The Pantagraph from Bloomington, Illinois • Page 3

vww.pantagraph.com The Pantagraph Monday, May 2, 2005 A3 LOCAL Ol'RNKKillHOKS Traveling is a family tradition A 4 1 j'l 4' 1 1 i Vw -r 4 I I rJL 'ill; By Chris Anderson canderson mpanlagiaph.com HOPEDALE Ken and Dolores irkey never have taken a bad trip, hat's quite a claim given the fact that le 70-something couple has visited lore than 100 countries. Some would call the Birkeys' track a case of severe wanderlust. But le duo isn't out to merely check off locales like Indonesia and Africa. And they never flaunt their travels. In ict, the pair has a firm rule: Don't lare pictures of the treks unless asked.

"We wouldn't want anyone to be jred," said Mrs. Birkey Out of thousands of pictures shot er the years, only a few favorites grace living room and hallway wall. Several ature huge North Pole icebergs com-ised of multiple blue and green lay's. Mountains, including the Matter-)rn and the Himalayas, take center age in others. For the Birkeys, travel opens the door different cultures.

They point to unri-ded natural beauty in everything from Taj Mahal in India to penguins wading on islands off the coast of Ar-ntina and painted natives wielding ears during a pig hunt in Indonesia. "I think my love of traveling goes ick to my grandpa. He was raised in issouri. Then he moved to Illinois, orida, Minnesota and Oregon," said 75-year-old Birkey, a lifelong Hope-ile grain and pork farmer. "By the ne I was 18, 1 think I'd been in every jte.

One western trip took us 7,000 iles. My friends and 1 would just get in car and drive." The Birkeys won a few trips resulting )m their solid customer status with irmers Hybrid Boars and Harvestore, grain storage company Association th the former led to trips in Spain and Bahamas, while the latter produced rip to Hawaii. Birkey went to China while on the Illi-is Soybean Checkoff Board. And urch mission trips found the pair in dti, Ecuador and French Guadeloupe. The couple really started accumulat-g frequent-flyer miles when their ughter, Diane, turned 18, and could care of her three brothers.

"In 1975, we went to Europe. One of i boys turned over a tractor while we re gone. It had caught on fire," said -s. Birkey, 78. "I was worried that first ne, but they were all alive when we got ck." Since then, the Birkeys' life has been unending geography lesson.

Ports call have included China four times, Himalayan Mountains three times, rope, South America, Africa, Aus-ilia and New Zealand. 'Every trip is unique. I loved Aus-ilia and New Zealand. We toured ies to see the contrast between those lake areas and in the mountains," Mrs. Birkey, a long-time piano icher.

"We don't always agree on lere to go. He just plans it. He knows go anyway" vlrs. Birkey decided, however, to pass a recent trip to the North Pole. She mght it would be too cold and boring ice much of the trip was spent on a clear-powered Russian ice breaker.

Jirkey clearly remains excited about trip he took in August. His pictures real polar bears floating on ice ILhm The PantaqraphSTEVE SMEDLEY Above: Dolores Birkey held a favorite photo taken by husband, Ken, right, of her posing with local tribesman in Aranjaya, Indonesia, during a 1996 trip. The tour company had paid the native people to dress as head hunters. Below: Hopedale farmer Ken Birkey held a necklace worn by local tribesmen in Aranjaya. Birkey also brought home the painted tree bark shown displayed in his basement at left.

7 A. 'Si chunks, massive icebergs, a lumbering walrus and helicopter rides. He also hung on every word of shipboard lectures about the arctic environment and geology. The Tazewell County farmer ate a picnic lunch ashore on a 25-degree day. But he drew the line at a polar bear plunge into 28-degree waters.

"I get about three travel brochures a week. Everybody's got my name," said Birkey, laughing. The couple relies on International Travel out of St. Louis for news of group tours. They find the tours safe, stress-free and informative.

Their latest itinerary includes a cruise from Amsterdam to Iceland and Newfoundland this summer and a 50th anniversary visit to Ecuador in December. Plans are for all three American-dwelling Birkey children music teacher Diane Bowman of Bartlett and farmers Scott and Jim of Hopedale to meet in Ecuador where their sibling, Duane, lives and performs mission work. "All the kids have traveled. Scott is a climber who's been to Africa. Jim went around the world with a puppet ministry," said Birkey "There are a lot of places left to check out.

We haven't been to Prague yet." 1 'I "Va 1ST I I Mi nil I Old House Society reissues book ill f4'-, -i 'v rvfl) -J Al-1 'Jr. I -I advertises the services of the Harber Bros. including wholesale farm machinery, vehicles and binder twine. Other pages are filled with landmarks such as Miller Park, Franklin Park, the Castle Theatre and Irving Elementary School. The featured homes include some designed by Miller and Pillsbury.

The new edition provides reference information, including addresses of commercial buildings, architects of some buildings and an index. Profits from the book, which has an initial printing of 1,500 copies, will be used to pursue similar projects. Cobb said she hopes the new edition will "give people some context for what they're seeing and the bearing it has on life here today" "This is the kind of thing that will spark some curiosity," she said. Picturesque Bloomington 1907 fThe Old House Society book is $25 and available at the locations below. Bloomington About Books, A.Gridley Antiques, Barnes Noble Booksellers, Cydney's Fine Gifts Accessories, David Davis Mansion, Old House Society Warehouse, McLean County Historical Society Museum, Timothy Kent Gallery Normal Babbitt's Books www.babbittsbooks.com, Borders Books, Music Cafe The Garlic Press McLean County Funk Prairie Home, rural Shirley 'Available at this location soon copies out there," said Mark Edwards, executive director of the McLean County-based nonprofit group.

"We looked around for old copies and could only find five or six, and they were in crumbling condition." The project overseen by Edwards and organization members Bill LaBounty and Ruth Cobb was about l12 years in the making. The book initially was published by some type of commerce association, and a payment was likely required for photographs to be included, LaBounty said. Those photographs illustrated daily life in and around Bloomington. There were businesses of yesteryear including the Bloomington Pickle Meyer Brewing Co. and the offices of Snow Palmer, Dairymen.

One page shows factory workers laboring at Bloomington Carmel while another By Karen Hansen khansenpantaqraph.com BLOOMINGTON In 1907, the Chicago Cubs won the World Series, Henry Ford was putting the final touches on his Model and income taxes were a thing of the future. In Bloomington, architects like George Miller and Arthur Pillsbury designed homes and buildings, St. Joseph's Hospital routinely treated patients for malaria and typhoid fever, and horses could be boarded at the Palace Barn downtown. A snapshot of local life at the turn of the 20th century was preserved in "Picturesque Bloomington 1907." The book which featured photographs of homes, businesses, landmarks and residents has been updated and reissued by the Old House Society It is available for $25. "It seemed like such a terrific book, and there were so few The PantagraphDAVID PR0EBER ra Meredith, left, worked with interior decorator Rita Green as put her home at 116 S.

Mercer Bloomington, back togeth-pril 27. Meredith and her husband, Richard, escaped injury a truck crashed into their home eight months ago. loomington couple returns ome 8 months after crash Advisory committee: Put home in Pontiac tee is look- ing forward I if to dis- VJ I TO don't know who placed a "welcome home" sign in the front yard last week. The couple will host an open house for friends once they get settled in. "We are just thrilled how they put it back together," said Myra Meredith.

The general contractor was a longtime friend, John Rapp of Gridley They also received a lot of emotional support from family and friends, they said. After the accident, the couple lived in a hotel room for about a week before moving into a furnished house near Central Illinois Regional Airport. Myra Meredith, 64, was playing a computer game in a back bedroom when the crash happened, Dick, 68, was in the dining room about 15 feet away. She escaped through a window; he left through a door. "We just feel sorry for the kid in the truck," said Dick DATE Keeping up with issues that affect our community By Sharon K.

Wolfe swolfepantagraph.com iLOOMINGTON For Dick Myra Meredith, the old ge is true: There is no place home. hey moved back into their tie at 116 S. Mercer omington, more than eight nths after it burst into nes when a pickup truck shed through the living wall. The driver, Tyler ris, died in the accident, alvaged possessions were ined and then stored in De-ir. Some possessions were cathed: Of 13 Precious Mo-its figurines one for each tidchild to inherit only was chipped.

lames and structural dam-from the Aug. 20 accident the house to its studs and crete floor. "And the roof tore it off completely," said i Merediths )meone the Merediths cussing the report." Jeanne Rapp said the board committee will review The majority of the advisory group thinks the home should be as close as possible to OSF St. James-John Albrecht Medical Center and credits Pontiac for its central location, access to "field trip" opportunities, medical care and vicinity of staff homes. "This committee felt it should focus on what would be in the best interests of the resident of the Livingston County Nursing Home," the report stated.

"Implicit in that would be the consideration of the residents' families, visitors, and health-care providers." Committee member Carolyn Wetzel said Fairbury has the economic stability to support the facility "There is a perception by some that Pontiac 'gets everything' and any consideration give to other areas of the county is merely tokens, or perhaps politically motivated," Wetzel said in the report. "I undertook the task of serving on this committee in good faith, assuming other communities with the appropriate attributes would indeed be given serious consideration." The county board has been working on plans to build a new nursing home since voters overwhelmingly approved the project last year. By Karen Blatter pontiacpantagraph.com PONTIAC The city of Pontiac should be the site for the new Livingston County nursing home, according to 11 members of an advisory committee charged with looking for a location. The 12th member, however, recommends Fairbury. The advisory committee submitted the report to the County Board's nursing home committee last week.

"They certainly did a very thorough job of evaluating the sites throughout the county," said nursing home committee chairman Arnold Natzke. "The (nursing home) commit the reports next week and the full board could take action in May The current nursing home is south of Pontiac on old Route 66. It does not have city services, such as water and sewer. Pontiac, Fairbury and Dwight all have expressed interest in being the site of the new home..