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Local man from Dixon
June 11, 2004
By Bill Love
Excerpted with permission from the Brevard Insider
Malabar, Florida
To submit a Letter to the Editor: escmc@aol.com
President Ronald Reagan grew up at 816 South Hennepin Avenue in Dixon,
Illinois. I grew up at 516 South Hennepin Avenue in Dixon, Illinois.
I tell people that he and I went to the same school at different times
together, walked the same streets, and swam in the same river, and
some of them look at me with tilted heads.
I know from whence the man came. Even though he was from an earlier
generation, his big two-story home was very similar to ours. His home
is now, of course, a national historic site, and the school, just two
doors down from our family's house, is being renovated into a museum
of sorts and will even have some things from the Smithsonian in it.
I understand how his personality could have been shaped by the tough
times of a small town, that even now has only 15,000 people. The long
cold winters and the short hot summers didn't provide much in the way
of opportunities -- they had to be sought out and pursued. Nothing
much ever came knocking on the door. He made his way out of that small
town and found greatness.
He visited Dixon during his presidency. The people talked for years
about it -- the motorcade that went by the house and the Secret
Service agents everywhere, and the speech he gave at the high school
gymnasium.
He represented everything that was good about the heartland of this
country. He made his own way to the top, not by stepping on people,
but by caring about them and working with them.
This country was blessed to have Ronald Reagan as its President.
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