The Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce that the “Chamber Spotlight” award for the month of March 2010 is awarded to Mrs. Ramona Hatch. The nomination for the Spotlight is in correlation with our Annual Dinner at which Ramona will be our honored guest speaker.

The “Why I Love Pinckneyville” promotion we’re beginning this month is Ramona’s brainchild and we at the Chamber are crazy about the idea! It brings up a great question: Why do we love our town? Can we clearly define the reasons? Is there one person, one event or one special attribute that makes us love where we’ve chosen to spend our lives? In a recent interview Ramona brought a lot of things to light that may have previously been overlooked by most of us, or even things that we just take for granted.

Ramona was born and raised right here in Pinckneyville. She attended District 204 School and PCHS. After graduating high school Ramona left Pinckneyville to attend SIU. “It wasn't a major move in distance, but it was an enormous leap culturally.  I learned so much about getting along with people from diverse backgrounds and interests.  It opened my eyes to the fact that life in Pinckneyville moves at a very different pace than the rest of the world. It took me a few years and a great deal of maturity to realize that both communities have much to offer.  The key is in appreciating the good and learning to cope with the challenging,” she said as she reflected back.

After teaching Home Ec (now known as Family and Consumer Science) in a North Chicago suburb for seven years, she married Dusty and they we moved back to Pinckneyville to take advantage of the lower cost of living, to be closer to extended family and to enjoy the pleasures of a more rural setting and the less stressful way of life.

When asked if she and Dusty ever questioned moving back to Pinckneyville she commented “Absolutely!  In fact, the first year after we moved to Pinckneyville was very difficult.  I wasn't able to find a teaching job immediately and I felt very lost and useless.  I spent a lot of time questioning our choice.  However, once I was hired to teach at Pinckneyville High School, I began to bond with the community on a deeper level.  Getting to know my students and their families, developing a working relationship with faculty members who had once been my teachers was quite an experience.  An experience that helped shape my teaching style as well as my perspective on small town living.  After all these years, I truly can't imagine living anywhere else.”

Ramona has been retired from teaching for five years but is still very passionate about the Family and Consumer Science field. She and husband Dusty now own and operate Fresh FACS Publishing. Through their business, Ramona devotes her time to writing and developing educational resources for FACS teachers across the country.

Going back to the original question: Why do we love our town?, Ramona knows exactly why she loves Pinckneyville: safety and security, history and tradition, neighborliness, and a network of community services, to name just a few. 

Congratulations Ramona, and thank you for truly defining why you love Pinckneyville and bringing it to light for the rest of us!