Longevity debate gets better with time

It's not like someone's going to be thrilled when I call and ask if she just happens to be the oldest person in town who never lived anywhere else in her life.

Trying to declare a person as the oldest living continuous resident of a community can turn into a slippery slope of feedback and opinions.

It all started a few weeks ago when I mentioned that 89-year-old Tom Peck was declared the longest living continuous resident in the city of Geneva in his obituary, and it sparked interest among readers as to who has been in St. Charles the longest.

Last week I wrote about my research with historians and long-time residents who steered me toward 92-year-old Julia Swanson, but some were wondering if it was 105-year-old Adele Stoeckl, who was in Pineview Care Center when I called to ask about her. Sadly, Mrs. Stoeckl passed away - and her obituary indicated she died on the day I called. The obit also mentioned she was born in Geneva, which does not necessarily mean she lived there.

But last week, the name of Mary (Ryckeghem) Danielsen, at age 93, was suggested as someone who has lived in St. Charles the entire time, at just about a year longer than Julia Swanson.

Danielsen's daughter, Carol Hunecke of St. Charles, confirmed that her mother has lived in St. Charles her entire life and has "a great memory" about living on Dean Street in the city's Belgium Town.

"She has put together a map of Dean Street with the names of the families that lived in each house," Hunecke said. "She was also in the first graduating class from St. Patrick's school in 1929-1930."

In addition to the St. Charles debate, a reader sent a note saying that Mr. Peck's obit declaration may be premature, or should at least differentiate between the city of Geneva and Geneva Township. The Peck farms weren't always officially part of the city, but were part of the township.

The reader offered the name of 94-year-old Stan Esping as the oldest continuous resident of Geneva, declaring that he still qualifies, even though he has lived in The Holmstad of Batavia for the past three years, because she believes that is still considered Geneva Township.

This is fun and fascinating research, and readers can certainly still send along their thoughts, but I'm thinking it may be time to leave all of this to the historians to straighten out.

Telling their stories: When the newspaper pays tribute to a deceased member of the community with a story, it almost always includes good stories inside that story from family members and friends. Sometimes they are reflections about the person, other times they are a retelling of the great stories that person told during his or her lifetime.

The StoryCorps project taking place at the Geneva History Center in November makes me think about what makes a great story - and the reality that all of us have them hiding inside of us.

Margaret Selakovich, the educator at the Geneva History Center, is banking on that, and hoping people will participate in the project, which celebrates Geneva's 175th birthday.

It culminates with representatives of StoryCorps, a nonprofit organization dedicated to collecting and preserving oral histories, coming Nov. 1 to 4 to facilitate the recorded interviews with community residents. The interviews will be conducted between two people who know each other well.

"It's been going great so far, and a lot of people are going to do it," Selakovich said of her search to get StoryCorps interview commitments. "But some are hesitant to be recorded."

Residents have until mid-October to sign up for an interview. Selakovich said some are hesitant because they don't want any notoriety, while others may fear they don't have anything interesting to share.

"My job is to get them in their comfort zone to do the interviews," Selakovich said. "I looking for a little bit of everything and get a nice cross-section of people from the community. I want fun, unvarnished human stories."

Those interested in the project can visit storycorps.org and genevahistorycenter.org.

Young historians: There's enough history stuff in this column to get a young person interested, it seems. Aspiring historians ages 8 to 13 can participate in a free meeting from 12:30 to 2 p.m. today at the St. Charles Heritage Center. It's the start of the Junior Historical Society program, which will be free to all participants this year because of a donation from Comcast.

So any young boy or girl wanting to find out if the world of historical research and projects is for them, this is an excellent place to start.

Heritage center educator Natalie Gacek said that junior historians can show up today to get all of the details.

Downtown bonanza: There's no denying the businesses in Geneva support the city's schools. How else can you explain why nearly 120 downtown merchants are participating in the Geneva Academic Foundation's Viva Geneva event from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday?

Participants donate half of a $50 ticket to the GAF, and get $25 worth of Geneva Chamber of Commerce gift certificates with no expiration dates. They'll also get a coupon book for downtown stores for all sorts of deals through the end of the year.

You can also get in a prize drawing for a Vikings rain barrel created by Geneva High School art teacher Al Ochsner Jr. for $5 a ticket.

If that isn't enough, there will be music, food, games, a 5K fun run and youth mile event that starts at 10 a.m. You can register for the race or get more event information online at gafgeneva.org.

Tickets for Viva Geneva are available at State Street Jewelers, the Geneva History Center and the Geneva Chamber of Commerce.

Running in the family: Craig Bixler and Dave Sheble spent a couple of years organizing last Sunday's first Fox Valley Marathon event.

So they left the running to their daughters.

Allison Bixler was second among females in the half marathon at 1:39.38, while Shannon Bixler turned in a time of 2:32.28 in the Final 20 mile event. Kristen Sheble ran the half marathon in 2:03.33.

The smiles on the proud fathers' faces were apparent. They had achieved a great goal in organizing the running events, and had the enjoyment of seeing their daughters have fun and do well in them.

dheun@sbcglobal.net