Ruth Chelmstrom Stewart Retiring from Pre-school Teaching

Ruth Chelstrom Stewart, 1966, is retiring.
 after 34 years as a pre-school teacher at
Merry Sunshine Preschool
at Christ United Methodist Church, East Moline.

One ray of Merry Sunshine retires from preschool teaching

By Leon Lagerstam, llagerstam@qconline.com

EAST MOLINE — Merry Sunshine Preschool will become "Ruth-less" by the end of the month.

Ruth Stewart will end a 34-year teaching career at the preschool at Christ United Methodist Church, 3801 7th St, East Moline. An open house retirement reception will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. at the church Sunday, May 31.

Classes ended Friday, so Mrs. Stewart spent her last week preparing graduation robes and caps for her last class of preschool graduates.

Her impending retirement "hasn't hit me yet," she said. "I'm expecting it will really hit me in September when classes resume."

Her daughter, Gretchen Peters, of Naperville, has promised to take her on a September trip to help get her mind off it, Mrs. Stewart said.

"It's time for me to retire," she said. "I plan to do some fun things, including maybe traveling, but I'm not known as a big traveler."

She's from Moline and never left the area. She went to Black Hawk College in Moline, and has taught at Merry Sunshine since 1981. 

The preschool was created in 1970 by Betty Dahlberg. It rented space from the church for 25 years, before Christ Methodist bought the preschool in 2006. Former colleagues Connie Ellison and Jeanie Hess retired the same year. Teacher Kelly Peterson has closely helped Mrs. Stewart since.

She figures she has taught more than 1,360 students in her 34 years.

"I always enjoyed working with kids and seeing things through their eyes," Mrs. Stewart said. "I"m going to miss it.

"Merry Sunshine has been a wonderful place to work," she said. "With children, something new happens all the time."

She's also met "many beautiful families and many wonderfully supportive people," Mrs. Stewart said.

She advised future teachers to "enjoy every day with the kids and look at life through their eyes," and advised future students to "listen to their teachers, because they do now things."

Mrs. Stewart laughs while remembering once taking kids on a Halloween walk through the neighborhood and lecturing them about not walking through piles of leaves in case some were still smoldering with fire. One little boy looked at her and asked why another teacher was doing exactly that, and Mrs. Stewart turned to look as a colleague's nylons started melting as she walked through a leaf pile. Fortunately, her colleague wasn't hurt.

Mrs. Stewart also fondly remembers how another young lad, upon hearing about her mother's death, came up to her and called her a "lucky person." She was lucky, the boy told her, because it gave her an angel in heaven looking out for her.

She also has felt incredibly lucky to work at Merry Sunshine for this many years.

Rest in Peace - David A. Pearson, Married 40 Years to Linda Nelson

David A. Pearson, 66, of Geneseo, passed away Sunday, May 10, 2015 at Unity Point – Trinity in Rock Island.  A funeral service celebrating his life will be at 10:30 am on Thursday, May 14 at First Lutheran Church in Geneseo.  Rev. Dr. Arthur Bergren will officiate.  A visitation for Dave will be held from 5-7 pm on Wednesday at the First Lutheran Church.  Cremation Rites will be accorded following the services.  Memorials may be made to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes or First Lutheran Church.  Vandemore Funeral Homes, Geneseo is assisting the family with arrangements.

Dave was born on November 4, 1948 in Geneseo, IL the son of Dale and Marie (Sassen) Pearson.  He graduated from Geneseo High School in 1966 and attended Western Illinois University.  He was united in marriage to Linda J. Nelson on June 12, 1975 in Rock Island.  Dave proudly served his country in the U.S. Marine Corp.  He was in route sales for Hostess Cakes, Frito Lay, and Farmer Brother Coffee.  Dave then became a security guard for John Deere PDC in Milan, IL for several years.  Dave was an avid, lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan and loved spending time with his family.

Survivors include his wife Linda; children: Troy Pearson and fiancé Adrienne Carney of Los Angeles, CA, Tammy (Ted) Black of Moline, IL, Ben (Laura) Pearson of Geneseo, IL, Sam (Andrea) Kniss of CA; 9 grandchildren: Richard, Alexis, Brian, Kaylee, Ashton, Callen, David, Maryella, Cameron; brothers: Dennis (Diane) Pearson, Sugarland, TX, Paul (Marty) Pearson, Davenport, IA, Mark (Pat) Pearson, Carlyle, IL, Dan (Gina) Pearson, Geneseo, IL, John (Amy) Pearson, Milwaukee, WI; and sister-in-law and brother in law: Nancy (Roger) Moler, LeClaire, IA.

He was preceded in death by his parents.

Vandemore Funeral Homes

Linda uploaded this photo less than a month ago.

Happy 45th Anniversary - Kathleen Wilcox and George Kapetanakis

Happy 44th anniversary - Kathy Wilcox and George Kapetanakis. May every day be like your wedding day.

This is not The Miracle on 34th Street,
but Kathy with Santa.

Many familiar faces - Garfield, about 1953.

Front row from left: Linda Hicks, Greg Jackson, Kathleen Wilcox, unknown boy, unknown girl, John Schneck, Jack Ries, Ann Pascall. Middle row: George Small, unknown girl, unknown boy, unknown boy, Billie Seasland, unknown girl, Jim McCandless, Jenal Vencus. Back row: Terry Thompson, Tamara Gustus, Bonnie ?, then Jeff Hall on the far right, Cathy Pobanz next to him. The rest are unknown at the moment.

Garfield Brownies

Front row from left: Diane Manley, Linda Hicks, Sue Lennox,

Candy Clark, Kathleen Wilcox;

Middle row: Unknown girl, Debbie Olson, Kathy Pobanz, Jean Ackley,

unknown girl, unknown girl;

Back row: Linda Wiley, Sally Swanson, Bonna Anderburg , unknown girl,

Joann Minch, Diane Ohrendorf.

This looks like the Garfield basement gym, in the old building. The new addition is now about 50 years old, but that included a new gym with ceilings higher than 8 feet.

PTA meetings were often in the old gym. I remember the food being there. I liked those meetings, because I had about 20 different good desserts to pick from. When asked, "Apple or cherry pie?" I said, "Both."

Cub scouts also met at Garfield. I reached Wolf, with one gold and one silver arrow. Stressed out, I dropped to pursue a more fulfilling hobby, reading comic books.

Moline's Jann Carl on Small Town Big Deal - Great Feature on Moline!

Jann Carl learned journalism on the Line O Type staff, MHS.

Here is a good bio about Jann, from Mizzou's J-School, Carthage, Missouri.

Carl found a spark for journalism in Moline, Ill., where she wrote stories for her high school newspaper about getting into discos with fake IDs and the high turnover rate of the local zoo directors.


IMDB

Graduated from Moline (Illinois) High School in 1978.

Joined "Entertainment Tonight" (1981) on December 4, 1995 as correspondent. Was promoted in 1999 to weekend anchor and substitute anchor.

She graduated from the University of Missouri School of Journalism in 1982 with a degree in broadcast journalism. In 2001, she served as Grand Marshall for 90th University of Missouri homecoming.

Her son, Matthew, suffers from epilepsy.

Has a daughter, Katherine, and a son, Matthew.

Former news anchor for KTLA-TV (5) in Los Angeles.

Former co-host of KABC-TV "Eye On L.A.".



Jann's Impressive Credits

Here is a post about Jann Carl.