ROGER MONROE

Lordy, Lordy, look who’s forty, plus 50! By the time you read this, I’ll have celebrated, no, observed, my 90th birthday.

It’s hard to believe, but it is true. How time flies when you’re having fun. If you don’t mind, I want to engage in a bit of public self-reflection.

It was March 28, 1934, when I entered this world as the second child of Zack and Frieda Monroe, residing in the 1400 block of North Jefferson. At the age of four, Dad, a barber, moved to 2917 North Madison in Averyville. His shop was in the 2900 block of North Adams. My brother, Zack, and I, were joined by the births of two younger sisters, Judy and Carol. All four of us attended Kingman Grade School, which was shuttered years ago, like many District 150 neighborhood schools.

There was nothing exciting about my K-8 experience beyond skipping second grade with four of my first-grade classmates. Perhaps it was some kind of experiment. I don’t remember anything academically, except I had excellent handwriting and loved to laugh. Not sure if that had anything to do with anything. The other highlight was playing basketball with the Kingman Blue Boys.

Going to Woodruff High School was uneventful. All four years. Tried out for basketball with no success, though Coach Tommy Correll said I had good hands. As a sophomore I played second base on the bench for Coach Emo Harms. The only other exciting experience was starring as a little fat kid in the production of the play, “Cheaper by the Dozen.”

Things changed when I started at Bradley University. Though my father told me to major in business, which I did the first semester, I then switched majors to Speech and Broadcasting with a minor in Sociology. I lost his financial support, but earned tuition on my own. My grade point soared.

That’s because it was so low in the beginning as was my academic interest due to such classes as Economics and Economic Geography. I loved instructors like Dr. Larry Norton, Dr. Clara Mawhinney, Hank Vanderhayden, Miss Atchison and others. I was a member of the Bradley Speech Team, winning awards in After Dinner Speaking and Radio Broadcasting.

After receiving a B.S. degree, I was awarded a graduate assistantship and taught Speech while working on a Masters (M.A.) degree. Upon completing my graduate studies in November of 1956, I was immediately drafted by the U.S. Army, and spent time at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri, Fort Carson in Colorado, and Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. Those stops were followed by a nine-day, all-expense-paid boat trip to Bremerhaven, Germany, and then a rail excursion to McNair Barracks in West Berlin.

Though designated after training at Fort Bliss as a Clerk Typist, I was given an opportunity to take an audition to become a staff member of American Forces Radio Network, with an estimated European audience of 55 to 60 million. I passed and was reassigned to network headquarters in Hoechst, a suburb of Frankfurt, where I did sports and baseball play-by-play at Army and Air Force bases in Germany and France.

That was the highlight of my life until I met Nancy Hanson following services at First United Methodist Church in downtown Peoria. It was love at first sight. We married May 22, 1960, and she later gave birth to our two sons, Dan and Zack.

Fifty-eight years later, I lost her to a brain tumor despite consultations with specialists at Johns Hopkins, Loyola University Medical Center, the University of Arkansas Medical Center, and Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., where she received 28 radiation treatments. First diagnosed by Peoria neurologist Dr. John McLean in 2000, Nancy survived until November, 2018.

During our years together, she supported and encouraged me and participated in many ventures such as leadership in Cub and Boy Scouting. I co-founded the first inner-city Boy Scout Troop based at First Methodist Church. We had 22 kids. Two were White. Most of the kids lived at Taft Homes. They were wonderful. Nancy and I taught several levels of Sunday School while also coaching baseball for seven years at the Peoria Christian Center.

My interest in serving children continued with participation in development of the St. Jude Midwest Affiliate in 1972 at Methodist Medical Center, where I started working in March of 1968. That involvement included meeting former President Gerald Ford, actress Ann Jillian, Mr. Greenjeans of “Captain Kangaroo,” and St. Jude Founder Danny Thomas.

I loved serving others, which led me to participate on such boards as St. Jude, Counseling for Children and Family Services, Central Illinois Chapter of the Arthritis Foundation (president), Downtown Chapter of American Business Club (president), co-founder of the Illinois Hospital Public Relations Society (president), Heart of Illinois Epilepsy League, Peoria Chapter of Volunteers in Action, and Peoria City/County Board of Health.

I was elected to the Peoria County Board where I served for 22 years, including two years as Vice Chairman. My public service for the city included commendations for serving on first the Housing Board of Appeals and then the Zoning Board of Appeals.

During my life, I worked as training director for Nathan Hale Life Insurance Company based in Springfield and then Georgetown Life in Peoria. For 25 years I was in charge of public relations and later marketing director and vice president, winning several national Telly Awards for best hospital TV commercials.

I’ve been blessed. Thanks to God, I’m able to get up at 4:30 in the morning to do my morning radio show from 6-9 a.m. on FM 90.7, and each month for more than 15 years, write this column for The Community Word. I wake up and end every day with prayers with several throughout the day for others. I thank the editors, past and present, who’ve asked me to continue writing despite complaints from those who don’t care for me or what I say. To everyone, Happy Easter.

QUOTE OF THE MONTH: “I really do believe that God is love, one of deep affection and grace and forgiveness and inspiration.” — William P. Young