Lions’ parade heads list of Halloween activities

By Editor | October 23, 2013 |

This year’s special guest for the Vandalia Lions Club’s annual Halloween Parade is a woman who has been a community leader both in business and community enhancement projects.

The Lions Club parade begins at 7 p.m. on Thursday from Seventh and Gallatin streets, heading east on Gallatin to Third Street.
The Lions have chosen lifetime resident Jean Stombaugh as the grand marshal for this year’s parade.
Stombaugh was born just south of Shobonier, and was in first grade when her family moved to Vandalia. She then attended Vandalia Schools and graduated from Vandalia Community High School.
Jean Meredith was married in 1951 to George Stombaugh, who was working for the family business, Stombaugh’s Tin Shop, now Stombaugh’s Heating and Air Conditioning.
Jean and George bought the business from George’s father in 1971, at which time Jean became the office manager, a position she held until a few years ago.
Jean and her son, Steve, the fourth generation in the family business, are now co-owners.
She continues to work at the business on a limited basis, teaching some aspects of the business – including quarterly reports, tax information and payroll duties – to her grandson, Zac, the fifth generation to be involved in the business.
Throughout the years, Stombaugh has been involved in various community groups, including the Vandalia Chamber of Commerce.
She held all chamber offices, including president, and was “very active” in the chamber’s creation of a community welcome sign with an electronic message board at the chamber’s Tourist Information Center.
Stombaugh was also a member of a citizens committee that was formed after the Vandalia School District experienced difficulty in passing bond referendums for district improvements. That committee, she proudly said, played a key role in the efforts that led to the passage of bond issues.
Stombaugh teamed up with her sister, Glenda Lawler, and Ann Schwarm in the mid-1980s to start up a local chapter of Business and Professional Women, an organization that operated for about a decade in Vandalia.
She also was a member of the Cameo Woman’s Club, and was selected by Mayor Rick Gottman to serve on the city’s downtown advisory committee, a group that provided input to city officials on the downtown streetscape projects.
Stombaugh may be best known for her work with Vandalia Main Street.
She was among the leadership group selected by Bill Donaldson to start the program locally in 1996, and she is among a small group still working on one of the organization’s biggest projects.
“We wanted to save our downtown,” Stombaugh said about the reason that Vandalia Main Street was formed. “That was our main mission.
“It was a movement all over the United States, and it’s sad to see what has happened to Main Street all over the country,” she said.
What has happened is that Main Street funds have dried up at national and state levels, causing the Main Street programs in many communities – including Vandalia – to dissolve.
But in its 15-year run, Stombaugh said, Main Street accomplished some good things for Vandalia.
“I think that Lincoln Park was our biggest accomplishment, with the statute (of Abraham Lincoln),” she said.
Main Street purchased the vacant lot to the south of the Vandalia Statehouse, creating a mini-park with a gazebo, water fountain and benches.
The main feature of the park is the statue of Lincoln sitting on a bench. Main Street raised funds for that statue, which was created by John McClarey of Decatur and placed to allow people to sit on the bench and have photos taken with Lincoln, with the Statehouse in the background.
After Vandalia Main Street was dissolve a couple of years ago, Gottman appointed Stombaugh to serve as chairman of a committee charged with maintaining the park.
Stombaugh makes regular checks of the park, cleaning up any debris, while Bret Brosman maintains the park fountain and Bill LaDage takes care of the lighting system.
It is Stombaugh who continues to spend the most time caring for the park, picking up trash, pulling weeds and, many times, serving as the unofficial greeter.
She maintains that she would be wealthy “if I had a dollar for every time that I was asked to take a photo of someone with the Lincoln statue.”
Stombaugh continues to dedicate numerous hours to the park for a couple of reasons.
“The main reason I do it is because I care about the community, and I care about the park,” said Stombaugh, who has been known to use an acetone-soaked rag to remove graffiti.
“The other reason I do it is because it’s a good way to learn about why people come to Vandalia,” she said. “It’s an interesting way to learn about what brings them here.”
Most of those people tell her that it is the Vandalia Statehouse that lures them to this community, and that they gravitate to the park after visiting the old state capitol.
While many who visit Lincoln Park are tourists, Stombaugh said they have learned that a good many local residents also go there.
“I see a lot of people who bring their kids down here and sit on the benches,” she said.
Vandalia Main Street, she noted, also started the Olde Tyme Christmas celebration in November to kick off the holiday season in Vandalia, and that celebration continues today.
Stombaugh’s involvement in the community also includes serving as the chairman of a volunteer group that maintains garden areas along the Lincoln Loop Walking Trail in Ruemmelin Park.
As chairman, she schedules volunteers and works with parks Superintendent Gary Oldham on getting mulch purchased and delivered to the garden areas.
She also has begun working with junior high and high school students at First United Methodist Church who are volunteering to help out with the walking trail gardens and Lincoln Park.
Stombaugh gives a short and quick answer on why she’s been involved in so many things in the community over the years.
“It’s a very simple reason,” she said. “I just think that we need to give back to the community.
“I just love Vandalia, as did my husband, George, and I think it’s important that we do things for our town.”