Kym Ammons-Scott, writer

Kym Ammons-Scott came to Lincoln eight years ago when her husband Augustus became the prison warden. She was born in Chicago but raised in Waterloo, Iowa.

She is a self-proclaimed family manager with three children: Ashanti, 5, Jamaal, 3, and Janel, age 2. Kym has a background in journalism with a Bachelor's degree from the University of Iowa in Journalism and Mass Communications. She also has a Master of Arts in Public Administration from the University of Illinois.

Kym is currently on the board for the United Cerebral Palsy of Lincolnland, the Illinois Association of Minorities in Government and keeps very busy with activities at Second Baptist Church.

Joan Crabb, writer

Joan calls Hopedale, Ill., her hometown. She has been living in Lincoln for about five years now.

She attended Hopedale High School (which no longer exists due to consolidation), Roosevelt University of Chicago and Loyola University of Chicago. She earned a Master of Arts degree in English.

Joan has four daughters, four grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.

She says of herself that she reads a lot, everything from Shakespeare to detective stories. She enjoys opera, Mozart, folk and bluegrass music. She is a “bird nut,” and feeds all the birds in her yard. She seldom goes walking without her binoculars.

There are five generations of her family living--all female.

Tyler Havlin, technical assistant

Tyler grew up in Atlanta, Ill., and has been living in Logan County for about eight years on and off in his life. He graduated from Lindbergh High School in Seattle, Wash.

He says that he enjoys playing basketball, listening to music, walking around downtown Seattle and hanging out with friends. What Tyler excels at is computers. 

Tyler is currently working as technical assistant on the Lincoln Daily News project.

Katherine Heller, writer

Katherine,  moved to Lincoln from Youngstown, Ohio. She grew up in East Palestine, Ohio, with her parents, George and Vickie. She has an older sister, Allison, and an older brother, George. She graduated from East Palestine High School in 1995 and attended Youngstown State University where she received her B.A. in professional writing and editing.

She enjoys spending time with her family and enjoys shopping with her great-grandmother. She also says that she enjoys working with the youth program at her church and working with youth at summer church camp as a sponsor team leader.

Her claim to fame is that she was a state-ranked clarinetist for two years in high school, but remarks that she hardly plays anymore.

Natalie Jeckel, managing editor

Natalie grew up here in Logan County. Her hometown is Hartsburg/Emden, where she attended high school. She attended Lincoln College and received her A.A. degree, and then received her B.A. in English writing from Millikin University.

She is currently serving as the managing editor at Lincoln Daily News, and we are proud to have her.

Mary Krallmann, publication assistant

Mary lived her earliest years in Marysville, Neb. (a rural spot about 30 miles west of Lincoln, Neb.). She  has lived in the local Lincoln for the last 16 years.

She graduated from Pomeroy Community High School in Pomeroy, Iowa;  St. Paul’s College in Concordia, Mo.; and Concordia College in Seward, Neb., where she earned a bachelor’s degree in education.

Her favorite activities are playing the organ for church, jogging, walking and daydreaming.

She is currently working on the Lincoln Daily News project, serving as a staff writer and copy editor.

Jeff Mayfield, writer

Jeff was born in Oceanside, Calif. He grew up far from the West Coast in Mt. Vernon, Mo. He has been living for the last 17-plus years in Logan County. He is married to Melinda (Byers), and currently is employed as Director of Partnership at Lincoln Christian College and Seminary.

He attended college at both Lincoln Christian College and Southwest Missouri State University. He has also done graduate work at Lincoln Christian Seminary and the University of Illinois.

He enjoys traveling and spending time with his wife. His passions are evangelism and preaching. He also reads, watches movies, drives a few golf balls and is known to attend as many major sporting events as humanly possible.

Sam Redding, editor-in-chief

Sam grew up in Towanda, Ill., and currently lives with his wife Jane in Lincoln. Jane is a teacher at Washington-Monroe school. Together they have four children and three grandchildren.

Sam is a graduate of Normal Community High School and earned his B.S. in history, his M.S. in psychology and his Ed.D in educational administration from ISU. He also earned an M.A. in English from U.I.S.

He is Executive Director of Academic Development Institute in Lincoln and in his spare time is an avid reader, playing a little golf. He dabbles in genealogy too.

Ryan Seggelke, site/display coordinator

Ryan Seggelke serves LDN as our site and display coordinator. During the day he works in the pre-press department at Key Printing in Lincoln, where he currently resides. He is quoted as having no spouse or children, but shares his home with pet canary “Peep.”

He graduated from Lincoln Community High School and later received a degree in mathematics from the University of Illinois. He plays guitar, reads and is interested in shopping and traveling. His favorite food is “Chunky Monkey” ice cream. Some might say that Ryan’s ability to be both a night person and a morning person is an unusual trait. 

Tom Seggelke, publicity partner

Tom Seggelke, an LDN partner specializing in publicity for LDN, was born in Lincoln on July 25th, 1948. He graduated from LCHS in 1966 and from Lincoln Christian College in 1970. He is married to Rita, who is a social worker at Illini Central Schools in Mason City and Easton. They have 4 children.

Tom is the Owner of Key Printing in Lincoln. He and Rita attend Lincoln Christian Church.

His claim to fame is that he once shook hands with President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Ellen Shawgo, writer

Ellen graduated from high school in Mason City and received an A.A. degree in Business and Accounting from Lincoln College. She has lived in Logan County for 20 years.

Recently she has written articles for both Lincoln Daily News and The Pantagraph in Bloomington. 

Ellen enjoys cross-stitching, reading, computers and sports.  A warm-hearted, versatile person, she takes care of home improvement projects as skillfully as she handles needlework and news details. She also has a cat, Joey.

John Welter, writer

John F. Welter grew up in Colby, Kan.. He has been living here in the Lincoln area for about 11 years with his wife Tamara, his son Brian and daughter Olivia. They have a Wirehair Terrier named “Niblet.”

John attended high school in Colby, Kan., received his B.S. from Kansas State University, a Masters from Eastern New Mexico University and has done advanced graduate work at UCLA.

John is currently working as professor of history and religion at Lincoln College.

He says his favorite pastimes include reading and listening to music of all kinds.

Jim Youngquist, CEO

Jim Youngquist grew up in Joliet, Ill., and moved to Lincoln in 1984 with his family to attend Lincoln Christian College. He attended Joliet West High School and Joliet Junior College where he majored in horticulture. Jim was a preaching major at LCC.

He lives quietly in Lincoln with his wife Jan and Bob the cat. Jim and Jan have a daughter, Trisha, who is currently a sophomore in college.

Jim says that his hobbies are computers, collecting clocks and tropical fish, but his favorite pastime is actually teaching Sunday School at Eastview Christian Church in Bloomington.