Andy Koehler is one of Kewanee’s best-known residents and is still going at 78. Health issues have kept Andy out of the spotlight in recent years and we wondered how he was doing. We found the three-term Kewanee city councilman earlier this week residing comfortably at Kewanee Care Nursing Home, which is actually only about three blocks from the home where Koehler and his four siblings grew up at 130 W. Mill St.
Other than relying on a reclining wheelchair to get around, Andy hasn’t changed much. I was greeted with a big smile and “Hey, Clarke!,” as we met. Sporting a bright, white bearded mustache, Andy, like most of us in our 70s, has some difficulty recalling things, but had no trouble remembering Christmas in the Koehler household along with sister Kristen Parish.
Andy’s parents, Wilfred (“Bill”) and Betty Koehler moved into the house on West Mill with, at the time, their three children, Andy, Mary and Tom. Kristen was born shortly and Nancy a few years later. Consequently, the already commodious residence received several additions over the years to make room for the growing family.
The Koehlers believe the house was built in the early 1900s. Its construction indicates it was probably one of the first homes built on the slope north of Mill Creek in the Village of Wethersfield and has some history of its own. It was the residence of John W. Romig, who died there on Aug. 5, 1935, at the age of 100. At the time, Romig was the oldest resident of Kewanee and the oldest of five living Civil War veterans. According to a newspaper article that Koehler found, Romig joined the 27th Illinois Volunteer Infantry and was wounded at the Battle of Chickamauga. He also voted twice for Abraham Lincoln for President, in 1860 and 1864.
Christmas morning with five rambunctious children in the house was always somewhat chaotic. All five were required to wait at the top of the big, open staircase, until all were present, then given the okay, probably by Dad, to descend the steps en masse and surround the Christmas tree.
Both Andy and Kristen remembered going to their grandparents, Frank and Ada Swedman, who lived on a farm near Castleton, every year for Christmas dinner. The house would be filled with 25 to 30 extended family members and plenty of food to go around. Andy also remembered that he and his brother and sisters would ride their bicycles from West Mill Street to the farm in the summer, taking Osceola Road east, then heading south on township roads through Stark County to Castleton to visit Grandpa and Grandma Swedman.
Andy graduated from Wethersfield High School in 1963, then spent four years earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance from the University of Illinois. He has been passionate about the Flying Geese and Fighting Illini ever since.
He then joined the Navy and served a four-year tour aboard the Battleship USS New Jersey during the Vietnam War. According to military records, the New Jersey earned more battle stars for combat actions than the other three completed Iowa-class battleships, and was the only U.S. battleship providing gunfire support during the Vietnam War.
Returning to Kewanee, Andy joined the VFW and was elected commander of Factory City Post 8078 three times, in 1984, 1985 and 1986. He worked for many years for the city in the public works and water departments, then became involved in city politics, serving three terms on the city council. He was first elected to a two-year term in 2007.
A stroke in December of 2008 prevented him from running for a full four-year term in 2009, but he was back in 2011 and 2015, winning four-year terms each time. He wrote in one of his campaign ads that his objective was always to represent the “silent majority,” responding to their concerns and complaints…owing nothing to any special interest group.
As would be expected, anywhere there are people, Andy is not alone. Kristen Parish lives in Kewanee, Mary (Garrett) in Elmwood, Nancy and her husband, Todd Swinderman, have homes in Florida and Wyoming, Ill. and Tom and his wife, Patty, live in Kansas but stay in touch. Sadly, Mary’s husband passed away in April.
There is no doubt that Andy was, is, and always will be “Kewanee through and through.” When it came time to finally leave the big house overlooking Mill Creek in September, he was asked if he would prefer to reside in a veteran’s facility or somewhere closer to home. Without hesitation, the former city councilman “cast his vote” for Kewanee.
