Living legacies: The life experiences of Southern Illinoisans

Living legacies: The life experiences of Southern Illinoisans

By lgibbs@dailyegyptian.com - December 4, 2025

Photos by Julia Rendleman’s editorial portraiture class at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.

Southern Illinoisans over the age of 65 have cemented their mark in the region, spending their careers teaching the next generation, serving in the military and leading the Carbondale community. They have volunteered their time, while watching as time shaped and reshaped the region over the years.

The photo students in the JRNL-419 Editorial Portraiture class took to the community through the semester to find older residents in the region, listening and photographing as they shared their life experiences. The project aimed to highlight and showcase untold stories.

Dennis Galloway, 69, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania., poses for a staged portrait November 13, 2025 in Carbondale, Illinois.

 

Dennis Galloway directed sports television for over thirty years, working for networks such as ESPN, Fox Sports, and the Big East Network. His longest-standing position was with the Pittsburgh Pirates (MLB), also taking on directing roles with the Pittsburgh Penguins (NHL) and Baltimore Orioles (MLB).

As a part of the Pirates organization, he had the opportunity to travel with the team and see much of the United States, and even some parts of Canada. He has fond memories of exploring the various cities, as well as getting to be in many different baseball environments. Many of the stadiums Galloway worked at throughout his career have either been replaced or demolished altogether.

As much as the position gave him these exciting opportunities to be around the game he loves, it also came with some brutal realities. There were multiple points at which he lost his job on a whim, either because of poor happenstance or the politics of being in a high profile organization. These experiences leave him a little bit jaded today, especially given the difficult financial situations they put him and his family in at the time.

Galloway became a professor at SIU Carbondale in 2013, where he has been teaching multi-camera production and sports classes ever since. While it’s not necessarily his dream position, one part he really enjoys about it is “seeing what [students] are doing in August versus what they’re doing in December.” The kind of growth he sees over a semester can feel quite rewarding, and make the transition to being a professor more worth it. (Photo by Nathan Culli)

Maria Concepción Bartolo

Maria Concepción Bartolo, owner of Taqueria Pequeña, poses with her collection of plants on the front porch of her home Nov. 8, 2025 in Cobden, Illinois. (Photo by Dominique Martinez-Powell)

The home Bartolo and her husband now live in is one of the first big purchases made for their family when they became US citizens and they have resided in Cobden for 30 years since. Bartolo and her husband started their time in Cobden working at Flamm Orchard to provide for their family. They would bring home 76 dollars for the week to feed themselves and their children.

Flamm shared ducks with them and huitlacoche, a fungus that would sometimes grow on corn that was considered a delicacy in Mexico but undesirable here. It took years for anyone in the family to eat any American food because Maria Concepción Bartolo got by feeding her children their traditional foods out of the food they had on hand. Eventually, Bartolo opened Taqueria Pequeña and it has been a staple in the community since with people driving minutes to hours with the intention of eating her food.

Price, although born in St. Louis, actually grew up in the Belleville, Illinois area. Price moved in with her grandparents at a very young age, which she greatly attributes to her personality and demeanor. “I have somewhat of an old head.” Price said in reference to living with her grandparents. “It was interesting. It was challenging being raised by senior citizens.”

Tina Price said her family heavily pushed college onto her growing up, “There was no question about it. But I think they could say that to me because I was studious.” Price said that she was lucky enough to have her tuition covered by grants and scholarships when she was going to school.

She started at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, then after a year, did the court-reporting program at Belleville Area College (known as Southwestern Illinois College now) and then finished her bachelor’s degree at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Tina Price, 69, from St. Louis, poses in her office at the Advanced Energy Institute at Southern Illinois
University in Carbondale, Illinois. November 12, 2025.(Photo by Gavin Melton)

After she graduated in 1982, she began working as a court stenographer at the Belleville Courthouse in Belleville, Illinois. “I could never figure out why it didn’t work for me.” she said about this position. After doing that for a few years, she decided to begin freelancing as a court-stenographer in the St. Louis area. Price said she was looking forward to having more free time and money to do things she wanted. “Well, when you go into business for yourself, you don’t have more time, because you’re working extra hard just to make money.” Price said about the difficulties that being your own business can have. “I started freelancing, and I thought, ‘oh my gosh, this is a nightmare’. When talking about freelancing in St. Louis, Price said, “I really didn’t enjoy it and I didn’t know why.”

When that seemed to not be working, one of Price’s cousins got her a job at IBM in St. Louis. “I guess the bottomline is that when you’re in a place that’s good for you, you’re not stagnant. When you become stagnant, you know, ‘okay, this isn’t the environment for me’.” “I was all personality. That was the thing that really woke me up. I had trained to be a marketing representative (at IBM), so I got to talk. That’s when I realized why I didn’t enjoy my silent court reporting job. You know? The court reporters don’t talk, they just sit there.” Price said.

Price left IBM in 1985, and after bouncing around a few other jobs, decided to come back to Carbondale to get an advanced degree in 1996. “I think it was the best experience for me because I got to experiment with everything.” Price said about coming back to school.

As an employee of the university, Price is able to take classes across different departments.“I found out I’m very artsy,” Price said. She took a number of art classes in her time here at SIU ranging from oil painting, ceramics, fashion design, theater, and stained glass art, which she instructs the introduction class to every semester now.

Price first began by showing her stained glass art at an art show in Morris Library, and got 3rd place winning a $300.00 cash prize. She additionally has had her art displayed in the Student Center display cases and has gotten a lot of students to join her class that way. “It doesn’t matter if everybody sees what I can do, I finally found that thing. And when you stop trying to prove yourself to everybody else and just do your thing, you will be noticed. And I think that was a turning point for me,” Price said. Price has been in the same office since 2008 and is looking forward to her retirement in December where she looks forward to renovating her house and having more time for her art.

Carolin Harvey has been mayor since 2023, volunteering a good amount of her time at the Survivor Empowerment Center. “I’ve been a volunteer here on the board for, I don’t even remember how many years,” Harvey said. “I am the immediate past president of the board. So, this place is just a place that I’m glad is here, but I wish it wasn’t.”

Mayor of Carbondale, Carolin Harvey, 73, from Birmingham, Alabama stands in front of a tree in front of the Survivor Empowerment Center Nov. 10, 2025, in Carbondale, Illinois. (Photo by Peyton Cook)

Mayor Harvey said that it is important to help the community out and create unity. “I realize that where I am is only through God’s grace… I don’t know where I’ll be tomorrow, and I always try to react to people or help people in a way that you could be me or I could be you tomorrow.”

Harvey also emphasizes how we need to work together and do what’s best for everybody as a community. “We aren’t a community unless we’re together and kind of headed in the same direction and knowing that we have to do what’s best for everybody in Carbondale.”