Dick Wells, chaplain of Neponset/Sheffield American Legion Post 875, sent me some interesting information the other day.
In this time when so many community organizations need fuller participation, the American Legion State Convention last month gave Post 875 the National Retention Award, and a State Membership Award. The post, with 84 members, attained 118 percent of their membership goal.
Post Commander Rodney Bennett was elected 16th District Commander, covering six counties and 37 active posts. Dick Wells received a District Certificate of Appreciation for his work providing appropriate prayers at legion funerals and other public events.
Above is the kernel of a story, but below it is the heart of mid-western America. Dick Wells, retired Lt. Col. U.S. Army Signal Corps, started life as a farm boy from the Annawan area. He joined the U.S. Army Signal Corps and served on active duty in Germany and Bosnia.
He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Western Illinois University (is there any more mid-western university than Western?) and has taught history and related subjects since.
Dick now lives in an interesting country setting in the rolling hills running north of Kewanee and Neponset, and he serves as a lay minister to seven area churches. And you probably know him through the excellent historical articles he’s written for publications.
Rodney Bennett grew up on a Neponset area farm (and was once an excellent student in my English classes at NHS). Besides his daily farm chore duties, by the time he was in high school, Rodney hired out to other farmers to “walk the bean fields”—comparable to my most-hated farm girl job, “chopping thistles.”
His senior year in high school he enlisted in the Army, serving in the military police. Between the Army and the Army Reserves, which he joined later, he was deployed to Korea, Egypt, Haiti, Honduras, and Florida (following Hurricane Andrew).
Following his service career, Rodney has become a husband and father, and worked 18 years at State Farm Insurance in Bloomington, Ill., recently joining its partner HCL Tech, (the very name scares me!). He lives in Mackinaw, Ill.. And from there, serves as Commander of Neponset/Sheffield Post 875, American Legion, to which he’s belonged for 25 years!
I pick Dick Wells and Rodney Bennett as good examples of the midwestern citizen. Sturdy, feet-on-the-ground, hard-working, thoroughly interested in their fellow humans, not at all handicapped by a small-town background.
As I consider my surroundings, I see these attributes as vital to the United States of America. Dick Wells loves to dig out facts about our history, local and otherwise, and to pass them on to the rest of us.
Rodney Bennett describes his military career as satisfying in that he got to “travel to different countries, meet people of all backgrounds, live where they live, eat their foods, be immersed in their cultures.”
He holds on to “the lasting bond of service.” At State Farm he wrote for “Spotlights,” an in-house publication devoted to “helping vets tell their story.”
The next time I hear the Midwest designated “flyover country,” I’ll say, “If we’re ‘flyover,’ you should be so lucky.”
Keep the faith, folks—and hang on!
Your friend, Carol
