News From Our Classmates We invite our classmates to share their life experiences on our Class web site. It might be Anniversaries, Retirement Years, Civic Interests, Past Military or Professional Careers. Any news of interest and Photos are welcomed. Email HAROLD for News Input at chs1953@comcast.net VETERANS DAY 2024 By Harold Keller On Veterans Day, I carried our USA flag to remind people of Veterans Day. This is my fourth year. I put on my old Army field jacket and steel pot and carried the American flag. My walk was a total of two miles. The response I received from passing cars is overwhelming. I saluted to all that honked and waved as they drove past me I just hope the people thought of their veteran as they passed me. I get great pleasure to honor all Veterans that served our country. I posted it on YouTube: LINK TO YOUTUBE Harold Keller Posted 11/18/2024 A CLASSMATE of 1954 IN THE SPOTLIGHT CAROL (MICHAEL) MULVIHILL Most of my classmates knew me (Carol Michael) as being active in the music world playing in the band, orchestra, dance band and singing in many vocal groups. My love for playing the flute took me to the University of Illinois, majoring in Music Education. Even though my life took some turns with rough patches, I have managed to continue my music. Playing the flute is my therapy and relaxation, the calming of my soul. After moving to Colorado in 1958, I was fortunate to acquire first chair flute in the small, community Businessmen’s Symphony directed by a female conductor - almost unheard of in those days. I played there for 27 years and it was a very fulfilling experience. Since Dr. Antonia Brico was a career woman seeking a job in solely a man’s position as an orchestra director, she struggled to acquire professional conducting jobs based on the fact that she was a woman. She formed her own group, which of course would be a non-paid community group. Later on, the orchestra was renamed “The Brico Symphony.” Judy Collins, folk singer and guitarist, a one-time piano student of Dr. Brico, made a documentary film of Dr. Brico’s life showing her life struggles and her glowing accomplishments, and included portions of some of our rehearsals and concerts. The movie was up for an academy award in the documentary category. If interested, perhaps check out the film, “Antonia, Portrait of a Woman”. She was a very inspirational and a supportive teacher of encouragement in my life as well as others. While playing in the orchestra, I continued teaching flute privately in the Denver area for 30 years. When Dr. Brico passed away, the orchestra continued under different names and various conductors who would bring their own instrumentalists, so I needed to find a way to continue to perform publicly in the metropolitan music scene. An accomplished pianist and choir director friend of mine and I decided to form a new flute and piano duo in the Denver area. We called ourselves “Musical Distinctions”™ and were hired for various events around town. Our repertoire is varied and includes some jazz, popular ballads, Broadway show tunes and classical standards. One of my favorite events was providing music for the opening night galas of Art Gallery shows. We also played a stint at Gabriel’s, a lovely restaurant in Sedalia, CO in the evenings. And weddings were on our venue as well as open houses; wherever someone needed that special touch to make their occasion unique. Unfortunately, recently my friend moved farther away that hindered getting together very often to practice, although we still do on occasion, so our “gigs” are not very frequent. However, I loved the time we had to perform and will cherish the experiences forever. I feel good about continuing in the world of music for almost my entire life. Who would ever dream those little squawks and tweets in the high school band room would go so far? Carol Michael Mulvihill Class of 1954 Piano accompanist: Peg Lundburg Submitted by Harold Keller April 17, 2024 TAPS ACROSS AMERICA 2024 By Harold Keller I played Taps Across America, along with thousands of others on Memorial Day. My fith year to give thanks to our Veterans who gave it all to preserve Freedom for our country. I posted it on YouTube: LINK TO YOUTUBE Would appreciate a thumbs up and any (good) comments. Harold Keller Posted 5/28/2024 VETERANS DAY 2023 By Harold Keller On Veterans Day, I carried our USA flag to remind people of Veterans Day. This is my third year. I put on my old Army field jacket and steel pot and carried the American flag. My walk was a total of two miles. The response I received from passing cars is overwhelming. I saluted to all that honked and waved as they drove past me I just hope the people thought of their veteran as they passed me. I get great pleasure to honor all Veterans that served our country. I posted it on YouTube: LINK TO YOUTUBE Harold Keller Posted 11/15/2023 A Farewell to my lifelong friend, Louie Mays By Harold Keller I moved from a farm near Rankin IL in 1946. I had no real buddies on the farm, except my two older brothers, well you know how older brothers can be. I lived right across the street from the high school and Louie lived about a block from me in Harwood Ct. Not long we became best of buddies starting 6th grade at Lincoln grade school. We sort of lost contact after high school, and we became acquainted again when the class reunions started. Since then, we had been on a phone call about every 6 months. On one of the recent calls, he told me had colin cancer. He had gone through chemo and radiation treatments and said he was not going through that again and was going to ride it out until the end. Louie found the end on October 29, 2022. I will truly miss a lifelong friend, Harold Keller TAPS ACROSS AMERICA 2023 By Harold Keller I played Taps Across America, along with thousands of others on Memorial Day. My fourth year to give thanks to our Veterans who gave it all to preserve Freedom for our country. I posted it on YouTube: LINK TO YOUTUBE Would appreciate a thumbs up and any (good) comments. Harold Keller Posted 5/30/2022 TAPS ACROSS AMERICA 2022 By Harold Keller I did it again. I played Taps Across America, along with thousands of others on Memorial Day. I posted it on YouTube: LINK TO YOUTUBE Would appreciate a thumbs up and any (good) comments. Harold Keller Posted 6/2/2022 TAPS ACROSS AMERICA 2021 By Harold Keller I posted this article on my Nextdoor, like a face book for our neighborhood. It went VIRAL! I got 715 "likes" and 167 direct comments. Since not many of you can access the Nextdoor web site, I posted it on YouTube, so you can see it. LINK TO YOUTUBE Would appreciate a thumbs up and any (good) comments. Harold Keller Posted 6/6/2021 IN THE AUTUMN OF OUR YEARS By Jim Neal Well, we are in the Autumn of our years. What we are is what we will be. So, to follow Harold’s lead, here are some of the roads traveled. I was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. This was the Depression era, Dad had a number of different jobs, so we moved around in that city seven times. Dad went from a reserve officer status to active duty in 1940. Subsequently we joined Dad at an Army base in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1946. After 1-1/2 years there we moved to Champaign just in time for me to begin 7th grade. I did not know a sole when I went to my first homeroom. We must have all told the teacher where we lived in Champaign, because Dick Haines came up to me after class and wanted to know who I was. All He knew was that I should have gone to South Side, but didn’t. After many good years I graduated from CHS, and enrolled in Ohio Wesleyan Univ. That turned out to be a poor choice for me. I won the intermural wrestling at 135# wt level, but otherwise it was not a good year. After a summer, I decided to volunteer for the draft, entered the US Army in Sep, 1954; after basic training in Ft. Chaffee, AK. My big achievement in Basic was qualifying as Expert in the Submachine Gun. I was assigned as a Supply Clerk in the 89th Tank Battalion with the 25th Infantry Div., stationed in Schofield Barracks, on Oahu, Hawaii. After two years, I was discharged and returned to Champaign to enter and subsequently graduate from the Univ. of Illinois in Mech. Eng. My best offer out of college was from the DuPont Co. After a year and a half at a plant in South River, NJ, I returned to marry Nancy Tyner (CHS ’54}. I then had two year assignments in Waynesboro, Va (1st daughter born), Newburgh, NY (2nd daughter born) and then spent the rest of my employment in Newark, DE (Son born). I retired from DuPont in 1990, worked a few years with Tetra Tech, and have been retired since. During part of my time with DuPont I was also in the Delaware House of Representative and then the State Senate for a few years. Nancy and I moved to Evanston in 2013 to be near one of our daughters (the middle child). After this move I realized that I was a Midwesterner. People around here respect 4 way stop intersections (they know how to take turns) and show a bit of courtesy on a busy Interstate highway (compared to I95 on the East Coast). While living in the greater Chicago is a bit different than Champaign, it has a feeling that is more to my constitution than the frantic East Coast. Submitted by Jim Neal June 17, 2020 TAPS ACROSS AMERICA By Harold Keller On Memorial Day, May 25, 2020 at 3:00 PM, "TAPS" was played all across America. This event is to to remember those who have died in military service to the United States. Yes, I did play the 24 notes "TAPS" exactly at 3:00 PM. It gave me a proud feeling that I was doing a thing which was happening across our nation. I played the tuba in Jr. and Sr. high school. I played a bugle in the the Regimental Bugle and Drum corp in Army Basic training in 1957. Since then not a note. A couple of years ago, I got the itch to play the horn again. I bought a Euphonium (baby tuba) and learned to play all over again. My main goal was to play in what is called "Tuba Christmas". These are scheduled all over the USA about 2 weeks before Christmas. Usually all kinds of Tubas, Sousaphones, Euphoniums, and Baritones come together for a couple of hours and play Christmas music. Sometimes maybe a couple of hundred instruments. An item on my bucket list is to play at one of these in the near future, Who knows, they even have one in New York City in Rockefeller Square. I first found out about Tuba Christmas watching our own Bill Geist on the CBS Sunday Morning Show in 2013. It can be seen at: It's beginning to sound a lot like Tuba Christmas Hope you enjoyed reading about my Tuba experience. Submitted by Harold Keller May 26, 2020 A CLASSMATE IN THE NEWS Champaign American Legion Post 24 elected officers for the Legion year 2019-2020. Elected as Delegates to the State American Legion Convention included classmate J R Stillwell of Champaign. (Source: The News-Gazette, Sunday, June 16, 2019) Submitted by Phil Matteson June 16, 2019 Farewell to Dick and Libby Halleman by Harold Keller Some of you classmates may know who Dick and Libby Halleman are. For the others, here is how I came to know them. When I was a little boy on a farm, I would look down the road every day for a maroon egg shaped Ford. It was the rural mail delivery man named Mr. Pickard. I would run down to the end of our lane to get our mail from him. Mr. Pickard had a daughter named Libby and my older sisters were classmates with her at Rankin, Il. When I met Carole, in 1955, we would date and go to the Moose club located at Randolph and White streets in Champaign. On some Saturday nights, the Dick Halleman band would be playing. I was aware of Libby coming from Rankin and we became acquainted with her and Dick. I lost track of them for sometime and Googled them and found the following information: They were invited to perform in Tucson, Arizona, and then promoted to Del Webb's Mountain Shadows resort in Scottsdale, which was the beginning of an extremely successful 21-year run. For Libby and Dick, one of their high points was when Lawrence Welk was in the audience in 1969, and complimented them to their boss, saying they were the best little dance band he had heard in many years. In the summers, they toured to the Sahara and Mint hotels in Las Vegas, where they performed for celebrities including Jack Benny, George Burns and Johnny Carson, and made appearances in Lake Tahoe, Newport Beach, Jackson Hole, Atlanta and St. Louis. Over the years, Dick and Libby also developed real estate in Scottsdale and Carefree, while still performing at the Royal Palms Resort for eight seasons, and in many other venues in Phoenix. By this time, their clientele had become long-time friends, even joining them on musical cruises to Alaska, the Baltic and Mediterranean. Dick passed away on October 8, 2010. Link to: Dick's obituary Libby passed away on April 1. 2018 Link to: Libby's obituary Farewell to Dick and Libby Halleman Hope you enjoyed reading this about some local talent. Submitted by Harold Keller March 12, 2018 FROM A ONE ROOM COUNTRY SCHOOL TO A BIG CITY CLASSROOM by Harold Keller I was born and raised on a farm near Rankin, Illinois. I attended a one room country school with one teacher, teaching grades 1 through 8. There were maybe 12 students at best. The teacher taught combined lessons to grades 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 and 6, 7 and 8. This type of teaching must have worked. When I moved to Champaign and started the 6th grade, I felt I was up to par with the rest of the class. In the country school, I remember we had recess times, going outside and playing on a merry go round, teeter totters, or playing more games. One in particular was called “Handy Andy Over”. We would choose up sides and then throw a ball over the roof and the guy that caught it, would try to get around the building without getting tagged. We had our times in class as a group. The teacher would play the piano, and we would all sing from a songbook, We also said the Allegiance to the Flag every morning. Everyday we would listen to the radio to a program called “ WLS Schooltime”. Each day would feature a different subject. Halloween and Christmas were special times at our school. On Halloween night, the parents came and we would go in our costume, which was usually something found in our parent’s closet. A big bonfire was lit and after the fire burned down to be a safe distance, we would roast wieners and marshmallows. On Christmas, we usually had a Christmas play, and all classmates participated. A curtain was strung up across the front of the classroom, which really seemed like a real stage. The parents would be the audience and all were proud to see the children. I moved to Champaign in the summer of 1946. I met Louie Mays, living only less than a block from me. We became best of friends. I started the 6th grade at Lincoln school, only a couple of blocks from where I lived. I really had an adjustment to make with about 40 students in my class. The subjects were not as hard as I anticipated. I guess the one room country school wasn’t half bad. Submitted by Harold Keller December 13, 2018 CLASSMATE HAROLD KELLER RECEIVES VIETNAM WAR VETERAN PIN Harold Keller Shown with United States Congressman Mike Coffman (CO) after receiving his Vietnam War Veteran Lapel Pin. The phrase "Vietnam War period" is used to define the Commemoration’s inclusive dates as our nation recognizes all who served on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces at any time during the period of November 1, 1955 to May 15, 1975, regardless of duty location; and their families. No distinction is made between veterans who served in-country, in-theater, or who were stationed elsewhere during the Vietnam War period. The 2008 National Defense Authorization Act (Public Law 110-181 § 598) empowers the Secretary of Defense to conduct a program on behalf of the nation that commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War By presidential proclamation on May 25, 2012, the Commemoration extends from Memorial Day 2012 through Veterans Day 2025. (Source:VIETNAM WAR COMMEMORATION) In May of 1957, I was faced with a 2 year draft into the Army. The Reserve Forces Act of 1955 stated that one could enlist into an Army or National Guard unit, go through 6 months of basic and MOS training. Afterwards, to be in an active reserve unit for 5 1/2 years. Needless to say, I took advantage of this program. I was assigned to a local Army reserve unit, 328th Quartermaster Company. I found that I was among Champaign High School friends, Phil Matteson, Richard Haines, Bob Apperson, Dick Stillwell, Allan Trinkle and Dick Shelby. After 2 years in the Army Reserves, Allan Trinkle prompted me to go for a conditional release from the Army Reserves to enlist into the Air Force Reserves. It worked out for both of us and we were assigned to the 46th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron at Chanute Air Force Base. This was much more to my liking, as we trained one weekend a month instead of one night a week. On the Saturday of the two day training, we would simulate having wounded patients and carry them on stretchers onto a C-119 (Flying Boxcar) aircraft and fly to Minneapolis, Kansas City, or Nashville. This would give us training for in air care for our wounded patients. We would have lunch at one of these destinations and then fly back to Chanute AFB. On Sunday morning, we would have classroom training for a medic technician. In the afternoon, we actually worked floor duty at the base hospital. I got my final discharge on September 20, 1963. Since I was on active duty (even for training) from May 19,1957 to November 17, 1957, this qualified me as a Vietnam War Veteran. Today, along with 13 other Veterans, I got my Official Vietnam War Veteran- Lapel Pin at the Volunteers of America facility here in Denver. My Congressman put my pin on me and congratulated me. I really feel honored to receive this pin. I can add this Pin to my other Military accomplishments: May 1957, Army Basic Training, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri: Expert Medal- M1 Rifle, Honorary Member of the 2nd Regimental Bugle and Drum Corp, August 1957, Quartermaster School, Fort Lee, Virginia. December 1957, Army Reserves, 328th Quartermaster Co., Champaign, Illinois: Quartermaster Supply Handler/ Truck Driver/ Fork Lift Operator. September 1959 to September 1963, Air Force Reserves, Chanute Air Force Base: Senior Airman (E-4), Aircrew Wings Badge/ Inflight Nurse for Wounded Litter Patients. 30 September 1963: Honorable Discharge Certificate: UNITED STATES AIR FORCE. Many of our classmates may be qualified to receive this Viet Nam War Veteran Pin, which is such an honor to have. Find out more at: THE UNITED STATES of AMERICA VIETNAM WAR COMMEMORATION Submitted by Harold Keller August 8, 2018 A LOUD CHEER FROM CHAMPAIGN A loud cheer from West John Street in Champaign came from the O'Neill house. Long-time Champaign residents, CHS classmate Terry O'Neill and his wife, Julie, watched on TV their favorite baseball team, the Houston Astros, take the World Series with a 5-1 Game 7 win against the LA Dodgers Wednesday night, November 1. Their youngest son Dan, former CHS and Illinois baseball player, is the Astros' Senior Director of Business Operations. He joined the team in 2012, first working as Director of Major League Team Operations. He was in Los Angeles with the team for Game 7. Julie O'Neill said, "We actually saw him on TV in the clubhouse celebrating with the team." (Source: The News-Gazette, Friday, November 3, 2017) Submitted by Phil Matteson November 6, 2017 A CLASSMATE WHO SERVED Note: The News-Gazette is publishing a front-page series of articles as "A SALUTE to those who served" by printing a story about their Military service. The recent story on the front page was about classmate Robert "Babe" Alsop. ARMY SECURITY AGENCY/'A LOT OF TENSION' At an outpost that could have been overrun any minute by the smallest of North Korean forces, Robert Alsop was part of a unit that spied on the country that it was still technically at war with. In 1955, an armistice had only been signed two years earlier on the Korean peninsula, America's least-resolved war. A Champaign High School graduate, after working a couple of years in construction, Alsop had enlisted in the Army's security branch to avoid being drafted in the infantry. "The FBI came around asking my friends about me, because I would be getting a top-secret security clearance," he says. One of 11 children, Alsop had lost a much older brother in the first days of the Japanese invasion of the south Pacific, a brother in the Korean War and another brother who was a Marine in World War II. Alsop left as the equivalent of a staff sergeant. Now 81, he remembers what it was like to serve in the Cold War years. The lowlight: 14 days on a ship from Seattle to Japan before flying to Korea. "I'm glad I wasn't in the Navy," he says. "The highlight was my time in Korea. I was in the Army Security Agency, and we did some very good things, such as intercepting North Korean messages, triangulating North Korean radio centers and running spies into North Korea," he says. Alsop served in the Army from 1955-57 in Korea, just north of the decisive 38th Parallel, with 15 or 20 men, only one of them an officer, at a radio outpost near the Demilitarized Zone. "There was a lot of tension at that time. We were stationed in a small outpost in what used to be part of North Korea, and it was always a tense time, even though there was no combat at the time," he says. "We had a few carbines and pistols if they decided to attack us," he recalls. The outpost was on the east coast; the nearest friendly village was Sokcho, but the troops did not venture there. He only left the outpost for rest and recreation in Japan. Instead, supplies usually were flown in. If the plane could land, things went smoothly, but sometimes mail had to be dropped by parachute. For many things, though, Alsop says the outpost was generally self-sustaining. There was a generator for power. A pumping truck was ready to suck fresh water out of a nearby stream, he says. They could travel to an Air Force base for food. Alsop was trained in Morse code, to send and receive messages, and to intercept messages from the north. Another part of the unit used radio direction finders to look for North Korean transmitters, a job Alsop did on few occasions. And others sent spies into the north. He believes they were recruited from South Korean volunteers. Alsop wasn't allowed to discuss any of this for several years after he was stationed on the peninsula, since the operation was top-secret. But he's quietly proud of his service. Alsop took an Honor Flight to the nation's capitol in 2015. He married Carla; between them, they have six children. He worked for Illinois Power until retirement, but didn't use a radio on that job. (Source: The News-Gazette, Monday, May 1, 2017) Submitted by Phil Matteson May 4, 2017 MAMIE, IKE AND EMILY This year of the presidential elections, I want to go back in history and tell you about the 1952 presidential election. Emily Stipes, class of 1954 is a reporter for our school newspaper, The Champaign Chronicle. She wrote the following articles: CHS Chronicle Reporter Rides on “Ike’s Special” By Emily Stipes Late Wednesday Night, October 1— Hallelulia! Now it’s all up to me! Before I go to bed, I must practice a few strangle holds on my pencil for the Big Day Tomorrow. “Dwight D. Eisenhower” are magic words nowadays. When I heard that he was going to make a whistle stop speech at Champaign, my reporter nose caught the scent—a great story, How could I miss? Having called a friend of mine who was a friend who has a friends, I learned that by somehow finagling a press pass from a local paper, I could ride from Champaign to Decatur on the Eisenhower Special. That is, if a high school student could pass for a hardened scribe. Mr. Robert Sink, managing editor of the Courier, sister paper to the Decatur Herald-Review, procured the secret document for me and it looks as if I am all set. Officials said I must represent “a Decatur newspaper to get on at Champaign. Little did I now that the fun had just begun! Inquiring into the problem of which car of the train I would board, I discovered from W. P. Weipert, night chief train sender-offer of the Illinois Central, that there were but a measly five press cars, one working press car, one reception car, plus dormitories, “miscellaneous travel cars.” And others, besides the General’s own—a total of 18. It is the reception car I was advised by E. C. Slingman, chief day sender-offer of the same outfit as above, to invade with my special pass, plus other multiple passes I somehow acquired along the way. Since the General’s car is to be parked midway on Chester street, we had some figuring to do. —Let’s see, each car is 85 feet long and the reception car is the third car back. That means that approximately 255 feet back should be the car which, if I am lucky enough to bluff the guard, will be my golden chariot for the next hour and a half. It will be 255 feet from the south side of Chester if I get on the south end of the “Calverton,” less if the door is the one open to let on the Decatur and Macon county bigwigs. Three of us dashed to the IC tracks and the tallest of us walked off the 255 feet Wednesday afternoon. We had some trouble negotiating the bank on the east side of the tracks, after first getting confused over Chester and Chestnut streets, both so close to each other. The stage was set, the passes are in my pocket, and the questions are in my head. I’m ready to hear the clicking wheels of Ike’s Special bring me music of a super-assignment given to me by my CHRONICLE editor-in-chief, Mary Ellen Cochrun. CHS Reporter Rides Train, Talks To Mamie, Ike By Emily Stipes If people who heard Ike speak Thursday could only have shaken hands with him, they would realize what a deeply sincere and good man he is. His handshake can only be described as warm and strong – but there was far more to him than that. Although shaking his hand was a wonderful experience and by far my top thrill, there were many other interesting persons on the train besides “Mamie and Ike,” as all of the train staff fondly call the Eisenhowers. How best can I tell my story? Perhaps just as it happened. While as I was waiting for the train to come on the IC platform, whom should I spot, also waiting, but Norma Lee Browning of the Chicago Tribune. I noticed that her typewriter was bigger than her suitcase. We chatted for a few moments, and when it was time, boarded the train together. Miss Browning is an experienced reporter who knows all the ins and outs of the journalism business and had a reservation and a ticket to complete the long tour on Ike’s train. The first guard we encountered didn’t want to let her go on. (Miss Browning a seasoned scribe, is having trouble! How will it be for me?) When the guard finally let her through, I—calmly. To all outward appearances, asked him where the press car was. He took only one look, and in I walked—to the RECEPTION car, the one all the VIP’s were riding on. Thinking I’d have a better chance to see Ike and Mamie there than in the press car, I sat down and awaited my chance. I saw some of the nationally known reporters sauntering back to their car and decided to follow for a look-see. The working press car was a made – over parlor car. Tables for typewriters had replaced plush easy chairs. But the rug was still there. The reporters were all in fine spirit and busily typing their stories, hesitating only to drop the ashes off on the beautiful flowered rug. All the women reporters were complaining about how hard it was to keep their hose intact. They were planning to make a quick trip to some drug store in Springfield to replenish their supply. While I was walking back to the reception car, the women in front of me pulled back curtains of a compartment marked “Men’s Room” and peered in. I gasped and noticed that the name of some prominent political figure was posted by the door. On passing the lady’s rest room, I noticed that it was being occupied by the TV men! After inquiring around, I found that I wanted to interview Mamie. I must first see Mrs. Ann Wheaton, Mrs. Eisenhower’s press secretary. After I found her and presented my problem, she went right to Mamie and secured an audience for me. The inside of Ike’s and Mamie’s personal car is paneled in pine. It has a small kitchenette, two sitting spaces and a large sleeping compartment. Mamie was sitting at a table in one of these sitting spaces with Mrs. J. S. Dodd, her mother, and Mary Jane McCaffree, her personal secretary, arranging flowers. She looked bright and not the least bit worn. She had on a navy blue dress trimmed in white and wore a bracelet made of gold four leaf clovers. With “Ike” on it. May I make the personal observation that her pictures don’t flatter her in the least? Actually, to me, she is a striking-looking woman as well as one having great charm. Mrs., Eisenhower is an entertaining conversationalist and gesture with her hands while she talks. It is easy to observe that she loves children and young people. When we stopped in Tolono, she interrupted herself so she could wave to the people. I didn’t get to ask any questions I’d planned, but in my half-hour interview, I heard Mamie bemoan the fact that she wanted to see her own furniture and live with it for a while. She also claimed that she had made no plans for the White House, but just lived her life day by day. The General’s wife always seemed to be smiling and somehow the conversation always came back to the young people of today. I returned to the reception room to interview some of the VIP’s sitting in there. I talked to many of them. All were so cordial and nice. Among them were Mrs. Pat Loomis, official receptionist for the General, Mrs. H. M. Hollingsworth, Chairman of the Republican State Central committee, and Mrs. Alexander, vice chairman of the National Citizens for Ike. Then as we were nearing Decatur, one of the men on the train told me that, if I wanted to see the General, I should follow some VIP’s who were going back to see him, It wasn’t too hard to slip in among them. The GREAT MOMENT HAD COME! We walked into Ike’s and Mamie’s car and there in the same little space where I’d interviewed Mamie was the General himself. He looked a bit worn, but his eyes were shining and full of little darts of light. When he shook my hand he exclaimed how nice it was to see some young people. I asked him if he would possibly answer one question. (You see, he has a kind of an understood agreement with the press not to answer any questions put by just ONE reporter, for he might reveal something big on which the others would be “scooped.”) But smilingly, he agreed to answer my question. Yes, he thinks that young people of today ARE more interested in politics and world affairs than they were in his day. Why, when he was a boy in Kansas, the only things he knew much about did not extend past the borders of the state. I’ve always wondered what it was to be a journalist, a reporter traveling in a presidential candidate’s train, or if I would like to be a reporter. I’m more certain now that I would. After this experience, I find you get opportunities to meet the big people of our times, In this case I mean big, not only in the sense of popularity, nut big also in their hearts. I only wish that I were old enough to vote for Ike! (Source: The Champaign Chronicle- October 3. 1952- with permission of EMILY (STIPES) WATTS ) Submitted by Harold Keller November 1, 2016 My Pet Project by Harold Keller No, my Pet Project is not the Chevy. It belonged to Al Trinkle (Class of 1952). We were in the Air Force Reserves in the early 1960's. But read on. I was born and raised on a farm near Rankin Illinois, located about 40 miles north of Champaign. My parents moved to Champaign in 1946. In September, I entered the 6th grade at Lincoln school. Following Lincoln, I then attended CJHS and CHS. In 1996 my brother contacted me to inform me that the Village of Rankin was planning to build a Veterans Memorial. It would include names of men and women who had lived in or near Rankin and served their country in war and peace. For several years I searched the internet to see if anyone had ever made a web site for this monument. Recently, I decided to contact the Rankin Village board to see if a web site existed and ask permission to make one. Well, my pet project is finished. You can visit it on the world wide web at: www.rankinveteransmemorial.com Names of more than 700 men and women from the Rankin area who served our nation in war and peace are embedded on this monument. The names include veterans from the following wars: Civil War, Spanish American War, WW I, WW II, Korean War, Lebanon Conflict, Vietnam War, Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. I hope you will take the time to visit the site. Harold Keller Webmaster www.chs1953.org Submitted October 25, 2015 WENDELL HULL- OLYMPIAN Wendell Hull was selected to carry the Olympic Style Torch to kick-off the Durham NC senior Games this year/2012. He got a gold medal in the Durham games and a silver in the NC State games in Raleigh. What a way to usher out the "old" and bring in the new-year. Submitted by Harold Keller 12-31-2012 Back to Home Page Email HAROLD for Updates at chs1953@comcast.net