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Armstrong, Luedders honored by Chamber

Posted March 14, 2016 11:00 pm

By Pete Spitler Staff Writer

STEELEVILLE -- On a night that featured a standout performance from the a cappella group "Blend," the Steeleville Chamber of Commerce announced its award winners for 2015 on Monday.

St. Mark's Lutheran teacher/administrator/athletic director Larry Luedders received the Educator of the Year award, while former Steeleville mayor and local businessman Mike Armstrong was honored as the Citizen of the Year.

"It does mean a lot," Armstrong said. "Probably because my family is here tonight and just who the award is named after."

The award is named after Floyd Hartzel. Hartzel passed away in 1997 and was later chosen as the inaugural recipient of the award.

"I went to work with him in 1986," Armstrong said. "He taught me a lot about business, working hard, respecting others and really, it's nice. The award shows everybody that's been around me, all the great people - they really deserve this."

Dr. Renee Rheinecker, of the Steeleville Chamber of Commerce, presented the award to Armstrong.

"I would imagine 75 percent or more of us sitting in this room tonight have been helped or directly affected by (Armstrong's) efforts one way or another," she said. "Tonight, we present Mike Armstrong with this award as just a small token of our appreciation for what he has done for our town."

Among Armstrong's accomplishments and contributions are sidewalks on Shawneetown Trail and downtown Steeleville; city park; Steeleville Area Public Library; many road and water and sewer improvements and taking over the village's senior site from Western Egyptian.

"Along with all these projects and improvements, his service can be seen in other aspects of the community," Rheinecker said. "He has served as a firefighter for Steeleville since the early 1990s and has been an integral part of helping them, as well as the police department and the maintenance departments in upgrading their equipment."

Armstrong said he still enjoys working with the city and lists the library and the senior site as some of his favorite projects.

"With many of the projects we've had, it's been about the people involved," he said. "The senior site especially, the library district, we've worked with everybody and I think that's one of the big accomplishments in bringing the team atmosphere together."

Luedders is in his 44th year of teaching and 18th at St. Mark's Lutheran. He received his bachelor's degree in Education from Concordia Teachers College in Seward, Neb., in 1972.

Luedders is teaching fourth grade and in his fourth term as interim administrator.

According to the school's newsletter, Luedders was nominated by a member of the staff "because of his many years of dedicated service to educating God's children, setting an excellent example to his fellow staff members and unfailing sportsmanship in all sports at St. Mark's."

To cap off the night, Steeleville Mayor Bob Sutton rattled off the large list of projects either completed or in the works in the village.

"The new parking lot is going in," he said. "Of course, it will go in around on the north side of city hall and back to the west. What does it include? A whole lot of everything."

Sutton said the space will include a stage and pavilion that will give the village a place to have concerts and festivals.

"The other thing it does is relieve some of the parking problems that have been in existence on North Sparta Street forever," Sutton said.

Sutton said city workers are working on increasing street radiuses for truck traffic and thanked state officials for their engineering assistance.

"The end result will be you that can take a tractor-trailer from the north, come down to the corner of Broadway and North Sparta, swing into Broadway and never have to cross that centerline," Sutton said. "Have you tried it now? Even in your car, most people swing out. It's been a dangerous situation for as long as I can remember."

Sutton hopes that project will be done by July 4 and also addressed the new firehouse.

"The question always comes up 'Why are you doing it?'" Sutton said. "Because we can now. We can't do it later.

"We're trying to look down the road for 20 years. Thirty years down the road, we're going to be out of room. Currently, two (fire) trucks have to come out through one door and it's not a good situation."

Those in attendance also heard an update on plans for Steeleville's 4th of July celebration, which is in its 150th year this year.

Co-chairwoman and parade organizer Lea Dintelman said this year's event has the theme of "Steeleville: Through the decades." The Steeleville High School shop class is building a float for the parade marshals, who will be descendants of the village's founder, George Steele.

A memorabilia room will be set up inside the Steeleville American Legion and people are encouraged to share past photos of the village.

"Don't take for granted what we have in Steeleville," Dintelman said. "Keep going with what we have."

Table service for the event was provided by the Steeleville High School FBLA with catering by Pistol City.

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