iBi - July 2015

From his early years growing up on a small farm outside of Morton to his stewardship of multi-million dollar companies, Wayne Baum has always remained true to his humble roots.

The man who nimbly scales the steps of this renovated caboose cabin cannot be 95. As he drives us around Scott’s Prairie, he defies age with a detailed recall of decades-old memories.

Born on June 13, 1939 in Memphis, Tennessee, James K. Polk moved to Peoria as a young child, part of the Great Migration of six million African Americans who left the rural South in the mid-20th century.

As mayor of the City of Peoria, Dave Ransburg managed his term the only way he knows how: by getting things done. Together with his like-minded wife Zan, the Ransburgs’ volunteerism has touched nearly every corner of the region.

Upon his retirement from politics in 2006, George P. Shadid was hailed by fellow lawmakers and the community he served, who knew him as quietly productive—an authentic, principled man.