Eight Wheaton residents, each 85 or older, are sharing decades of personal history through a new city program tied to the nation's 250th anniversary.

The City of Wheaton's Commission on Aging launched the "Wheaton Senior Stories: Honoring Our History" program after inviting the community to nominate seniors who have lived in Wheaton for more than 20 years. The profiles, now published on the city's website, capture memories stretching back to the 1940s.

Don Brinks, a resident for 86 years, recalled watching cattle wander through downtown after a train derailed between Washington and Cross Streets in 1945 or 1946. The eastbound train had been carrying livestock to the Chicago Stock Yards. "No cowboys were needed for their roundup; the cows were in shock just like the residents," Brinks said in his profile.

Ray Smith, 64 years in Wheaton, attended a Richard Nixon presidential campaign rally at McCully Field on Oct. 27, 1960. Smith said media at the time offered what he called a "very generous estimate" of 10,000 to 15,000 in the crowd. His wife, Lillian Weaver Smith, was a great-great-granddaughter of Jonathan Blanchard, who founded Wheaton College, on whose property the rally took place.

Dimitrios Georganas, a 46-year resident, stopped in Wheaton on one of his first days in the country while traveling with a friend making fruit deliveries. He and his brother purchased Wheaton Shoe Repair on Front Street on March 1, 1968, and ran it for 50 years. The City Council honored him on the business's 50th anniversary.

Ron Elenbaas spent 55 years in Wheaton, overseeing uniforms and equipment for Wheaton Park District youth baseball and softball programs for more than five decades. He decorated his yard with more than 100 Christmas ornaments each year for over 50 years. In July 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, he set them all out so families on neighborhood walks could enjoy them.

Elenbaas turned 86 on July 4.

The program also profiles Bob Goldsborough, a journalist who worked 45 years for the Chicago Tribune and Advertising Age and wrote 17 authorized Nero Wolfe mystery novels. Norbert J. "Pete" Pointner, a city planner, helped draft Wheaton's Downtown Revitalization Plan in the 1990s. Carole Schmidt raised six children on Wakeman Avenue through the 1960s, '70s and '80s and now lives at Allegro Assisted Living, a few blocks from her former home, which her granddaughter's family purchased. Laurie Coonley Warfel, daughter of former Mayor Robert Coonley who led Wheaton from 1959 to 1963, has had ties to the city since 1944 and is a retired schoolteacher.

Shaw Local reported that the nomination deadline was May 10. Recognized seniors receive a certificate and, with their consent, have their story printed in a city newsletter.

Senior Stories is one piece of Wheaton's broader America 250 celebration. The city held a Liberty Tree Planting Ceremony at City Hall and staged the Wheaton Field of Honor, featuring 2,000 flags at Seven Gables Park, from June 29 through July 4. A DuPage County Historical Museum exhibit titled "Defining US: The 250th Anniversary of the United States" is also part of the America 250 lineup.