Skip to content

St. Elmo News

ANNOUNCEMENTS
Wednesday, September 7
•Wright’s Corner Unit of Home and Community Education, 1 p.m., Loudon Town House.
•Reverb Youth 56, 5:30-6:30 p.m.; Reverb Youth 78, 6:45-8 p.m., St. Elmo Christian Church.
Thursday, September 8
•Fayette County Home and Community Education first vice chairman of each unit will meet with county first vice president at 9:30 a.m. at the Fayette County Extension Office.
•Lunch Bunch, noon, Mary Ann’s Restaurant.
•St. Elmo Public Library District Board, 7 p.m., St. Elmo Public Library.
•Effingham Chapter #110 Order of the Eastern Star, 7:30 p.m., Effingham Masonic Temple.
Saturday, September 10
•Southwestern Electric Cooperative annual meeting at the Greenville Junior High School – breakfast, 7-9:30 a.m.; bingo, 8-9:30 a.m.; registration, 7-10 a.m.; and business meeting starts at 10 a.m.
•Ovarian awareness program, 1-2:30 p.m., Fayette County Hospital Old Conference Room; see additional info in the St. Elmo News.
Monday, September 12
•St. Elmo Lions Club, 6 p.m., Mary Ann’s Restaurant.
Tuesday, September 13
•Avena Township Park Board, 7 p.m., St. Elmo Community Park Centennial Building.
•American Legion Post #420, 7 p.m., Legion Home.
•Fayette County Board, 7 p.m., Fayette County Courthouse, Vandalia.
Wednesday, September 14
•Reverb Youth 56, 5:30-6:30 p.m.; Reverb Youth 78, 6:45-8 p.m.
Ovarian Cancer Awareness Program
Fayette County Home and Community Education is sponsoring a free ovarian awareness program from 1-2:30 p.m. on Saturday in the Fayette County Hospital old conference room. Speakers will be a survivor, Donna Blair of Vandalia, and Dawn McDaid, OB/GYN. Free refreshments and literature will be provided.
4-H Hall of Fame Inductees
The Illinois 4-H Foundation annually recognizes one 4-H volunteer per county for exemplary service to the Illinois 4-H program as a Hall of Fame winner. This year, 74 new members were inducted into the Illinois 4-H Hall of Fame, the largest inductee class to date.
Winners in the four-county Extension area are Renee Whightsil of Fayette County, Phil Hartke of Effingham County, Amanda Dial of Clay County and Patricia Hildebrand of Jasper County.
This year celebrated the 12-year anniversary of the award, according to Angie Barnard, director of the Illinois 4-H Foundation. The ceremony was held on Saturday, Aug. 20, in the Orr Building on the Illinois State Fairgrounds.
“These long-time volunteers fully embody what 4-H strives to instill in youth,” Barnard said. “They are caring, dedicated, generous leaders, and the Illinois 4-H Foundation is extremely proud to be able to provide this honor to each and every one of them to thank them for their service to this wonderful organization.”
The Illinois 4-H Foundation established the statewide Hall of Fame in 2004 to honor and celebrate extraordinary 4-H alumni, volunteers and former 4-H staff. Each inductee received a commemorative Hall of Fame medallion.
“As a result of these volunteers’ hours of service and leadership to Illinois 4-H,” Bernard said, “the program they love will continue to create brilliant futures for the young people whose lives it touches.”   
RNA
At the Aug. 24 meeting of Royal Neighbors of America #5784 in the Phillips Building, plans were made to start collecting items for the Christmas shoe boxes, such as pencils, pencil sharpeners, tooth brushes, toothpaste, combs and small toys that would fit in a shoe box.
At the October meeting items will be collected for veterans. Needed are personal items, clothing for both men and women, puzzle books, reading material; no liquid beverages.
Present were Jean Brown, Marjorie Sarver, Della Stewart and Leona Wright.
The next RNA meeting is Wednesday, Sept. 28, at 1 p.m. in the Phillips Building, and guests are always welcome.
Lions Club’s Labor Day Parade
The Labor Day Parade is again being sponsored by the St. Elmo Lions Club that decided on this year’s theme: Fruit of Our Labor (Feeding the World) and the color is green. All categories require a $5 entrée fee paid  the day of the parade. Entry forms are available at the St. Elmo City Hall or Mary Ann’s Restaurant. Parade marshals selected are Richard Lowe and Glenn Mills.
Final parade business was discussed at the Lions Club meeting held the evening of Aug. 22 at Mary Ann’s Restaurant. President Dave Maxey opened the meeting leading in the Pledge of Allegiance, and Dan Laack led in prayer. Others present were Charles Brubaker, Don Crawford, Pee Wee Denton, Roger Fulk, Holly Huffer, Bob Lowe, Richard Lowe, Le Mar Marchman, Al Nevergall, Dee Newberry, Rex Reeder, Lloyd Stanley, Bob Wells, Will Williams and Randy Wolf.
The Fayette County Food Bank distribution was held Aug. 20 at Pinnacle Food parking lot, with a large turnout. The St. Elmo Lions Club assisted.
Fayette County Extension Foundation
Present at the Fayette County Extension Foundation meeting held at 7 p.m. on Aug. 22 in the Vandalia Extension office were Brian and Kyra Willenborg and their son Brock of Vandalia, Joi Eddy of Ramsey, Joan Schaal of St. Peter, Anna Jean Rhodes of St. Elmo and Unit 21 Director Carl Baker.
Sarah Luce of Strasburg has been hired as the EPC (Extension program coordinator) who works with 4-H, and Aug.22 was her first day of work.
The Fayette County Livestock Committee gun raffle drawing held in July at the Fayette County Fair provided $440 for the Fayette County Extension Foundation.
Plans are being made for the annual soup dinner that will be held from 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 6, in the Brownstown Elementary cafeteria, The cost will again be a free-will donation. Fayette County HCE members will provide the desserts, such as cobblers, pies, bar cookies and sheet cakes.
Fayette County 4-H clubs will have a bake sale at the dinner.
The next Extension Foundation meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 15, at the Extension Office.
St. Elmo HCE
The St. Elmo Unit of Home and Community Education had a special activity day on Tuesday, Aug. 23. They went to Belleville to eat lunch in Eckert’s Restaurant. After the delicious meals (most everyone ordered something different), they then toured the Eckert’s Country Store.
Drivers were Sharon Shelton and Anna Jean Rhodes. Others going with Shelton were Sarah Beasley and her 2-year-old son Kamdem and Karen Wegscheid. Going with Rhodes were Carol Krost; Erna Koontz, a former member of the Wheatland Unit, but now a member of the St. Elmo Unit; and Krost’s guest, Patsy Wurl of Altamont.
The trip there for both cars included leaving I-70 on Route 159 and going through Collinsville during a pour-down rain, but the rest of the day was clear.
Since Eckert’s is a little east of Belleville, Rhodes returned to St. Elmo another way; they went east on Route 161 to Route 4 and went north all the way back to I-70. They saw some pretty scenery most of them hadn’t seen before.
Museum Upstairs Now Open with Displays
The upper level of the Fayette County Museum in Vandalia is open for visiting. It provides information about the history of the beautiful 1867 building. There are beautiful stained glass windows, the historic oilcloth ceiling and the organ pipes from the 1902 Kimball organ that served this church for 40 years.
The south wall displays 40 items including portraits, other early photos and the purchase awards from the Fayette County Cultural Arts Association. There now are seven display cases to show off historical items.
The model of the O’Dell farmstead is a great item on display. Children really enjoy looking at this. A teller’s cage from the early days of First National Bank and the 1917 Wick Pipe Organ may be viewed upstairs.
When the Artworks Gallery does not have an art show on their display panels, the museum displays items there. Currently, there are 85 historical items on those display panels.
The old Presbyterian Church that has housed the Museum since 1979 has undergone numerous restorations and improvements throughout the years. A restoration fund was designated for this. An old building continues to need restoration and improvements and donations are welcome.
The eighth Season of Events to raise funds for restoration starts Sunday, Sept. 25. Stan’s What’s It program will be given at 1:30 p.m. in the Vandalia First United Methodist Church Wesley Hall. Tickets for all three events are $30 or for a single event, $15 at the door or $13 if purchased ahead of time by calling the museum at 283-4866 and picked up at the door. Youth tickets age 6-18 are half-price.
The other events are Annie Oakley at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 6, and The Lincoln Boys at 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 12. Both are given in the Vandalia First United Methodist Church Wesley Hall. At each event, a name will be drawn for a door prize and a variety of refreshments will be served.
The museum is open from 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m., Monday through Saturday. Membership in Historical Vandalia Inc. helps with the museum’s operation fund. Support is greatly needed to help cover the costs of operating the museum – electricity, phone, one paid employee (others who help are volunteers), insurance, keeping the garden in good shape, etc.
Fayette County Museum Needs Elevator
Because the upstairs of the Fayette County Museum is not handicapped-accessible, but needs to be, a designated elevator fund was started earlier this year with a $25 donation from Daryl Calvert of St. Elmo. The first fundraiser for the designated elevator fund is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 22, at 1 p.m. in the First United Methodist Church Wesley Hall at Fourth and Madison in Vandalia and is called Antiques Appraisal Show.
Phil Lewis, owner of the antique shop in Teutopolis, will be the appraiser. The purchase of a $10 ticket will permit you to take two items to be appraised. A total of 100 items can be appraised in the afternoon, so the $10 tickets are limited to 50.
For those who just want to attend to see and enjoy the appraisal of the antiques brought by others, the ticket fee is $5.
Tickets are for sale now at the Fayette County Museum, which is open from 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and the phone number is 283-4866.
Rhodes Side Gleanings
My son, Steve, of Chicago, called on Aug. 28 to tell me he and his friend, Scott Edmonds of Chicago, would be here Sept. 2-3 and leave on Sept. 4. My niece, Linda Green of Eureka, called me the afternoon of Aug. 30 to tell me her dad died.
We didn’t go to visitation the evening of Sept. 2, but went to the Saturday morning funeral and graveside service. My daughter and family, Prentiss and Phyllis Lea, Soo Jin and Chae Rin, Libertyville early to arrive in time for the funeral. The Arcola United Methodist Church had a dinner. The Leas had to go back to Libertyville after the dinner.
When Steve, Scott and I returned back home, we went into St. Elmo to see the pet parade and the car show; there were about 50 old cars on display.
Sunday morning, Steve and Scott left for Carlinville to visit with Scott’s parents, Richard and Carol Edmonds.
Don Rhodes of Arcola died at age 94 (in November 1977 his brother, my husband Phillip, died at the age of 49). My father-in-law, Earl Rhodes, died in July 1978; my mother-in-law, Alice (Bieber) Rhodes, died in 1998; and my sister-in-law, Zona Beck of Forsythe, died in 2007 at the age of 88.
Don’s two surviving cousins in this area are Steve Wright and Bobby Bieber of Beecher City. Steve and his wife, Marsha, attended the funeral.
Don was in the U.S. Army Air Corps from 1942-1947, a first lieutenant bomber pilot in the Pacific Theater, and flew B-24 Bombers. Following his discharge from the service, he began working construction. He also worked at Ashland Oil & Refinery in St. Elmo and then was employed as a general maintenance superintendent at USI/Quantum Chemical Plant in Tuscola from 1952 until he retired in 1988. He was active in the Arcola Lions Club, Masonic Lodge #366, VFW, American Legion and Tri-County Shriners’ Club. Don also was a member of the Arcola United Methodist Church.
His hobbies included flying remote controlled airplanes, and he was a master craftsman, working in his shop with metal and woodworking tools.
 

Leave a Comment