I was delighted when Kathleen Spring, the Editor of the Lyons Recorder, recently asked me to contribute an article about Newt Thomas and my project. The article appeared in today’s edition.

Lyons is fortunate to have a local source for community news that also provides a historical record and continuity with the past. The old editions that I’m relying on for my research are invaluable for information about Newt and the community in which he lived. While the Lyons Recorder ceased operating in 2019 as a printed newspaper, it was redeveloped as an online version by members of the local community who felt strongly that the community needed a weekly voice.

Here’s a little illustration of how valuable this resource is: within hours of the article posting I received a message from a Lyons resident letting me know that I’d misidentified the cliffs above LaVern M. Johnson Park (previously Meadow Park) as Steamboat Mountain. I checked a map to see that the reader was indeed correct! I think I confused a story my grandmother told of climbing the mountain with her brother with with the landscape depicted in the painting. I’m very thankful to be able to correct my error.

Dear reader, if you are a member of the Lyons community (or even if you’re not, but you value local independent publications), please consider supporting the Lyons Recorder.