Marion Garden Club Makes Donation to the Museum

Posted on by June 8, 2015

Marion Garden Club members Lynn Love (past president) and Debbie Lattuca (current club secretary) installed 6 new azalea shrubs in the beds at the front of the county museum on June 2, 2015. The Garden Club usually donates $150 per year to the museum after deducting the costs of annual bedding plants and supplies which club members plant for the museum each spring.

It was decided this year to install perennial shrubs which  will add color to the front of the building in the spring and require less overall maintenance in the long run. The azaleas were donated to the museum by Sam and Debbie Lattuca of Marion. Bedding plants were installed by the club in large planters on either side of the front entry steps to the museum.

On Monday, June 8, 2015, several of the Garden Club members visited the museum and the equivalent of $150 in money, bedding plants and mulch was donated to the museum. Sam Lattuca, current Williamson County Historical Society president accepted the donation on the part of the museum.

Wohlwend Family Visits Museum

Posted on by June 8, 2015
Wohlwend

Shown L-R are John Wohlwend, Ron Wohlwend, Betty Neely and Sharon Wilson in background

Descendants of the Wohlwend family visited the museum on Monday, June 8, 2015 to research their local family roots, tour the museum and recollect times gone by. The Wohlwend family owned family farms west of Marion prior to the installation of the Illinois Ordnance Plant (Ordill) in 1941 which uprooted over 100 families. The properties are now part of the Crab Orchard Wildlife Refuge.

Many of the early family members attended rural one room school houses such as Bainbridge School while they were young. Betty Neely, a Marion resident, was one of those students and still has vivid recollections of those days.

The Wohlwend family were also involved in the formation of the Bank of Egypt and operated Wohlwend Motors (later called Westernaire Dodge.)

Members of the Wohlwend family in attendance on Monday were John and Ron Wohlwend, Betty (Wohlwend) Neely, Sharon Wilson. Also visiting with the Wohlwends was Rick Avery.

Museum Hosted Advisor

Posted on by May 24, 2015

The Williamson County Historical Society Museum was visited on Thursday and Friday, the 21st and 22nd , as part of the museum’s continuing participation in the Museum Assessment Program called MAP.  The museum was the recipient of a MAP grant early in the year and has been performing a self-assessment for the past three months. After that process was completed, it was to be followed up by a visit from a selected museum advisor who assesses the museum as a professional outsider.

The advisor assigned to the county museum was Lisa Chastain, assistant director of the Missouri State Museum which is located on the bottom floor of the capitol building in Jefferson City, Missouri.  Chastain arrived Thursday Morning and followed a pre-agreed upon agenda designed to interview museum workers and board members. She also took two tours of the museum, one guided and one unguided and had group discussions with volunteers and board members to discuss various museum methods and procedures.

A dinner meal was held at Bennie’s Restaurant on N. Market in Marion on Thursday evening in which board members and volunteers were able to chat with Chastain and learn of her experiences working with a state museum and smaller museums prior to that assignment.

The assessment was completed on Thursday afternoon and Chastain returned home. She will submit a report of her suggestions on any recommended procedures or changes that she feels the museum will benefit from implementing.

The MAP grant project is being chaired by volunteer and WCHS member, Dr. Ann Gammon. Participating in the MAP program were board members, Colleen Norman, Dolores Thetford, Clyde Bailey, Bob Jackson, Helen Lind and Sam Lattuca. Community members Patty Lynn and Connie Baker served on the assessment team to get a local perspective from someone not directly involved with the museum.