ROBIN’S
Hello Friends – A slight break from my usual content this week/column. Back to regular content next time!
My memories start out as a young pre-teen/teenager, and I’m sure are not the same as others – but these are my collection, so thanks for bearing with me!
Our Community is mourning the loss of someone that didn’t reside here recently – but certainly made a huge impact in Bushnell and the surrounding areas when he did, Bill Lorton.
Bill and his family moved to town right next door to where I lived. They arrived with 6 children – and the fun started. This was back when life was a bit simpler, we rode our bikes all summer long – home by dark and sometimes sleeping in the backyard under the stars, some of the best days of our lives. The Lorton’s had 3 big kids, Bruce, David, and Mary Jane and the “little kids”, Elizabeth and the twins – Karen and Kevin (who I distinctly remember streaking down our Jackson Street block, laughing as he ran!). They brought our neighborhood to life! It was chaos all summer long and it was the best of times.
Bill ran The McDonough Democrat. A wonderful hometown newspaper that was full of “Cook of the Week”, wedding announcements, area town updates – what I like to refer to as “chicken dinner” columns. You could find out most anything by reading the Democrat – who played cards in Walnut Grove, what they ate and who came to visit. It was the internet before the internet was a thing.
Bill was a great friend to my folks and many others in town – I’m sure he never met a stranger. He was a very community-minded member of the community as well as providing the service of a small-town newspaper to area communities. And he gave me a job at the paper – I always dreamed of being a reporter/journalist, and Bill let me live out a tiny part of that dream when he hired me. I did no reporting or writing of any kind but did type-set and put together a few ads, but I thought that was okay – I was in the door. While my dream of being a writer/journalist didn’t pan out, here I am writing a little column in his paper – 40 years later! Bill would give a helping hand to those that needed it, without expecting anything in return. He was one of the good guys for sure. He was bigger than life – truly! You always looked up to Bill, as a kid he was to us 10 feet tall – but one of the nicest guys you would ever meet. Later on he would marry Jan Norton, who brought 3 more boys into the gang. Ken, David and Greg – the Lorton/Norton tribe was now complete! Bill and Jan later moved to Little Swan Lake and eventually retired to Florida.
I remember so distinctly when Bill, my Dad and Paul Mahr had a little too much fun and traipsed across the park, not so eloquently, trying to get home after a night on the town. They really knew how to have fun! I believe this may be when he assumed the title of “Wild Bill”, but I don’t know that for sure!
What I do know is that Bill made an impact on my life early on, one that I will never forget. He started out as Mr. Lorton and left as my friend, Bill. Rest easy, Bill, I know that you were met with open arms (and maybe a cocktail), when you arrived at your final stop.
Take Care - Robin Wilt
