Eureka College students to portray figures from Eureka’s past at cemetery walk

RESCHEDULED DATE - September 27 - 3:00 pm - Olio Township Cemetery

The Eureka College theater department and the Woodford County Historical Society will hold their second annual cemetery walk at Olio Township Cemetery on Reagan Drive just south of the campus at 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 27.

In keeping with the City of Eureka's sesquicentennial (150 years) observance, six of the city's most interesting people were selected for the walk. The individuals and the Eureka College students who will portray them are:

Eureka Public Library benefactor Annie Davidson, a descendant of one of Eureka's pioneer families, played by  Kathleen Huizinga of Downers Grove;

Eureka developer John Darst, who platted the original town of Eureka in 1855 and was a long-time chairman of the Eureka College Board of Trustees, played by Benjamin Redshaw of Libertyville; 

John E. Fish, a railroad man who donated the petrified log that stands in front of Vennum-Binkley Science Hall and was a grandfather of current Eureka College student Annette Sherman, played by Jeremy Grieder of Congerville;

Eureka College alumna Mary Jo Finch, a member of Delta Delta Pi sorority and a longtime Eureka resident who was involved in numerous community efforts, played by Catherine Davis of Otterbein, Ind.;

Margaret E. Riley, a member of numerous charitable and social organizations who was married to longtime Eureka physician James Riley and was a former Eureka College campus nurse,  played by Pamela Harding of Shorewood;

Samuel Ellis Adams, a tail gunner on the doomed WWII B-24 bomber “Lady Be Good,” played by Scott Herman of Park Ridge.    

Members of the Eureka College Circle K Club will be greeters at the four cemetery gates and will distribute programs and maps to the gravesites, where students in Holly Rocke’s Acting 2 class will portray the characters. The students have researched the characters and will be costumed in keeping with the characters’ time periods.

There is no admission fee, but donations to the historical society will be accepted.

For more information, contact Rocke at hrocke@eureka.edu or historical society member Karen Fyke at
(309) 360-6772.

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Contact:

Michele Lehman

Media Relations Coordinator

mlehman@eureka.edu

(309) 467-6318