Students conducted interviews with family members, and some were able to gather additional resources and pictures to help tell their story. While there were many great stories written, not all will be published.
This project was a collaborative effort between students’ history classes with Mrs. Kruthoff & Mr. Armstrong, English class with Ms. Baldwin, and their families. It was inspired by the original project that long-time English teacher, Mrs. Wiersema, made a tradition in her 8th grade class.
Students enjoyed getting to know more about their families, and many were surprised to learn how interesting their families were. We hope you all will enjoy their stories, too!
My Ancestor, by Gabby Hamm
Have you ever heard of GE (General Electric)? Well my Grandma Carol A. (Collins) Leal was a GE, for 25 years. Carol is my paternal grandma, she was my Dad’s mom (Ray D. Hamm) she was a mom of 6 children. I picked Carol A. (Collins) Leal because I didn’t really know about her until I started reading her obituary and started this project. My dad saying that her car was very small but was used as a family car was funny from the way he said it. She was a very hardworking mom and at GE
Carol was born on January 5, 1944. She was born in Decatur, IL. Carol’s parents were Henry K. And Ethel M. Collins. She lived in Litchfield, IL and Decatur, IL as a kid. She loved to bake with her mom. She had 2 siblings, Larry Collins and Gloria Blasdell. She was educated at Litchfield, IL schools. She loved cats and dogs growing up. Some fun things that she did was baking/cooking with her mom. She dropped out of high school. She was 4’11” when she graduated.
Carol got married two times to Donald (Buch) Hamm then to John Leal on August 22, 1992. She had 6 children and she put her 2 oldest up for adoption and 4 children in 4 years their names are Ronald (Peet) Collins, Mary Reinecke, Rodney Hamm 61, Robin Cain (passed would be 60), Rebecca Hamm 59 and Ray D. Hamm (my dad) 58. Carol didn’t go to college after her schooling. She worked at GE (Generals Electric) for 25 years then retired when they closed in Morrison, IL. She was a part of the GEM club. She was apart of the Rockfalls American Legion Ladies Auxiliary. She died on January 6th, 2023 CGH medical center Sterling, IL. She was not buried. My Aunt has her ashes in a clock.
Everything that was her achievements was collecting a lot of little things that she found and baking. All of that was important to her because she loved to take after her mom. She drove a 69 olds mobile sports 442 sports car for a family car. She spent most of her weekend at John’s house on the rock river. She lived in 8 different houses that are Morrison, IL, Fenton, IL, Sterling, IL, California, Litchfield, IL, Decatur, IL, Fulton/country, and Albany, IL.
I would say she was hard working because she was a mom that was 4’11” and all her kids were taller than her and always cooking for her kid and also working for hours. One thing that I will remember is that she was shorter than me and she made the best homemade foods. After writing this paper I feel that she wasn’t just a distant paternal grandparent, she was a great remodel for her kids and caring to feed her family and also a kind worker when she worked at GE.
Gabriella Hamm, Miss Baldwin’s Language Arts class
