I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Janice Lee Urton of the Urich Community Historical Society. I called to ask about the meaning of their 2007 Governor’s Humanities Award.  Mrs. Urton was kind enough to take time out of her busy schedule, holidays notwithstanding, to share with our readers just how much this award means to them and about the impact this award has had on their organization and community. 

Their story demonstrates what can happen when a group of people come together with a similar vision and the determination to realize it.  Is there an organization that is doing exemplary work like this in your community? Mrs. Urton's story exemplifies just one of our award categories. We hope you will look at the categories of award and see if you know of a person or an organization that is deserving. Nominations are being accepted until January 25, 2008.  More information is available on our website, or by contacting me at megan@mohumanities.org or (800) 357-0909.
- Megan-Marie K. Cahill

The Impact of the Governor’s Humanities Award

By Janice Lee (Gates) Urton, UCHS Vice President

In 2006 the Board of the Urich Community Historical Society became aware that there was an award called the Governor's Humanities Award. At that time we were still working on the completion of our museum building (remodeling the near derelict structure, originally the James A. Kerr Drug Store built in 1885) and preparing for our fall activities of honoring our American military and making plans for our first Christmas Open House.

After watching a small core of people work tirelessly, sacrifice a huge amount of their time, and give of their many talents toward building a place that would house the treasures of the community, I thought we had the time to create a presentation book that featured many of the aspects of UCHS' involvement in strengthening the community.  We had been formed seven and a half years ago by a dedicated group of both rural and townspeople who wanted to see Urich, population 499, survive and thrive once again.  At one time Urich boasted a population of 1,000 and was the hub of the wheel of crossroad communities and smaller towns around.

There are many stories about the people and the events in their lives that have to be told about a place we call Small Town, Hometown, Heart of America, U.S.A.  Urich is a symbol of thousands of small towns scattered across the nation.  She is rich in history.  Her people have kept the town alive when "forces of progress" had diminished her size and almost destroyed her.

When asked what we gained or what the impact of this award has been on our community, my answer is, it has given us HOPE; hope that Urich is now recognized as a contributor to the richness of the State of Missouri, not just a place to pass by en route to somewhere else, but a place to inquire of, to get to know and perhaps even to call "home."  Her people are precious. Her land is where the veterans of both sides of the Civil War and their families made the effort to secure peace among themselves and that "re-union" has continued for 113 years.  Her future is bright. 

Hope has a way of changing one's perspective from dwelling on the past despair of circumstances beyond one's control to looking forward to the future and one that has a promise of more good things to come.