One of Editor & Publisher’s ‘10 That Do It Right 2021’
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Partly cloudy this evening then becoming cloudy with periods of light rain after midnight. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%.
Former News-Gazette columnist Bob Swisher, who wrote about antiques and collectibles, relaxes in his Urbana home on Wednesday.
Bob Swisher at his home in Urbana on Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022.
Bob Swisher at his home in Urbana on Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022.
Former longtime News-Gazette columnist Bob Swisher, who wrote about antiques and collectibles, is shown in his Urbana home on Wednesday. Swisher began collecting items at a young age.
Bob Swisher at his home in Urbana on Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022.
Dave Hinton is editor of The News-Gazette's Our County section and former editor of the Rantoul Press. He can be reached at dhinton@news-gazette.com.
Bob Swisher at his home in Urbana on Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022.
Bob Swisher at his home in Urbana on Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022.
Former longtime News-Gazette columnist Bob Swisher, who wrote about antiques and collectibles, is shown in his Urbana home on Wednesday. Swisher began collecting items at a young age.
Bob Swisher at his home in Urbana on Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022.
Former News-Gazette columnist Bob Swisher, who wrote about antiques and collectibles, relaxes in his Urbana home on Wednesday.
Betty Swisher said she and her husband, Bob, have an understanding.
Both of them enjoy antiques and collectibles. But a house can only hold so many artifacts.
“We’re not buying because we don’t have any more room at the house,” she said.
So, the understanding is, if they want to buy something, they have to get rid of something as well.
Bob Swisher, who wrote a popular column on antiques in The News-Gazette for nearly two decades, still enjoys going to look at antiques with his wife. But with health issues, he isn’t able to get around as much any more.
“I really enjoyed it,” the 91-year-old Swisher said of his writing gig.
He said it came about after he wrote to the late N-G publisher John Foreman offering his services as a columnist. The newspaper had him write three columns on a trial basis with a footnote at the end of each column, asking readers what they thought.
“I got on the phone (with friends) and twisted arms and said, ‘You should really call and say I really like that column,’” Swisher said.
After three weeks, he was shown a folder of handwritten notes from people saying they liked Swisher’s column.
“It was a good run, and I enjoyed it,” Swisher said. “It was very easy for me to do. I said, ‘If you can talk about it, it’s very easy to write about it.’”
A townie, Swisher was born in Burnham Hospital in Champaign.
“My dad and mom collected stuff,” he said. “It’s just kind of in the blood. My mom collected Depression glass. She had a shop on Philo Road. Dad was the local president of the Jim Beam Bottle Club.
Swisher’s interest in collecting evolved over the years.
“I saw old things I liked to fix up,” he said. “My tastes would change. I had a large collection of Planters Peanut jars. I tried to collect Mickey Mouse stuff for a while. It got so hard to get and cost so much.”
From there, Swisher began collecting old door knobs, which he said has been his prime passion in recent years. He has since sold his door knobs collection, keeping just one, which was one of four that was registered to the patent office in 1860.
A friend mounted the door knob on “a nice piece of wood.”
While the Swishers don’t have room in their house for more items, Swisher has been able to store some things in Campus Ink, owned by his son in Urbana.
“They’ve given me a small corner in the back where I work on all my little ideas. I was in the printing business most of my life. I saved samples of printing that they put out at print shows. My aim was to get 100 framed with glass to be sold in the near future. I have 65 of them framed.
“They were samples from printing shows — some of them maybe animals, some may be historical or plants and vegetables.”
Swisher had rheumatic fever as a child and spent a lot of time in bed. He developed a love of art and design, drawing cowboys and Indians on the back of Wheaties boxes, which led to his later career.
He retired from printing in 1993.
Swisher operated Abana Press in Champaign for 27 years, specializing in logos and trademarks.
“I did Lincoln Square and a number of places,” he said. “I did a Chief Illini head that was used quite a bit. All of my art education was really kind of self taught.”
Swisher’s first printing job happened when he got out of the Navy. He did a great deal of cartoon work. He worked for Our Wonderful World encyclopedia in Champaign, which was later moved to Chicago. When he started, there were four people in the pasteup department. That number later swelled to 35 people.
Swisher served as assistant art director at WCIA for 4½ years, then operated a print and gift shop called “The Swish Shop” that went out of business. It was in that building that his mother opened her gift shop.
His love of collecting never waned.
He would hold an antiques-collectibles show “every year or two” at Sunnycrest Mall and a show at Gordyville near Gifford every year, “where we rented six or eight spaces.
“It was a good income along with Social Security and my wife’s pension. I’m not in great health. The house is kind of full of antiques. We’re in the process of giving some of it away to relatives and kids.”
Swisher said he believes the antiques market is down due to a flagging interest from the public and a decline in the number of quality items available as people would find an old piece of antique furniture, restore it and keep it in the family.
“In our house, most of the furniture has come down from our parents and grandparents. And I have a rocker that I restored from Hoopeston that’s 120 years old. I like something that’s functional that we can still use. I hate the stuff that’s behind show cases that you can’t touch or has a ribbon that said you can’t sit down on it,” he said.
Swisher struggled with alcoholism in his early life. A member of Alcoholics Anonymous, he has been sober for 52½ years.
“He is very proud of that,” Betty Swisher said.
Swisher said he has been satisfied with his life, he doesn’t have a bucket list and he has a good family.
Bob and Betty Swisher have been married for nearly 30 years — the second marriage for both. He has four sons, and she has a son and daughter. They have nine great-grandchildren.
Fresh out of high school, Denny Cruzan took a summer job with the city of Tuscola street department.
His “apprenticeship” must have gone well. Fifty years later, he’s still on the job, although with a loftier position, that of foreman of the city’s public works and parks departments.
Cruzan was recognized for his half century of service at a luncheon in his honor Sept. 1.
The 68-year-old said he doesn’t have any definite plays to retire.
“I don’t have any hobbies. I like what I’m doing,” said Cruzan, a man of few words. “The job has a lot of variety. You’re not doing the same thing all the time.”
There are bad days, Cruzan said, like the long days that bad weather can bring.
“There have been a few snowstorms back in the day when we worked three 20-hour days in a row,” he said. “It was back in the ’70s and ’80s.”
Cruzan has 10 people working under him.
The biggest change in the job: When the city bought the community water system that had been operated by a private company.
“That added a lot” to the job, he said.
Mayor Daniel Kleiss called Cruzan “a very valuable resource for the city of Tuscola for the past 50 years” and called his five decades with the city “a tremendous milestone.”
“Denny seems to have gotten better with age. He has a lot of knowledge of the infrastructure system. His knowledge of the community and the infrastructure is second to none.”
Kleiss said the city will have to figure out how to transfer some of that knowledge when Cruzan retires.
“We’re in no hurry for him to retire,” Kleiss said.
Cruzan is married to Sandy and has three stepchildren, nine grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and another on the way.
Douglas County director earns certificateChana Ray, Douglas County Emergency Management Agency director, has earned her professional development certificate from the Illinois EMA.
Director since 2021, Ray has been with the agency since June 2008. She completed study for her professional development certificate through a mix of online and in-person IEMA and FEMA classes.
“As in many professions, in EMA you are always learning and becoming a leader and better EMA director,” Ray said. “I have ... great support from family, colleagues and friends.
An afternoon of Cub Scout activities will be held Sept. 24 at Camp Drake near Catlin.
Cub Scouts and their families are invited from five counties to enjoy shooting sports, bottle-rocket launching and other activities.
For many of the boys and their families, the family fun day will be an introduction to the activities of the Boy Scouts of America.
Camp Director Mike Graham said the event is planned to provide “fun and challenging activity in a family-friendly setting.”
Camp Drake has been open for outdoor skills development for 90 years.
For Cub Scouts who like to drive, the Camp Drake pedal cars will be available for a few laps around the dirt track.
The archery and BB gun ranges are the most popular spots for the Cub Scout marksmen. Instructors provide safety lessons for the shooting sports skills, and then Scouts and their family members test their eye on the target.
Seventh hole-in-one for Seymour golferCharlie Odle is getting the hang of this golf thing.
The Seymour man made his seventh hole in one on the No. 17 hole at Lake of the Woods Golf Course on Wednesday.
The 70-year-old Odle is one of the more accomplished area golfers when it comes to recording an ace, although he claims “there’s a few that’s got more than I have.”
Odle used a 7 iron on the 169-yard hole to accomplish the latest feat. Dan Helbling and Bob Buchanan witnessed the shot.
Golfing since he was around 15 years old, Odle said he initially played the sport on a par 3 course in Champaign. He switched to the Lake of the Woods course when he got out of high school.
He normally plays the 18-hole championship course at Lake of the Woods.
Dave Hinton is editor of The News-Gazette’s “Our County” section. Reach him at dhinton@news-gazette.com or 217-249-2404.