East meets old west at a family-run lodge and retreat
For Tom Wadsworth, history is never past its prime
Group invites bags fans to come on board and join the fun
Tom meets Thomas ... Tom Wadsworth channels Thomas Jefferson on July 5 during a reading of the Declaration of Independence on the lawn of the Old Lee County Courthouse.
ALEX T. PASCHAL/ APASCHAL@SHAWMEDIA.COM
om Wadsworth likes having Dixon’s history in the palm of his hand.
While some historians prefer hard copies to hard drives, Wadsworth doesn’t mind getting his information in byte-sized bits and pieces.
For him, it’s the “story” in “history” that counts, and telling that story can be much easier when you’ve got a world of information at your fingertips.
Whether he’s typing or tapping, Wadsworth brings the past and present together, using technology to help research and share Dixon’s story, and he’s found a growing audience eager to hear the nearly 200 years’ worth of stories his hometown has to tell.
Whether it’s using digital resources for research or PowerPoint for presentations, technology has helped in Wadsworth’s mission to tell Dixon’s story. Here, he gives a presentation on the Truesdell Bridge Disaster in 2023 at Loveland Community House in Dixon.
For more than 20 of those years, Wadsworth has spoken on and wrote about local history, on topics ranging from the city’s father, John Dixon, to its most famous son, Ronald Reagan. Easier access to information has helped
Wadsworth, 71, in his mission to mine the past to unearth its stories. Presentation — another area where tools like PowerPoint help him bring yesterday to today’s audience — is also key to his storytelling, a lesson he learned from his years of preaching at church pulpits, reading news on the radio and fine-tuning the words he’s written for various papers and publications.
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SVM FILE PHOTO
It was a testament to his willingness to keeping an open mind to new things that helped Wadsworth discover an appreciation for technology when he was pursuing a doctoral degree at a theological seminary.
“The interest in this and the digitization of resources coincided with my doctoral work,” he said. “I had to do massive research for that and writing, organizing researched data and cranking something out in a coherent fashion. When I realized that I could do local history just like how I was doing my dissertation for a doctorate, and do it quickly and verify stuff quickly, it simplified the process.”
Wadsworth earned a doctoral degree in New Testament studies at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City in 2022 after six years of study. During research for that project, he found the process of managing that work could also help him with his history endeavors, and it’s worked: He does around six speaking engagements throughout the Sauk Valley each month, and writes a bi-weekly Dixon history column for Sauk Valley Media.
Electronic sources such as Google Books, the digital library JSTOR, and newspaper archive websites give researchers like Wadsworth an easier way to find and transcribe historical information, sometimes reducing the time it takes from days to minutes — but that convenience doesn’t mean
there’s not room for the tried and true methods: checking, double-checking, questioning and correcting.
Wadsworth is “a stickler for getting it right,” he said. He takes the time to verify that his sources are correct. Just because something was written down doesn’t mean mean it was written in stone. He doesn’t want something as simple as a typo to twist the truth.
“Journalism is about accurate reporting and getting good sources, so I just have this unique set of skills and access to materials so that I can crank the stuff out quickly,” he said. “It would be of use, or interest, to a lot of people, really. When you can be of service in that way, why not do it?”
Religious studies continue to be a focal point of Wadsworth’s life, but he still enjoys making time for times past, opening doors to discover the history hidden behind them after all, opening doors has been a big part of his life.
At Raynor, he started as a janitor and assembler nearly 50 years ago and later became communications director for the Dixon garage door company. As owner of Wadsworth Communications, he was editor of “Door + Access Systems” news magazine for 20 years before retiring in 2018. Communication has also been a big part of Wadsworth’s life: he was a minister at the Church of Christ in town and a radio host for WSDR in Sterling.
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Changing Healthcare While Changing Lives
When future historians follow in Tom Wadsworth’s footsteps and talk about The Petunia City’s past, there’s a good chance Wadsworth’s name will come up. Beyond his role as one of history’s bookkeepers, Wadsworth is an active member of the community. He’s played a part in helping raise thousands of dollars for Dixon Public Schools through his involvement with the Stupor Bowl, celebrated the strides adults with developmental disabilities have made in his role as emcee of the Village of Progress’s annual banquet, and put spellers to the test during the Lee-Ogle-Whiteside regional spelling bees.
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Tom Wadsworth talks with winner Jack Bailey of Unity Christian High School on Feb. 21, 2024, at the regional spelling bee.
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Above: Wadsworth hands the first-place trophy to Mike Lancaster after his team’s victory in the 2020 Stupor Bowl at Reagan Middle School in Dixon.
Right: Wadsworth presents Village of Progress client Stacy Mitchell the Robert Stahl Friendship Award during the 2022 Village of Progress banquet in Oregon.
ROOTS BRANCHES ROOTS BRANCHES
SVM FILE PHOTO
Tom Wadsworth speaks during the dedication of the Truesdell Bridge Disaster memorial on May 7, 2023, on Dixon’s riverfront. He was among the residents who helped make the display possible. Wadsworth’s presentation on the Dixon disaster, bolstered by years of research, is among his most compelling presentations. The worst road bridge disaster in American history killed 46 people in 1873.
On top of all that, he’s also become a familiar face in education, to teams of trivia fans as emcee of the annual Stupor Bowl trivia contest for the Dixon Schools Foundation since 1997, and the pronouncer at the Lee-Ogle-Whiteside Regional Spelling Bee since 1983. Wadsworth also serves on the board of directors for the foundation, which has given him opportunities to pull up PowerPoint presentations and speak to Reagan Middle School students about local history and why it’s still important. Topics have included Reagan’s story, Dixon’s involvement in the Civil War, and the deadly Truesdell Bridge Collapse on May 4, 1873.
“The kids sit and they listen, and invariably, the kids are interested,” Wadsworth said. “It’s entertaining, but there’s local history in there too, when they
say, ‘I recognize that building,’ or ‘that monument.’ They can and should be interested, but you’ve got to spoon-feed it to them.”
Making sure they’re getting a balanced diet of information means putting the past in a perspective they can relate to and learn from — the Truesdell Bridge disaster for example, which killed 46 people.
“Every one of these topics has their own takeaway,” he said. “When it comes to the Truesdell Bridge, there are life lessons in there in terms of how you respond to disaster, calamity and personal loss; when Grandma dies, when Dad dies, how do you respond to that?”
Other topics Wadsworth has given presentations on in recent years include the Billy Sunday Christian sermons of the early 1900s, the stagecoach trail routes of the mid-1800s and the Sterling, Dixon and Eastern interurban railway that ran from 1904 to 1925.
While Wadsworth enjoys being a history-teller, beyond the presentations and articles lies an even bigger picture, one that he hopes will continue to come into focus for the entire community, for generations to come.
“Ultimately, I would love to see all of this historical stuff go toward the appreciation of Dixon as a historical tourist site,” Wadsworth said. “I would like to see the stuff that I’m doing and publishing eventually work its way into helping to develop the historical culture of the city, and an increased appreciation for the history.” n
Cody Cutter can be reached at 815-632-2532 or ccutter@shawmedia.com.
Tom Wadsworth’s Dixon history columns are published on select Fridays in the Dixon Telegraph and on saukvalley.com. Go to tomwadsworth. com or find him on Facebook or YouTube to learn more about the Dixon historian’s works and programs.
Read about other “History’s bookeepers” in the Sauk Valley in the current issue of Shaw Media’s Kaleidoscope. Call 815-632-2566 for a copy, or read it at issuu. com/shawmedia/docs/ svm kaleido 081224
A Dixon family invites you to check out their
he nomad lifestyle of a career in the Air Force has taken Keith Cowell and his family across the nation and around the world.
From Louisiana to North Dakota, and across the Pacific Ocean to Australia and Guam, the Cowells have called many places home, but never for very long. That all changed a couple of years ago when Keith retired after 241/2 years of service, and they were finally able to settle down.
The place they decided to call home is a sprawling, 43-acre spread in the Lost Nation area of rural Dixon, with a stately log cabin-style home and several smaller buildings — and they were so happy with it, they just couldn’t keep it to themselves. So they didn’t.
They turned the property into a hideway where people could come to get away from it all: East of Yellowstone Lodge and Retreat, which borders Lost Nation Golf Course. And while it may be far from its namesake national park, they like to think it’s as close as you can get to being their without traveling halfway across the country.
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SUBMITTED PHOTO
Lisa Cowell East of Yellowstone Lodge and Retreat
Through the years, the Cowells have made it their mission to make each place they’ve lived a little better than when they moved in — sprucing thing ups here, fixing things there — which came in handy when they decided to turn their new home into a new business: a lodge and campground that can be rented for private stays or parties, weddings, group functions, family reunions or corporate retreats.
“With a lot of blood, sweat and tears, we’ve turned it into something that people are enjoying,” Keith said. “We really get a good kick out of doing it now with it all coming together.”
The Cowells bought the property from North Central College in Naperville, which used it as a retreat for its athletic programs, and in 2022 they moved in. They opened for business in June 2023 and welcomed their first guests a month later, and their calendar is filling up pretty fast these days.
“Overall, it’s been good learning curve for us moving through,” Keith said. “We had a handful of bookings last year and it gave us a lot of great brand awareness. Winter was very light, but we really hit a stride this spring and summer when we were booked solid. It was a good turn.”
For now, they’re living in an RV on the property, but
they plan to build a home on their land in the near future.
Accessible from Lost Nation Road via a gated driveway, East of Yellowstone’s 10,000-square-foot Western Lodge has three levels and can sleep up to 39. It features seven bedrooms (some with bunk beds), seven bathrooms, a spacious kitchen and dining room, two game rooms and four lodges, a saloon-style wet bar, and cozy parlors where guests can gaze outside at the woods and wildlife. Want to cozy up beside the fire? There’s a fireplace inside and a fire pit off the rear deck.
Owing to its western motif, most of the rooms are given a name that reflects a pioneer way of life — “We aim to bring the Old West to the Midwest,” its website says — such as the Elk Room parlor and Pronghorn leisure room, which is stacked with board and card games to pass the time. One of the upstairs bedrooms, The Black Hawk Room, is named in honor of the Sauk chief whose people once called the area home.
Elsewhere, the Cowells have brought their own touches to the decor, like the home theater room, where people can kick back in a recliner and watch a movie, amid walls adorned with movie posters collected by Keith during his college years when he worked at a theater in Champaign.
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“With the military, we moved every three years, and we’d buy places undervalue,” Lisa said. “Since we knew we’d be moving every three years, we’d fix them up. So as a family we sort of became house flippers. We’re used to working together and working hard on a project and then seeing the outcome.”
The Cowells are open to suggestions from guests on ways to help improve the lodge. When bookings slow down in the winter, it gives the Cowells a chance to redesign rooms or switch things up.
“We always say the property tells us what we need to do next, and it’s true,” Lisa said. “People start asking, or we feel that things can go a certain way, or have an idea.”
The lodge was originally constructed in Montana and became a real-life Lincoln Logs project when it was disassembled, moved to Illinois in the late 1990s, and reassembled during an 18-month process, with each log assigned a number to assist in the process, Keith said.
While the retreat shares a name with Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, about 1,200 miles due east, it was a friend’s business that helped point the Cowells in that direction. One of Lisa’s friends from Australia later moved to Cincinnati and opened a bakery named East of Sydney. When the Cowells came to Dixon, the western TV drama “Yellowstone” that they enjoyed watching was popular. When it came time to give their place a name, they took at cue from Lisa’s friend and came up with East of Yellowstone.
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Long before it became East of Yellowstone, the property was owned by the Girl Scouts as Camp John Ralston, which opened in 1938. Cabins, a multi-purpose hall and a mess room were once part of the camp. The Cowells remodeled the buildings, and have turned the hall into the Crystal Lodge, adorned by diamond-themed chandeliers. The Crystal Lodge can be rented separately from the Western Lodge for events.
The Cowells plan to add a couple of more cabins in the near future, and construct a bridge over Clear Creek, which runs through the property, to a five-acre area where there are a couple of Native American burial mounds, something that Lisa found fascinating.
“There’s a real sort of vibe and feeling you get here,” Lisa said. “The property, the history, it’s very peaceful.”
The land also has nearly five miles of hiking trails, and the property is surrounded by a fence to prevent people from wandering too far away.
“What I love about it, as a mom, is that you can just open the door and let your kids run,” Lisa said. “It’s safe, and they can go play. This is like renting your own personal resort or campground. You can walk for miles and not get lost.”
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PHOTOS: CODY CUTTER/CCUTTER@SHAWMEDIA.COM
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Keith and Lisa met while they lived in Louisiana and have been married for 18 years. After Keith, who is from the Pontiac area, retired as a lieutenant colonel, they moved to Illinois to be close to his family. Being from part of the state dominated by flat prairie land, Keith said he grew up thinking northern Illinois was little more than Chicago sprawl, but that mindset changed when he visited to check out his family’s future home.
“This is small-town America and the heartbeat of America,” Keith said. “I grew up in a small town, and that hometown vibe is really what you get here. It’s a nice change of pace for me, and I’m hoping it’s that way for Grant, Kindle and Lisa. We’re used to moving around and never planted roots.”
Keith and Lisa also take pride in their children contributing to the family business. Lisa’s daughter Devin Gouthiere helps her with decorating, and her son Grant Gouthiere helps Keith turn Lisa and Devin’s ideas into reality. Kindle Cowell, their daughter, also helps with chores.
For Grant, getting to know the Dixon community has been a positive experience after many years of traveling in a military family life.
“It’s nice working for family instead of someone else,”
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he said. “I enjoy being a part of the community and seeing how much people have enjoyed the place. It’s really worth it.”
Grant also helps Kindle out with her performances as part of the Penguin Project of the Sauk Valley, a theater program for children and young adults with special needs. Kindle also enjoys riding horses at Pegasus Special Riders once a week, where her parents volunteer once a week in the upkeep of the horses.
It didn’t take long for Kindle to call Yellowstone her home — it was during her first visit there, Lisa said.
“We came through to look at the property, and Kindle came outside to meet the Realtor at the driveway and said, ‘We’ll take this one,’” Lisa said. “She made a decision, and Keith and I hadn’t already discussed it. We were pretty much all in awe, and I said, ‘I think she’s right.’”
In addition to helping her parents, Devin also works at the bar and restaurant at the nearby Lost Nation Golf Course, which, like its neighbor, has seen its share of improvements after new owners took over. Those who stay at East of Yellowstone can get discounted play at Lost Nation’s 18 holes.
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East of Yellowstone’s Western Lodge YELLOWSTONE cont’d from page 18
Whether it’s booking a getaway, organizing a get-together or having a party outside or inside under crystal chandeliers, the Cowells and their children are eager to share their slice of northern Illinois’ great outdoors. It’s like a private park where guests can find a home away from home and leave the din of the daily grind behind for some peace and quiet. But if you listen closely, you will hear something — that “heartbeat of America” that Keith loves: the rustling of leaves in a gentle breeze, birds chirping, wildlife scampering about … and the sound of guests breathing a sigh of contentment.
“The property sells itself,” Lisa said. “It’s amazing to stay here, and it’s our goal to make sure that everyone enjoys their stay. We do whatever it takes to make sure people are happy and are loving the place.” n Cody Cutter can be reached at 815-632-2532 or ccutter@shawmedia.com.
East of Yellowstone Lodge and Retreat is located at 6685 S. Lost Nation Road in rural Dixon. Find it on Facebook and Instagram (@eastofyellowstonelodge), go to eastofyellowstonelodge.com or call 447-777-9867 for reservations or for more information.
NELSON —When it comes to the name of a the game, it’s pretty much a toss-up: People either call it cornhole or call it bags — and whether it’s a game or a sport? That depends on who you ask, too.
Casual backyard baggers are more apt to call it a game. To top-notch tossers though, it’s more like a sport. The object of the game is simple: See how many points can you collect, or prevent the other player from collecting, by lobbing bean bags underhand onto boards 27 feet apart. But the object of the sport takes a little more finesse. There’s an offense — the skill of throwing bean bags onto the right spot on a sloped board, or through the hole — and there’s a defense — the strategy of preventing bags from landing on a particular spot.
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There’s also a lot of fun involved.
Throw all those things into one bag and what do you get? A group of local cornhole players who get together to keep things loose while they keep their game sharp: 815 Twin City Baggers, a group of some of Sauk Valley’s best bag throwers who get together every Wednesday in Nelson to hone their skills against experts and novices alike, and compete in tournaments
Some club members have sharpened their skills well enough to be recognized throughout the Midwest and nation, and many have even earned cash prizes.
Club director Steve Boelter was part of the original group that formed in 2017, and since becoming in charge of it has expanded its reach from being at smaller gatherings to notable tourism festivals.
“When I started to get my feet wet in helping to run it, we were only doing two tournaments a year,” Boelter said. “The first year I took over, we did 44; now we’re doing 30 to 35.”
The club sets up cornhole tourna-
ments at local and regional events and fields competitors at them, as well as at tournaments run by other clubs. Boelter has set up events as far as the Chicago suburbs, and he and club members have played at Fort Wayne, Indiana, at an annual fundraiser for Hearing the Call, a nonprofit organization devoted to helping the hearing impaired. Boelter, originally from McHenry and now of Dixon, has worn hearing aids since he was in second grade.
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Steve Boelter, director of the 815 Twin City Baggers cornhole club, is a big fan of the benefits of bags. “It’s very addicting, just like any other sport,” he said. “It gives you exercise, and it’s not a lot of heavy activity. It keeps you moving, and I’m not overdoing myself.”
For decades, cornhole was simply a recreational game, but in recent years has grown in popularity, even spawning national associations and tournament coverage on ESPN. There’s a social aspect to the game, too.
“It’s a lot of fun because of all of the different people that you can meet,” Boelter said. “I know a lot of the pros that people see on ESPN. It’s about bringing people together. The competition is very strong, especially when you’re playing club against club.”
When the club began, it held events at a handful of bars in Sterling and Rock Falls, but moved to a one-stop shop in 2021: at Parties on Pope, an events center in Nelson. Wednesday nights there are “open gym” sessions in the former Nelson Elementary School gymnasium, where club members practice their game, and where those who just enjoy playing the game — or want to start — can play and compete with others. Scores are kept through electronic tablets and winners are recognized. Registration begins at 6:15 p.m., with bags flying at 7; the cost is $10. Most Wednesdays have around 30 people show
up to play.
“It’s considered practice for a majority of us, but anyone is welcome to come: backyard player, first-time thrower or pro,” Boelter said. “You have the leisure of almost four hours of beating each other’s butts in bags.”
The game has several scoring variations, but the club follows the most common. Boards are 27 feet apart, and teams of two throw from opposite sides. During each round, each thrower alternates tossing four bags at the board; those that land on the board score 1 point, and those through a hole get 3 points. If a player’s bag lands on the board and their opponent’s also lands on the board, their point is canceled out; for example, if Player A lands four bags on the board and Player B lands three, Player A finishes with one point. After all bags are thrown, points from each round are tallied into inning points, and the duo that reaches 21 points first wins the match.
A little confused? Don’t fret — those who throw and are in the know are happy to lend an hand to newcomers to help grow the game.
“Every one of us, no matter where we’re at, if it’s a meet here on Wednesday night or at an event on a Saturday or Sunday, our club members are helping the new people,” Boelter said. “Everyone comes in and helps. We do everything by tablet for scoring, and if you don’t know how to work the tablet, we’ll help show you how to do it.”
The object of the game is pretty much like horseshoes, Boelter said: A thrower can be on a great run, but one wrong toss can make it hard to get back on track. A good aim is key to scoring points, and preventing others from scoring points.
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“This game is all mental,” Boelter said. “It becomes muscle memory for your arm, but it’s all mental. You can be dead-on all night long, but if you have one hiccup of a mental issue, you can take yourself out of the game for the rest of the night. A lot of people struggle with that mental part — I do, too. I know that when I shoot crappy, it gets in my head; sometimes I can correct it right away and if I don’t I’m done for the rest of the night.”
Each Wednesday session also has a side challenge, “Airmail,” where throwers try to throw bags into a small metal vase from nearly 30 feet away for a rollover cash prize, which was nearly $2,000 as of late September. Tickets for chances at the challenge are sold at each session, and two drawings are made, one for three throws and one for just a single toss.
Participants on most Wednesdays range from teenagers to retirees. Daniel Sotelo of Dixon is one of the youngest Wednesday night regulars. The 15-year-old doesn’t let his youth bother him when going up against more experienced opponents, he said, and when he one-ups them, it helps give his confidence a boost.
Sotelo hopes to achieve pro status one day, something attained already by club member Isidro Herrera, formerly of Sterling and now of Mendota, and a status that a handful of others are close to achieving.
“I like the competitiveness of it and going all around throwing and having fun,” Sotelo said. “You make a lot of friends, talk a little bit of smack here and there, and have a lot of fun.”
As for Herrera, he’s a professional in the American Cornhole League, and as of mid-September is ranked among the top 50 players nationwide. He ranks fourth-best in the league in points per round, with an average of 10.24 in sanctioned competition, and eighth in four-bagger percentage (landing all four bags through the hole), at 44.40%.
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Jen Winters of Dixon looks at playing cornhole as a way to keep in a competitive mindset. She used to engage in Tai Kwan Do as a young adult before the rigors ultimately caught up to her, she said. Throwing bags isn’t as much physical work, but there’s a methodical mentality to it that she enjoys.
“There’s a lot of strategy in it,” Winters said. “People who play in the back yard just throw it in the hole, but when you’re in the professional or competitive part of it, you have strategies to block the hole, go around the hole, trying to knock their bag off the board, and there are other complicated strategies.”
Winters also enjoys meeting new people and making friends.
“The Twin City Baggers are like a family,” she said. “It’s not just a group of people that comes together; it’s kind of like a second family. We spend a lot of time together, we travel to a lot of different tournaments, and enjoy each other’s company. That, and we get to throw bags, which is what we all love, so it’s fantastic.”
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Having a permanent home at Parties on Pope instead of having to haul boards and equipment from one place to another was a welcome change for Boelter, even if the new home was a little outside the Twin Cities and a short trip across the Whiteside-Lee county line.
“It used to be one week we were in Sterling and
another in Rock Falls, and that became a pain in the butt,” Boelter said. “This place has been a godsend. Having a central location to have anyone come here and play, and that’s awesome.”
Dave DeVries, owner of Parties on Pope and The Classroom Bar and Lounge, was more than happy to have the club make his business the club hub.
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DeVries and his wife Tracy opened Parties on Pope in 2018 and the bar and lounge three years later; the events venue formerly was the gymnasium for the Nelson School, and the bar and lounge was one of its classrooms. Once home to Nelson Blue Raiders sports teams, the dribbles of basketballs and slams of volleyballs have been replaced with the sounds of bean bags plopping on boards.
DeVries also throws on Wednesday nights and enjoys the competition while his bartenders tend to business.
“The people are fantastic and they’re all great,” DeVries said. “It’s been great to have them here once a week. When you grew up you were very competitive, and now there’s not many things you can do anymore to be competitive, but this is one of them.”
Cornhole’s recent rise in popularity has affected the club in different ways: More local people are interested, Boelter said, but that doesn’t necessarily mean more members. Other new clubs offset any significant rise in membership. Boelter knows of a club in DeKalb County that has many teenagers who have traded in their bats and gloves of travel baseball for full-time bag throwing, he said.
Boelter also would like to see a large-scale tournament come to the area in the future, and growing the game and club is a way to make that happen.
“We have a lot of good players and shooters who play here,” Boelter said. “One of the biggest things that I love the most is watching the guys who start out, and six months or a year later they’re killing it. I like watching people grow and get better.” n
Cody Cutter can be reached at 815-632-2532 or ccutter@shawmedia.com.
alarie Bilharz knows just how much the sight of a cheerful, happy face in the morning can make a person’s day — especially for kids.
It’s just before 8 a.m. on another day at St. Anne Catholic School, and each of the nearly 75 students who go through the front door to start their day are personally greeted by Bilharz, the school’s principal, with a smile on her face and an enthusiasm that’s downright infectious — like a spark that gets kids fired up for another day at school.
And with an outlook like Bilharz’s, it’s no wonder those smiles are catching.
“I never wake up in the morning thinking, ‘Ugh, I got to go to work today,’” she said. “I get to go to school! I get to be here with my children, since my youngest ones go here; and not only have I found great co-workers, they’re like my extended family. We talk even when we’re not here. It’s a very special place to be.”
For Bilharz and her staff, making school a safe and enjoyable place to be is the assignment — and their homework? Be happy. That may sound like a simple task, but a positive spirit can make a big difference in a student’s day.
It’s made a big difference at the school, too.
Just ask Bilharz. A positive spirit has helped usher her and her staff into the school’s 60th year with a renewed enthusiasm as they continue to build on a firm foundation of faith that’s kept the school part of the community for six decades.
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And while her faith hasn’t had to move mountains, it has had to move the needle at the school, which, like other schools across the nation, had to find its footing again after a pandemic.
For most of its years, the school served pre-K through eighth-grade students, but that changed when the coronavirus hit. The school scaled back and removed grades five through eight. After Bilharz became principal in 2022, under her direction sixth-grade classes were restored this year, with fifth- and sixth-graders sharing a classroom and teacher. That’s not all: Pre-k enrollment is up, and math scores have ranked among the best in the nation, with fourth- and fifth-graders scoring in the top 90 percentile last year — and she wants to keep that momentum going.
“I think we’re on a great trajectory to keep growing,” Bilharz said. “Right now we’re at sixth grade and we hope to keep them here for as long as we possibly can.”
Students are equipped with the tools they need for today’s education, including iPads and Chromebooks, and they also engage in enrichment-specific classes such as art, music, physical education and Spanish. Monthly bake sales and special programs such as Christmas and spring concerts, sports (through a cooperative with St. Mary School in town) and community outreach events help keep students engaged throughout the year, and they also enjoy activities such as the Battle of the Books literary challenge, a Halloween party, Grandparent’s Day, field trips and Christmas caroling.
The school day is 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, with before- and after-care services for students that run from 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The average class size is about 10 students to a teacher, which has extraordinary benefits, Bilharz said. Personalized learning sessions are available to each student during “WIN time” (“What I Need”) from 10:30 to 11 a.m. each day.
“The kids get exactly what they need,” Bilharz said. “The teachers can sit down and focus on what they can help you with, and that is why they excel; that is why our kids are doing so well. They’re actually able to form these bonds with the kids, not only based on academics, but know these kids as young people and what they like to do.”
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Student ambassadors Owen Fiessinge (left) and Drew Melendrez play a tune on the ukuleles students use for music classes.
First-grader Henry Sehr, Lucy Shippert and Rowan Newman use blocks and dominoes during a math lesson in Beatrie Kremske’s class.
Pre-kindergartener Mae Englund picks out colors for her class assignment.
Helping make St. Anne Catholic School one big happy family are administration team members (from left) administrative assistant Carle Fiessinger, principal Talarie Bilharz and secretary Sue Godsil.
ST.
Above: St. Anne principal Talarie Bilharz
Inset: Bilharz hands out crosses
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St. Anne’s size and layout also lends itself to students being able to interact with their peers in other grades, as opposed to isolating each grade throughout the day. That’s one of the things Carla Fiessinger likes about the school, not only as its administrative assistant, but also as a parent. Her son Owen is a fourth-grader there, and enjoys having fun with younger students, just like he did when the roles were reversed.
For Fiessinger, it’s personal interactions like that makes the school a “hidden gem in northern Illinois.”
“When Owen was in preschool, his little buddy’s older brother was in second grade, and I remember how the second-graders would receive the preschoolers,” Fiessinger said. “I was like, ‘What is this place?’ It was really sweet how they take care of the little ones, and how he’s doing that.”
Bilharz also enjoys that spirit of camaraderie.
“It’s very calming and quiet, and the kids care about each other and help each other,” Bilharz said. “Everywhere from preschool to sixth grade, you’ll see them walking together; one morning there was a sixth-grader who was like a mama duck walking with three little preschoolers behind her to class.”
As a Catholic school, faith is one of its cornerstones, with Wednesday rosaries and Friday Masses part of the students’ religious routine. Mass is led by students from a certain grade each week — second through fifth, and kindergarten and first grade on occasion. The experience also gives students an opportunity to learn about public speaking at a young age, a skill that can be valuable later in life.
“It’s so important for them to be able to make eye contact and to introduce themselves,” Bilharz said. “I think that’s such an important skill.”
School fundraisers such as its Lenten fish fry, golf outing, food drives and bake sales also bring in support and money. One of the school’s largest events is the annual Turkey Trot 5K run-walk on Thanksgiving morning at Lowell Park; this year’s begins with the National Anthem and prayer at 7:45 a.m. with the race at 8 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 28 (register at stanneschooldixon.org; the cost is $25, or $30 after Nov. 12).
The event brings St. Anne families together to enjoy a day of fellowship, fun and fundraising, and give the staff a chance to promote what’s going on at the school. Many Turkey Trot runners come in costume or Thanksgiving-related outfits, which adds to the fun. About 300 runners or walkers have participated in recent years.
“This was a neat way for my family to get into the fundraising,” Fiessinger said. “When Owen was 3, he ‘ran’ his first Turkey Trot — he was on my back; and his little best friend was on his mom’s back; and now I’m trying to help run it and get volunteers.”
The events are great way to gather people who all share the same interests, school secretary Sue Godsil said.
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“We have great support from the parishioners here, and they don’t even have to have children here,” Godsil said, but “they know and believe in the school and the concept of everything that we are providing for our students, and they want to take part and be involved in any way, shape or form, whether it’s volunteering here or in a fundraising capacity. It’s an amazing group of people.”
Prior to St. Anne opening, Catholic education in Dixon had long been provided by St. Mary School. As Dixon’s population began to grow in the couple of decades after World War II, particularly on the north side of town, a need for another Catholic school arose — it just needed a place to call home. That’s where the public school system offered an answer to their prayers.
Dixon’s public schools had modernized in the early 1950s with the opening of Washington and Jefferson schools to replace older ones, one of which was the vacated North Central School. St. Anne Church bought the building in 1954 with plans to raze it and build a new school. At the time, the church was two blocks east of the school site, which is where Heritage Square is now.
The plan to establish St. Anne School on the North Central property ultimately changed with the idea of an all-in-one concept: a new building for both the school and church on the outskirts of town, on North Brinton Avenue. Construction began
in 1960, and the first classes began Aug. 31, 1964. Fr. Miles Callahan was St. Anne’s parish priest at the time, and the school’s multi-purpose room, where students eat lunch and attend gym class, is named in his honor. Fr. Timothy Draper is St. Anne’s current priest.
Want to learn
more about the school? St. Anne’s website (stanneschooldixon.org) is a good place to start, but people who want to learn about the school from those who know better than anyone what it’s like to go there — the students — can do so, thanks to its Student Ambassador program, a group of students who escort visitors, including prospective students’ families and community leaders, on tours of the school and share with them what they like and enjoy about being a student.
“They love to do that,” Bilharz said. “It’s very special. The kids get to share what they love most about the school.”
Because the building plays the dual role of school and church, religious activities sometime take place during the school day. Staff and students are mindful of this, and during funerals at the church, school functions will temporarily stop to have the students serve as an honor guard.
Student ambassadors, honor guard members — they’re just a few examples of the school’s belief in the power of family, an aspect of the school that Godsil enjoys most about at St. Anne.
“It’s totally a family concept here,” Godsil said. “That’s been true for generations. We have grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren of people who have been a part of our parish forever — a lot of the families know one another.”
Bilharz and her staff are grateful for the tight-knit community that makes up the fabric of the school’s faith and fellowship, families who have come to know one another through the years and who are happy to welcome new members into their flock.
“We are just very blessed with the community that we have,” Bilharz said. n Cody Cutter can be reached at 815-632-2532 or ccutter@shawmedia.com.
Sam and Laura Strom aren’t big fans of fake firs; they prefer their Christmas trees as nature intended. The couple, seen here with daughters — and vice presidents in charge of hot cocoa distribution — Evie and Grace, run Strom Christmas Tree Farm in Dixon.
ou won’t find cows or corn on the Strom family farm. No tractors tilling, planters planting, or harvesters harvesting.
Just a bumper crop of holiday cheer that, like Christmas, comes but once a year.
That’s because their operation isn’t the kind that most people think about when they hear the word “farm.” They’re not in the business of putting food on our plates, but trees in our home.
Sam and Laura Strom run Strom Tree Farm on Dixon’s northwest side, which grows and sells Christmas trees, a holiday tradition immortalized in song and Christmas cards — firs festooned with baubles and bulbs. Pines packed with presents underneath. It’s a sight that makes even the grinchiest of grinch’s heart grow three sizes.
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Sam and Laura added a hot cocoa stand to the farm last year, sometimes manned by their junior partners: “The kids sell hot cocoa in the barn when the season’s open; they like to be involved,” Laura said.
But it’s also a tradition that takes some patience to be a part of — no plant-in-the-spring and harvest-in-the-fall kind of crop are these trees. The Stroms have to wait years for each one to reach its full potential, but oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, you’re worth the wait.
For Sam and Laura, and their young children Evie and Grace, it’s a yearlong labor of love to get their trees ready for their holiday debut.
“Christmas tree farming is a yearround thing,” Sam said. “Even though most people are here for only a two-week period from the end of November to the first two weeks of December, we’re out here most weekends, whether it’s planting trees in the spring, summer mowing and taking care of weeds and pruning trees.”
And there are a lot of trees to tend to — nearly 5,000 firs, pines and spruces grow on the rolling hills of Strom Tree Farm, much of which the public gets to see for only a couple of weeks out of the year when it opens for after Thanksgiving.
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Christmas trees aren’t like gifts — they don’t just magically appear on Christmas morning. In order to be ready for their big holiday, they have be trimmed and tended to throughout the year.
The farm’s typical sales window is open about three weekends a year, depending on the weather and inventory. This year’s opening date is scheduled for Nov. 29. Concolor and king firs; Norway, white and black hill spruces and white and scotch (scots) pine varieties will be available, each with its own type of needles. Customers can cut their own, have one of the Stroms cut it for them, or pick from an assortment of pre-cut trees from inside their barn.
Growing and selling trees is just one part of the business. The other? Making a trip to the farm a memorable experience for their customers. The Stroms love to see families wander the rows of trees or walk through the barn, picking just the right tree.
“We’ll have families where their dad will start [cutting], and maybe their child wants to give it a try,” Sam said. “Sometimes they make it through cutting a tree or sometimes they’ll give up, but it gives them a goal to come back next year and try again.”
While there, customers will have visions of Plum Creek dance through their head as they search for a tree; the creek runs through the farm, helping nurture the trees that grow on both sides of it. Trees grow at different rates, based their type and where they’re planted, so they’re strategically placed at certain spots where they have the best chance to thrive. Most trees take about six to 10 years to reach a sellable height. Some have been growing longer, though, since the farm’s first days 15 years ago, when Sam’s parents, John and Barb Strom, opened the farm in 2010. Reaching up to 15 feet tall, they’re well suited for homes with vaulted ceilings, or in public locations, like Veterans Memorial Park and the riverfront in Dixon, where trees the Stroms have donated through the years have found a home for the holiday.
The family sells about a thousand trees a year, and plants about that many, with the newest trees planted in March and April. Then comes the tree care: controlling the weeds, making sure the trees are nourished, pruning, trimming. The Stroms, who have day jobs on top of running the farm, recruit family and friends to help them with tasks and chores throughout the year, and when November rolls around, they’re eager to see a year’s worth of work on display for their customers.
Having a fresh-cut tree beats an artificial one hands down, not just for the way it looks and that oh-so familiar smell, but its role our ecosystem, Sam said.
“While we are cutting a tree down, we are replacing it with several seedlings that are good for the environment,” Sam said. “Artificial trees are made primarily of oil and plastics, and with the lifespan of an artificial tree being five to 10 years, that tree will go into a landfill forever. With a real tree, some people will put it in their backyard and let the wildlife enjoy it.”
The manufacturing of artificial trees has risen in the past 30 years, Sam said, which may be good for the artificial tree industry, but doesn’t help tree-growers — and pulling out that same old tree every year just isn’t the same as making merry memories of picking out the perfect tree on the farm and hauling it home.
“Another reason why people come out for a real tree is because of the experience. Cutting down and picking a tree is different every year, versus just going into your attic and pulling the artificial tree out.”
The Stroms’ daughters enjoy scampering around the farm throughout the year — “Usually when I’m out here, I’m running after the kids,” Laura said. “They like to come out here and run and play” — but when the sales season comes along, they’re enlisted in the family business.
“The kids sell hot cocoa in the barn when the season opens, and they like to be involved,” Laura said. “It’s fun and it gives them something to do outside, versus being inside and watching TV. They’re not old enough to realize it’s a Christmas tree farm and not a tour.”
The hot cocoa stand was added to the farm last year, joining the wagon rides around the farm, which have been available in recent years. The Stroms try to come up with new ideas for the farm each year, and they’re considering opening during a weekday afternoon during the sales season to accommodate those who work during the weekend, Sam said.
Laura sees the farm as a Christmas version of the fun that kids get to experience at pumpkin patches and apple orchards in the fall, and is glad to be able to offer an experience like that right at home.
“I like the family tradition and having a local business here that brings families together,” Laura said. “We always drive an hour out to go to pumpkin patches, so it’s nice to have one tradition locally that we can offer, and for the community in a way to also be involved.”
Giving residents somewhere local where they can make cherished memories is a point of pride for the Stroms.
“What makes it all is the community coming out and enjoying their tree and being happy with their tree,” Sam said. “Without them, I just have a field full of trees that are just going to grow.” n
Cody Cutter can be reached at 815-632-2532 or ccutter@shawmedia.com.
