Du Quoin will rename West Park for park board member Thelma Pettiford
The Du Quoin City Council Tuesday approved a request from the Du Quoin Park Board to rename West Park (by the municipal swimming pool) Thelma Pettiford Park in honor of one of its longest serving board members.
The vote was unanimous with the thought from commissioner Yvonne Morris that the city needs some direction on how and when to go about naming landmarks. It has nothing to do with the vote that was before it Tuesday night.
Thelma is a great Du Quoin woman who attended Lincoln School, then DTHS and later Lincoln University in Missouri and San Francisco University, where in 1969 she was bestowed with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Education.
She mirrors the eloquence and the beauty of the town's history of great black educators and authors. She distinguishes herself as a group of one.
Her teaching career began in 1940 in nearby St. Johns, where she taught 13 children in a segregated school. Ten of the children were from the Earl and Lela Simmons family. She taught first and second grades for a year in Sparta, another segregated school.
In 1942 she moved to New York and worked two years for the Veterans Administration, then in 1944 returned to Illinois and was employed by the State of Illinois Superintendent of Instruction as a secretary. She married John Pettiford in 1948 at the A.M.E. Zion Church in Du Quoin.
Thelma is a very formidable lady that you pay attention to when she speaks. Her ultimate calling was in service to our country and later to her beloved Du Quoin. She is very much a part of the "Greatest Generation."
At the age of 27, she enlisted in the United States Air Force, and left with nine other women for basic training at Lackland Air Force Base near San Antonio, Texas. She was stationed in Washington D.C., later in Illinois and California. She served in Germany for three years, witness to the shameful fact Europeans showed more respect for her there than we showed for her as nation. In Europe, she maintained all but the Air Force's medical and payment records there.
She remembers standing at attention during a special ceremony in Germany when John Kennedy was assassinated. She remembers Paris. She remembers receiving a blessing from Pope John Paul II while touring Italy.
She served for 20 years. Medal after medal were bestowed on Mrs. Pettiford for her service. She said the experience made her "better." She makes us better. At the age of 55 she was discharged from the Air Force as part of Operation Top Cat.
The American flag holds great meaning for her. "I'm proud to be an American," she often says.
In September 1975 she returned to Du Quoin and worked for the Illinois Department of Labor, then Essex International and the Perry County Housing Authority. The arduous and oft-times difficult lives of tenants became her life and she did her job well.
She and the late Ewald Pyle were appointed to the original Du Quoin Park Board and her work there has improved the quality of life in Du Quoin. In a word, she is breathtaking.
Reopening Main Street
Two insurance engineers and an independent engineer say the Higgins jewelry store building will have to come down. Period. Mayor Rex Duncan extended his appreciation to first responders after an inside wall of the building fell last Tuesday. He told city attorney Aaron Atkins, administrator Brad Myers and police and fire personnel to engage in a reasonable dialogue with the insurance company involved on who will pay for the demolition. If that goes nowhere, Duncan said city attorney Atkins already has the paperwork drafted to declare the building an imminent danger. Duncan will order the building torn down immediately and Main Street cleaned up and reopened in time for the Street Machine Nationals and other events planned for this summer. He said the city will worry about recovering the costs later.
In other action, the proposed hiring policy changes were tabled for further amendments.
The council will move forward toward a contract with Direct Energy to supply electric service for the city's own municipal needs.
The council heard a plan for a company called ExteNet Systems Distributed Antenna Systems to enhance Verizon's service in the Du Quoin area by boosting its signal capabilities by installing equipment on existing Ameren utility poles at the intersections of West Main and Hickory, South Washington and East Main and East Jackson Street. It would involve no new construction, but the addition of three miles of new fiber optic cable with some high spend communications fringe benefits from installing that system.
The council approved rescinding an old St Nicholas Hotel condemnation action as a matter of housekeeping.
The city will accept a piece of property from Wells Fargo Bank on North Division Street that would include a $10,000 stipend paid to the city. A similar action regarding a house on Jefferson Street is on hold until an inspection of the property is conducted.
The council discussed an energy survey and lighting proposals with David McIntire Electric and Kristina Steiger of the Schaeffer Marketing that would largely be paid for with grants.
The council approved a request for the city to vacate n unused road between lots 102 & 103 on Presidential Road at the Du Quoin City Lake.
The council accepted with regret the resignation of Frank Desio from the airport board.