The watermelon festival in the summertime... I was in my 30s when I found out that Lincoln used watermelon juice to christen the city with the name Lincoln. As a matter of fact, I am related to Abraham Lincoln, very distantly. My father (Warren Chandler), whose mother’s name was Edna Lincoln, was the connection.

The Logan County Fair, where, if you are by the beer tent, you might meet someone you haven't seen in a long time…

I also have fond memories of all my sporting endeavors at Lincoln Community High School (LCHS).

I still come back for my high school reunions

"Hi" to Sharon Webster and Tim Harmon … good friends.

I am glad that Lincoln has stayed about the same size. I live in San Antonio, Texas, and believe me, if I could, Lincoln would be the place for me.

James Chandler (Doc)

doc@texas.net

(6-7-00)

Where is everyone?

I am an avid reader of Lincoln Daily News. The reason for this is because I no longer live there, but was born and raised there, and it always remains in my mind. I am always looking to see something or someone I may remember from when I was there.

I really enjoy Diaspora, but not enough people are getting into it. I wish there was something I could do to raise that interest.

Come on Lincolnites, get on that computer and let us know what and how you are doing. (Go Railsplitters)

Thank you,

George McKinney

Pharr, Texas

(5-11-00)

Brainard recalls Lincoln Skateland

Charles Brainard moved to Lincoln with his family when he was in sixth grade. He graduated from LCHS in 1979 and lived here until 1986.

He likes to remember the Indian summers and the skating rink, which his parents owned from 1972 to 1979. He thinks he misses the winter least and the summer most. "Compared to where I spend most summers, Lincoln’s weather is mild and wonderful," he says.

He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1986 and has been stationed in Georgia, Germany, Korea and Arizona. He was deployed to the Iraq area for Desert Storm. "Each station and area has had its own beauty," he says, "but not one of them was home."

"I am still on active duty in the Army. My specialty is communications. I work as a satellite communications network engineer and all-around communications techie. I enjoy several veterans associations – especially the American Legion and the 3rd Armored Division veterans (Spearhead) association."

His local family members are his parents, Charles and Carol Brainard; his brother, David, who just bought a house in Lincoln; and a sister, Laurie Armstrong. "My folks still live there at the homestead," he says. "The rest of us have scattered across the nation." Linda Jamison, another sister, resides in Shirley, Ill., and his sister Susan Conver lives in the Raleigh-Durham, N.C., area.

In closing, he tells us, "Enjoy your freedom? Thank a veteran!"

(3-16-00)

Weindorf remembers Lincoln Lakes

Donald Weindorf lived in Logan County from 1934 to 1946 and then from 1957 to 1959.

Of his years in Lincoln he says, "I like to remember my friends, the Arcade soda fountain, the old Recreation Center, the Lincoln Lakes and much more."

"I was pretty much raised in Boys Town outside of Omaha," he explains. "I got an opportunity to run Omaha Magazine and so I returned to Omaha."

He now owns and operates a group home for 20 at-risk boys.

"I love the range of weather we have here, the marvelous steak houses, the museums and the outside recreational facilities," he says.

Weindorf still has relatives living in Lincoln and gets back for a short visit every few years.

You can contact Weindorf via e-mail at weindorf1@juno.com.

(3-16-00)

Bill Horn tells about Atlanta before
World War II
Atlanta, in northern Logan County, was started in 1853. Xenia was the first choice of the city planners for a name but alas (and fortunately) that name was already taken. So they went to the other end of the alphabet and picked Atlanta.

Atlanta of the ’30s was a self-sufficient community that had (believe it or not) these businesses and services: two medical doctors, one dentist, one bakery, a butcher shop, a drugstore, five grocery stores, two lawyers, a county judge, a circuit judge, many gasoline stations, at least three taverns, three restaurants, three barber shops, beauty shops, a railroad station and depot for two railroads, a stockyard, two grain elevators, a newspaper, a library, a movie theater, two clothing stores, a concrete block factory, a potato chip bakery, three blacksmith shops, an entertainment hall (Murphy Hall), two banks, three feed stores, a photographer, a pool hall, a jewelry repair service, a bicycle repair shop, a shoe repair shop, a sawmill, a lumber company, three churches, a dairy and other occasional businesses that I can't recall. Needless to say, this array of businesses made this little town a bustling community.

I know the Depression was in full swing during my growing up and my school years, but I only remember the good about Atlanta. I watched the school gymnasium built from start to finish. I remember Maud Shotwell giving away "walking sundaes" to us less fortunate; Louie Deuterman's “licking the dasher" from his homemade-ice-cream machine; red haw hill for red haws in the fall, and sledding in the winter (what fun to ride a sled down the hill and end up in the icy cold stream at the bottom!); going to the Atlanta Public Library and picking favorite books; Miss Haines, the librarian. The C & A railroad tower was a good hangout for us kids, and I never did learn Morse code.

Atlanta was a good town to grow up in. Lincoln, to us kids, was a big city, and Bloomington was a metropolis; Peoria was in another country; and the annual trip to Springfield for the Illinois State Fair culminated our summer hiatus from school.

One Sunday morning I was at Ray Bateman's house, when the announcement came about Pearl Harbor. I went home and asked my mother if she had heard about it, and she started crying. I didn't realize what the war would bring but soon found out. World War II changed Atlanta both during and after its duration. Atlanta changed from a completely self-sufficient community to a town dependent on outside sources of jobs and resources that it had at one time available within its own city limits.

But Atlanta didn't die after World War II; it only adapted to the changes the war had brought about. When the veterans came home, Atlanta experienced a period of change and growth. More on this later.

[Bill Horn]

"Nothing compares with e-mail and Web pages" to keep friends in touch

I have lived in the Fort Myers, Fla., area for the last 14 years. I have tried to keep in touch by phone, mail, etc. with my friends in Illinois. Nothing compares with e-mail and Web pages to accomplish this! Many thanks to the people who started lincolndailynews.com. It is firmly placed in my favorite places and I check it every day.

Thanks again.

Bill Horn
Fort Myers, FL
Bill3567@aol.com

(3-3-00)

LDN makes Germany closer to home

We just heard about the lincolndailynews.com and are enjoying keeping up with latest. We are currently living in Germany and now we don't feel so far from home.

Tom and Kristy (Smith) Yarcho
Haupstuhl, Germany
tkksk6@bunt.com

(2-16-00)

Lincoln remains close to her heart

Thank you so much for the opportunity to stay posted on the happenings in my hometown! I am currently living in the North Georgia mountains, but my children spend the summers in Lincoln visiting their grandparents, and they love to look at the pictures of places in Lincoln and stay familiar with their "summer surroundings" After viewing the message board that one other Lincoln site has, I think I will stick with lincolndailynews.com, where I can see the news that I want to see....how things are progressing, and the good that still comes from my little hometown. Keep up the good work! Lincoln may be 700 miles from my home, but is much closer to my heart!

Traycee Ritchhart-Pirkle

Traycee87@alltel.net Traycee@americashomeplace.com

(2-16-00)

(To second column of letters)

World traveler keeps up on Lincoln

Thank you for lincolndailynews.com. My name is Denise and I am living in the Port Charlotte, Fla., area. I am getting established in real estate here in Southwest Florida after moving to this area within the last year from the north of England.

I lived in Lincoln until I was 27 in 1983, before starting a world traveling lifestyle. Although living thousands of miles away (i.e., Texas, California, Australia, England) over the years, I have managed to return to see my family, friends, and just to see Lincoln every six months on average. Now that plans have it that visits will be less often, it is absolutely great to have lincolndailynews.com for that Lincoln connection.

My parents are down here for 'The Season." January to April. They are enjoying the benefits of the new lincolndailynews and the latitude of Florida, that of sun, warm, wildlife and the new pool construction going on in my back yard with the golf course view. Ya' all come down now! :o)

Now you won't miss out on any Lincoln area news either! I am so excited about lincolndailynews that I am starting a classified ad to help readers learn more about wintering in Florida.

Many thanks.

Denise Radcliffe Wood
Sunnybreeze, FL
e-mail: floridaliving@hotmail.com

(2-11-00)

Alabama resident likes Lincoln photos

Great Web page. My brother just sent me the link to the Web site so that I can keep up with the news from back home. I left Lincoln back in 1963 for the Air Force. I currently reside in Alabama but Lincoln is never far from my mind. I truly enjoyed seeing the pictures of the different places around town and what is going on. Keep up the good work.

dlowe@ispchannel.com

Dale A. Lowe
Huntsville, AL

(2-8-00)

ILLINI BANK
2201 Woodlawn Rd. in Lincoln
1-888-455-4641 or 735-5400
Ask for Terry Lock or Sharon Awe

Click here to learn more about our great home mortgage rate special.

Tell a friend about
Lincoln Daily
News.com

Meador Investigations
– michael@pi-pro.com –
217-376-3255
IL License # 115-001499

Click here to visit your local Private Investigator
www.pi-pro.com

Back to top