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Joan and Peter Hood of Urbana both grew up in New England and were struck by the beauty of Allerton Park and Retreat Center when they moved to the area. “We discovered Allerton quickly,” Joan Hood said. “The trees and the trails reminded us of New England.
“We made trips to Allerton while our (two) kids were growing up.” The Hoods continue to visit the rural Monticello attraction to enjoy its beauty and have grown to appreciate its offerings even more than at first. “In the last eight years since Derek Peterson has been executive director, the vision and the programming has grown so tremendously and now serves the public so well,” Joan said.
“It’s like night and day from when we first came. Derek has tremendous vision.” The feeling is mutual.
“Peter and Joan are just wonderful people,” Peterson said. The Hoods are also longtime supporters of the University of Illinois. To show their appreciation for Allerton’s offerings, the Hoods have made a lead gift in the form of an endowment for improvements to Allerton’s Artisan Village.
The gift is in memory of Joan’s parents — Marjorie and Frank MacFarlane. The village will be named after them. Joan said she and her husband grew up in “very supportive families who appreciate education and arts.
” “I think that was instilled in us very early on,” she said. “All four of them were very supportive of education, especially public education, and traveled to some extent.” Joan Hood grew up in Massachusetts, while her husband grew up in New Hampshire.
They lived in Indiana for three years while Peter studied for his doctorate and came to this area in 1970. Allerton is “so unique here in the middle of the prairie,” Joan said. She said they are thankful that the Committee on Allerton Park, led by Bruce and Patricia Hannon, helped to stop plans in the ’60s by the Army Corps of Engineers and Congress to develop the Oakley Reservoir on the Sangamon River downstream from Allerton.
The project would have flooded hundreds of acres of the park’s bottomlands. A petition drive that collected 100,000 signatures helped to bring awareness to the proposed project and stop it. The principal from the gift by the Hoods — a seven-figure amount — will be invested, with the interest accrued spent annually, which Peterson said will “get the ball rolling” on construction and add impetus to the plans for the village.
Peterson said the Artisan Village, which started in 2015, is a grouping of historic buildings, some of which existed in Robert Allerton’s time “and mainly existed for maintenance and gardening purposes,” Peterson said. The buildings have been rehabbed into programming and classroom spaces for the folk school as well as an apartment-style space that lodges visiting artists and naturalists. Peterson said when the Hoods heard about the plans for the village, “they were very interested in it and decided to make a sizable contribution to endow that space so that we could maintain (it) and so our operational side of it is well covered and we can continue one day to build the folk school.
” It will also help to maintain operations of the folk school in the form of support for public programming and educational outreach for The Farms. Five years ago, the Hoods helped restart the in-residence program at Allerton. Two artists and naturalists a year “come and create” throughout the year.
“They leave something for Allerton at the end of their residence and have a public program,” Joan said, adding the folk school that was started two years ago has also gone well. Most of the folk school’s courses are already held at The MacFarlane Artisan Village in The Studio, an original building from the days of Robert Allerton. It hosts a variety of classes from painting to natural sciences.
Peter Hood said his favorite places at Allerton are the trails and woodlands. The trails are extensive — totaling 16 miles. “They’ve upgraded it in recent years,” he said.
“I was working in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the university. We would have our retreats in the Allerton House. That was special to get inside the house.
” Spanning 1,500 acres, Allerton Park and Retreat Center is located southwest of Monticello. It is owned by the University of Illinois. It features formal gardens, natural areas, sculptures and a historic 1900-era Georgian mansion/retreat center that hosts conferences, weddings and other events.
The mansion and other park properties also include rooms available to the public for overnight stays. Two troopers to be honored Two Illinois state troopers will be remembered at today’s Workers Memorial Day ceremony in Champaign, recognizing those who lost their lives on the job. Troopers Corey Thompsen and Todd Hanneken will be honored during services set for 5 p.
m. at Dodds Park, 1501 N. Mattis Ave.
, Champaign. Both troopers were based at the Pesotum post and lost their lives in traffic accidents while on duty in rural Champaign County in 2024 and 2021, respectively. Families, friends and co-workers of both troopers will be in attendance today.
Trooper Thompsen was finishing a traffic enforcement detail north of Champaign on Oct. 18, 2024, when another driver pulled into the roadway and struck his motorcycle. The 28-year-old lived and grew up in St.
Joseph and is survived by his wife, Chelsea; mother, Susan; father, Steve; and brothers. Trooper Hanneken was on patrol west of Champaign on March 25, 2021, when his vehicle left the road and struck a pole and tree. The 45-year-old of Long Creek was a son of a retired state trooper and spent 20 years with the state police.
He is survived by his wife, Shelley, and two sons, Ben and Nick. HEIDI HUBERT CRADDOCK BRAD Wilson ELIZABETH JENKINS MORGAN Peace Pole event held at Urbana High The Urbana High School garden was the setting on April 22 for a Peace Pole dedication and the second annual Urbana High spring cleanup — a community event honoring peace, sustainability and student creativity. Designed by students in the high school’s Art Club, the Peace Pole reflects what brings joy and peace to their hearts.
Each pole contains the language of the country where it is placed along with three to seven additional languages meaningful to the host site. It was painted by a group of students, teachers and community members during the Martin Luther King Day of Service event. After the dedication, volunteers spent time cleaning up the community.
The event was sponsored by the Urbana Rotary Club, Urbana Park District, Urbana school district, Urbana High School PTSA, city of Urbana and We Love Urbana-Community. Gifford Fire and Rescue personnel taking part in Jenga competition using their TnT Rescue extrication tools are, clockwise, from left, kneeling, Adam Pannbacker, Rich McFadden, Brandon Koester, Josiah Hesterberg (working the tool), Colton Nelson and Dean Gehrt. Gifford firefighters work Jenga into training Who says training has to be drudgery? Gifford Fire and Rescue personnel had a friendly Jenga competition using their TnT Rescue extrication tools.
The training allowed department members to learn the functions and weight of the tools. Chief Brodie Crozier said the department has openings on its roster for firefighters, EMT-B or both. C-U Rotary honors Students of the Year From left, Sophia Stuart, Noelle Hunt and Evan Sauer were recognized as Charger C-U Rotary Students of the Year.
Stuart was recognized in the category of activities, Hunt for athletics and Sauer for academics. They each received scholarships..
