Marty Ahrends, advertising manager and writer

Marty Ahrends, a native of Jackson, Mo., on the northern end of the Missouri Boot Heel, has lived in Logan County 4½ years. She and her husband, Les, have a son, Joseph Dean Ahrends, 3.

Marty is advertising manager for Lincolndailynews.com. In addition, as a writer, she plans to focus on agricultural issues in a voice that communicates with town people.

She graduated from high school in Jackson, Mo., and attended the University of Missouri in Columbia, graduating in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural journalism and agricultural economics.

Then she spent six months in Germany on an International 4-H Youth Exchange, where she worked predominantly on dairy farms. "I enjoy traveling to different parts of the world and meeting different people," Marty says, "but hate the thought of being a ‘tourist.’"

Her favorite pastimes are taking Inga, the family’s German shepherd, for walks through the neighborhood; gardening; church activities at Zion Lutheran Church in Lincoln; painting her house ("I really do enjoy this," she says); and going to aerobics classes at the Lincoln Park District Rec Center.

Marty is very active in the Lincoln Rotary Club and serves as president-elect this year.

One of her personal goals is to educate the non-farm community about agricultural life and issues.

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's degree 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.

Jonathan Andreasen, technical assistant

Jonathan Andreasen is a graduate of Lincoln Community High School and a student at Illinois State University. He is employed at Lincolndailynews.com, the ISU Physics Department and Lincoln Public Library.

At LDN during the summer he handled daily photo editing, ad placement and posting.

A son of the Rev. David and Kathy Andreasen of Lincoln, Jon has two brothers, Joel and Jared. His hometown was Belleville, and he has lived in Lincoln for seven years.

Jon lists his favorite pastimes as "talking to my girlfriend, playing bass guitar in my band, playing chess, hitting my dog with rolled-up socks, programming, reading, eating good stuff." And he loves to walk in the rain.

Wendy Bell, writer

Wendy Bell was born in Charleston, Ill., graduated from high school in Paris, Ill., and then lived in Springfield until moving to the Lincoln area almost three years ago. She has always lived in a county seat.

She is currently program manager for Main Street Lincoln. In addition, she serves as state director of the Miss Illinois County Fair Queen Pageant. This takes up a lot of her "spare time," but she loves being a part of it because of the people she’s met and worked with.

Her bachelor’s degree, from Saint Mary of the Woods College, included a triple major in marketing, management and business administration.

Wendy’s husband, Terry, is owner of Extension Staffing in Springfield and a school board member for West Lincoln-Broadwell. They and their two sons, Corbin, 10½, and Carrington, 9, live five miles west of Lincoln in a Sears kit home built in 1912. Their pets are "Storm," a large, white Labrador/Great Pyrenees mix; "Rocky," a grey, tiger-striped kitten; and "Millie," a petite black kitten.

Wendy enjoys antiques, reading short stories and working on their home. She loves watching the changing seasons in their back yard – from the first spring planting in the 40 acres on either side to the clear, starlit summer skies at night to the combines working the harvest to the stillness of a winter morning when the miles are covered with snow. Her first memory of life in Lincoln was looking over the fields and watching the balloons come up on the horizon.

Joan Crabb, writer

Joan calls Hopedale 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.

John Fulton, writer

John Fulton has worked in Logan County for 17 years. He is currently the unit leader with the University of Illinois Extension.

He and his wife, Sherry, have three sons, Andrew, 11, David, 8, and Daniel, 8.

He graduated from high school in St. Charles, received his bachelor’s degree in ag science from Western Illinois University in 1979 and his master’s degree in agronomy from the University of Illinois in 1986.

His favorite pastimes are working around the family’s small-scale farm, hunting and fishing.

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 Lincolndailynews.com project.

Katherine Heller,  writer

Katherine moved to Lincoln from East Palestine, Ohio.  Her family includes her parents, George and Vickie, and 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 shopping with her great-grandmother. She also 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.

Cassie Hewitt, writer

Cassie Hewitt, a writer for Lincoln Daily News, grew up in Beason but moved to Broadwell when she married her husband, Patrick, a teacher at Olympia High School. They plan to move to Atlanta in September.

A 1997 graduate of Lincoln Community High School, Cassie received an associate’s degree from Lincoln College and is majoring in elementary education at Illinois State University. She is looking forward to graduation and a permanent job.

Cassie says that she’s "a total neat freak." Besides keeping everything clean and organized, she likes to exercise, read and go fishing with her husband.

They have a black-and-white dog named Sox. He is a Labrador-border collie mix.

Mary Krallmann, copy editor, writer

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.

Karen Kubat, writer

Karen Kubat has lived in Lincoln for 20 years. She is the youngest of four children.

She attended New Wine Christian High School, Lincoln College and Midwest Bible School, and is now a student at the University of Illinois at Springfield. She has two associate’s degrees (A.A. and A.S.) and a Certificate in Biblical Studies. She is currently working on a bachelor’s degree in communications/public relations.

She is employed at Garrett Aviation in Springfield, where she works with accounts payable.

She enjoys outdoor activities, listening to music, attending plays and traveling. As a member of a Christian pantomime team that travels both locally and internationally, she has visited Russia, central Europe, Puerto Rico, Mexico and various states in this country. She says, "I love to study and learn about different cultures."

Jeff Mayfield, writer

Jeff was born in Oceanside, Calif. He grew up far from the West Coast in Mount 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.

Stephanie Poshard, sports photographer

Stephanie Poshard is a sports photographer for LDN.

She was a basketball standout for Carmi High School and Parkland College.

Stephanie is now a senior education major at Illinois State University.

John Redding, sports photographer

John Redding, sports photographer for the Lincoln Daily News, grew up in Lincoln.

He played basketball, football and track at Lincoln Community High School, and was a member of the football team at Eureka College, where he graduated.

John was a special education teacher and football and basketball coach for four years. He is now the vice-president of New Albion, Inc.

Sam Redding, editor-in-chief

Sam grew up in Towanda, 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 the 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, president

Tom Seggelke, an LDN partner, was born in Lincoln on July 25, 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 four 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.

Rachael Shelley, writer

Rachael Shelley is currently a student at Lincoln Christian College.

She graduated from Lincoln Community High School and has lived in Lincoln for 10 years.

Rachael enjoys the outdoors. She also likes to read and just make the best of time.

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.

Fuzz Werth, writer

Fuzz Werth is a lifelong resident of Lincoln. He currently works for the Illinois Secretary of State at the Lincoln facility.

He graduated from Lincoln High in 1961 and from Lincoln College in 1963. He then earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale and has done postgraduate work in public administration at the University of Illinois-Springfield.

He says, "I am owned by two cats, Booker and Richard. I am still ‘happily’ single."

Fuzz enjoys hot weather (July and August are his favorite months), working outside, reading, writing, fishing and an occasional golf game.

Jan Youngquist, managing editor

Jan moved to Lincoln 16 years ago and currently serves as coordinating manager for Lincoln Daily News, RMA manager for Computer Consulting Associates and as a tutor at Lincoln College.

She and her husband, Jim, have a daughter, Trisha, in college in Missouri. The Younquists share their home with Bob, the cat, and Scarlett, a Scottie dog.

Jan graduated from Streator Township High School and has studied at Joliet Junior College (horticulture), Lincoln Christian College, Lincoln College (pre-nursing), and Millikin University (nursing).

Jan likes variety in life and a sense of adventure. She enjoys playing with the dog or cat, gardening, reading (novels and gardening stuff), movies, listening to books on tape while driving or floating in the pool, traveling in the U.S., walking through parks and wilderness, and camping. She also lists worship on Sundays – not as a pastime, but a necessary time.

As far as dislikes are concerned, there’s coconut. And she takes mice caught on sticky traps and sets them free in the country.

Jim Youngquist, CEO

Jim Youngquist grew up in Joliet, 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 junior 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.

Trisha Youngquist, office assistant

Trisha Youngquist of Lincoln is a student and , during the summer, an LDN office assistant. Besides daily responsibilities at the front desk, she was involved in reporting and training other workers.

 She graduated from the Illinois Math and Science Academy in 1998 and studied for two years at Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Virginia.

She has a pet dog, Scarlett, and enjoys swimming, embroidery, reading, watching movies, biking, traveling and sitting around drinking coffee. In addition, she does a great Animal (from the Muppets) impression.

"In my other life," Trisha says, "I'm majoring in Russian with a minor in physics at Truman State University...soon to be a top secret Russian spy. Oops, I wasn't supposed to tell you that."

Penny Zimmerman-Wills, writer

Penny Zimmerman-Wills is a self-employed communications/public relations consultant and freelance writer. She has a bachelor’s degree in communications from Western Illinois University and has done graduate work in public relations at the University of Illinois, Springfield.

A Kilbourne native, she graduated from Easton High School. She has resided in Logan County for 4½ years.

Her husband, Chris, is bureau chief for the State Capitol office of the Associated Press.

Penny and Chris have a dog, Cisco, and three cats, Minnie, Pearl and Chessie.

Penny’s favorite pastimes are gardening, antiquing, restoring their century-old home, walking and anything outdoor-related, and traveling.