A Place We Called Home
Compressed, word searchable pdf 68 mB
NEW! Name Index – over 800 Names
Homecoming a 70 min documentary film on YouTube
Features ISSCS and several Alumni
Click here to watch in a new window
Introduction to the Digital Edition
A Place We Called Home was originally published in 2007 by the former Illinois Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Children’s School (ISSCS) Historical Preservation Society. The Society disbanded in 2009, after creating a number of memorials and an exhibit highlighting ISSCS history inside the Normal Community Activity Center, all on the grounds of the former Home in Normal, Illinois.
The group’s legacy also includes the ISSCS Collection at the Dr. JoAnn Rayfield Archives at Illinois State University. Former residents, friends, and employees of ISSCS continue to hold annual reunions in Normal. The McLean County Museum of History in Bloomington, Illinois also holds an extensive collection of material related to ISSCS and its history. All these elements have helped sustain the awareness and appreciation for the history of the Home and its people.
The McLean County Genealogical Society obtained permission and undertook the task of creating this digital edition to make it available to view and to download free of charge. This ensures that in the future, friends and descendants of those who lived and worked at the Home will still be able to read these stories, and scholars can access the material for study.
Ruth Cobb, Author – A Place We Called Home
December 2023
Remarkable Story of “Gussie” Becker
Who started working at ISSCS in 1928
A biography by Kaitlyn Cook – From the McLean County Museum of History Cemetery Walk biographies
Includes a history of the Home
Francis Cahill Jr.
Francis and three brothers enter ISSCS May 12, 1930 – May 1938
A biography by Anthony Bowman – From the McLean County Museum of History Cemetery Walk biographies
How he came to arrive, Home life, and how he died
In Memory of
Harry R. Allen (1909 – 1976)
Leona Fern Williams Allen (1911 – 1975)
Veda H. Bolt Bauer (1893 – 1979)
Lillian Rose Moore Beebe (1932 – 2018)
William G. Beebe (1930 – 2007)
George “Eggie” Doggett (1925 – 1987)
Laurence J. East (1900 – 1973)
Charles “Gene” Farmer (1930 – 2000)
Clara Kepner (1907 – 1983)
Oliver Kepner (1903 – 1980)
Joseph F. Pawlak “Joe the Cook” (1907 – 1964)
NEW – a Find a Grave page for Joe with photos.
J. Anthony Spataro (1943 – 2016)
Andrew J. Spelios (1922 – 2013)
Clayton G. Townsend (1890 – 1966)
Juanetia Ramseyer Townsend (1897 – 1980)
Gino Frank Ullian (1925 – 2013)
Eva Faye Lawrence Vincent (1889 – 1971)
Have someone you would like to add here?
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