Tuesday, February 7, 2006
About 400 students, teachers, parents and community members
packed the Silas Willard gym Friday to honor the school's most
famous alumnus. But it was another former student that may have
provided the most inspiration.
"If you can't be like Ronald Reagan," local historian
Tom Wilson said, "be like Corrie Heck."
Heck, who was the featured speaker during Friday's event, has
several connections with the former president. She went to Silas
Willard, where Reagan started his formal education. Now she's
a student at Eureka College, Reagan's alma mater, where her
great-great grandfather tutored the future president in German.
Heck is the recipient of Eureka's Ronald Reagan Fellowship,
which includes a full-tuition scholarship. She spent most of
last summer in Simi Valley, California, doing research at the
Reagan Presidential Library. The highlight of the internship
was interviewing former First Lady, Nancy Reagan, who also has
ties to Galesburg.
Galesburg and Monmouth are relative newcomers to claim part
of Reagan's Illinois legacy. In 2004, the two communities were
added to the Reagan Trail, a state-designated route designed
to bring tourists to towns with connections to the former president.
Reagan moved to Galesburg in 1915 when his father took a job
running the shoe department at O.T. Johnson's "Big Store".
The future president attended first grade and part of second
grade at Silas Willard. In 1918, the family moved to Monmouth,
where he finished second grade at the former Central School
before the family returned to Tampico.
Nancy Reagan's stepfather, Dr. Loyal Davis, was a Galesburg
native and the future first lady spent summers here as a child.
Friday's Silas Willard event was timed to coincide with what
would have been Reagan's 95th birthday on Monday. The students
were told about how Reagan walked the same halls, sat in the
same classrooms that they do now.
"He was what I consider to be one of the greatest presidents,"
State Rep. Don Moffitt, R-Gilson, said. "And you are walking
in his footsteps."
The school, which already has a plaque and other memorabilia
to remind the students of their heritage, received a spectacular
bronze bust of the former president crafted by Knoxville artist
Tom Lytle.
But it was Heck who brought Reagan to life for the Silas Willard
students. She had students dress in costumes as she told the
former president's story. They included a 1920s-style lifeguard
suit, a Eureka College letter-sweater, a reporter's hat for
Reagan's days as a radio broadcaster, even a cowboy outfit for
his love of horses and ranching. She was able to connect with
these students better than any picture or plaque hanging in
the entrance.
Heck has become more than a Reagan scholarship recipient. She's
becoming an expert on the former president. She's a bright young
lady who has already accomplished a lot. She's a wonderful ambassador
for this community.
We don't hear enough about our area's young people who graduate
and go into the world and do great things. We don't use them
enough to help inspire a future generation of leaders. We should.
Heck is a good example.
Friday's event was designed to show students they have the
potential to be leaders—if not like Ronald Reagan, perhaps
like Corrie Heck.
© 2005 GALESBURG REGISTER-MAIL - Don
Cooper, publisher - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
140 S. Prairie St., PO Box 310, Galesburg, IL 61401 - 1-309-343-7181
