Troy and I started our journey together in 1988. In Dallas. Troy loved Galesburg, from the first time we came up to visit. We moved back here in 2018, a year after my Mom passed away. Something I never believed I would do.
We met, introduced by a mutual friend, shortly after I quit working for corporate America for a national homebuilder. At the time, I was working for myself doing small repair jobs, painting, re-roofing homes etc. Troy had worked for an actuarial firm and another company tied to building the DART transit system in Dallas. Guess we both needed a break from someone else’s rules and regulations. He talked me into refinishing furniture and buying and selling antiques and collectibles. Which is what we have done for most of the 35 years we have been together. We have also worked for other companies during that period, but we continued being involved in the resale fun of collectibles and antiques and art. It hasn’t always been lucrative. More times than not, it was just getting by. But it meant we could spend time together and have fun. Banks and institutional financial concerns also didn’t think it was a lucrative or sound business to get involved, and we were turned down by all. When state lotteries start popping up, we always thought about what we would do if we won big – share with family and friends, travel more and what it could mean for a business we both love to this day. Growing up in a small town, I remember a certain way of life. Kids were free to wander most parts of town visiting friends, going to the park or bowling alley. Poke your head in and tell your Mom I will be at Todd’s house a few blocks away or up the street to Jim’s to play ball. Most of the parents worked at the bigger companies around town or with the schools or the railroad. Or the husband worked and we had a stay-at-home Mom like me. Folks had been with those companies for years. Most of the parents planned on retiring from them. Then changes started happening during junior high. Dads were getting ‘let go’ after being with a company for 20+ years. The corporate commitment to labor was evaporating. It affected grandparents, parents and children negatively. It was probably the main influence that led me to other parts of the country, eventually settling in Dallas Texas. During that same time, one by one, the big factories that employed thousands relocated. Leaving a huge void in the local economy. I don’t think our little town has fully recovered. There has been a shift in our small town, from when I grew up here in the 50’s to the 70’s. I remember it being much more conservative, both politically and economically. Fast forward 50 years. It has an open and inviting feel. A variety of homegrown businesses, several having an artistic edge to them. Within 3 weeks of moving up here in 2018, we opened our own little store in the Historic South Seminary section of our downtown area. Unfortunately, it was short lived when Troy became ill and was diagnosed with NASH. The owners of the building offered to let us leave a month early on our lease. Four months later, in early 2020 COVID spread across our country and affected every small town with more severe consequences than other parts of the country. Galesburg and smalltown life. I was invited to serve and did, on the Tourism Board here for over 2 years. Through the store and serving on the Tourism Board, we were able to connect and talk with many local business owners. We met people coming to ‘the Burg’ eating at their favorite restaurant and shopping. It is a very pleasant stop for many people travelling from one side of the state to the other. We have a lot of history here as well as having two major railroads, now one company, that crossed each other. Knox College, started by the founders of the town, remains the last standing site of all the Lincoln-Douglas debates. I would be remiss not to mention it is the birthplace of Carl Sandburg. A wonderful statue stands on the town square, designed and created by another globally well-known artist from our fair town, Lonnie Stewart. We can get into more detail later, but Galesburg was started in pre-Civil War Illinois. And continues to have more Victorian homes still standing and cared for than other towns in Illinois, per capita. To get back to our visions of winning large, and what we could do to help others out. Since the lotto winnings have gotten so much larger than when we first talked about doing ‘good’ with a major win, it led me to imagine what could be done with $100 million to invest. We are hoping that this could be the start of a model for grassroots re-building of small town America. The name we came up with for this adventure was a small spin on what golfers fondly called Mulligans, and later used in many other areas of life as do-overs. DeuxoverUSA, is what we spun out of that. After all, who couldn’t use a do-over once or twice in their life.
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Mission:2018 was a move from Texas to small town Illinois. Best move in a while - give us a chance to show you why. ArchivesCategories |