City of Lamoni

Lamoni's Untold Stories

Steven Slade on March 05, 2026

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The Lamoni Historical Association is honored to present the first annual Untold Lamoni Stories this past weekend February 27–28 at Graceland University’s Carol Hall. 
 
We had a good turnout for both days. The event featured speakers from the community as well as Roger Rose from the Community of Christ history department. Roger shared stories of his time at Graceland University. Then David Savage talking about his book Agrotopia, moving to Lamoni from Ohio, and his experiences in farming and Lamoni. 

Dick Ballantine, talked about his ancestors in early Lamoni. Sterling Barlow gave an amazing presentation on his life and how he overcame incredible adversity to join us here in Lamoni and be a part of our community. 

Larry Phillips and Frank Fritz talked about the Lions Club and the impact it's had on Lamoni, and the many ways that Lions Club has served the community and the things that they have planned going forward. Diane Slade gave a presentation on Edith Thorpe and did a wonderful job. Lester Stevenson talking about his experiences about his life in Nauvoo and Lamoni. 

We came back at 7 p. m. to listen to our keynote by the Barnes family who live just outside of town in Ringold County.  Their ancestors settled the area in 1867 and have continuously farmed this area Their presentation was amazing. And they talked about how excited they were to come together as a family and share stories and strengthen familial ties. 

Saturday morning Jim Jones presented the life of William Hopkins and his contributions to the development of Lamoni. William was a visionary man and pulled the town—sometimes kicking and screaming—into the 20th century. Serena Schwab shared with us the story of the Dancer family; especially Rosalie Dancer, and her role as the bank manager. 

Gary Silver talked about his family. What a wonderful story he had to share. His father left a lasting legacy for his kindness to strangers and his patience and understanding of the plight of his neighbors as they struggled together during the dark days of the depression and WWII. 

Bill Morain gave the history of the Lamoni Bike Trail and the obstacles they went through to construct it. He said that never in the history of the world have so many PHDs come together to do manual labor. It truly was a labor of love. We are so grateful to the current Trail committee maintaining it today. It is a beautiful place to walk and to experience wildlife and nature and fresh air. 

Lori Long, who has resided in Lamoni for more than 60 years, shared the story of her life. I would argue that she is the backbone of this community, and is incredibly involved in just about everything you can think of. We are so thankful for all that she does for us. 

The Untold Lamoni Stories ended with the Debarthe family, Paul, David, and Linda Dabarthe. And they talked about the appeal of Lamoni. It seems, from the stories they told, that all roads lead back to Lamoni. They talked about how welcoming Lamoni has always been to their family. And what a beautiful place to raise a family and to live in the future. 

We wish to thank Linda Phillips, Mark Hensley, Judith Nelson, and Paul Debarthe who were our Master of Ceremonies. We want to give a special thanks to Judith and Bruce for providing green coffee and other drinks and snacks. Bruce ground the unroasted beans right at the event. They were instrumental in keeping energy levels high and minds focused. 

We had a fantastic exhibit from Graceland University Library, courtesy of Gabriel Chrissman, where we showcased items from Graceland's history. We had multiple tables full of artifacts that the Barnes family brought in from their family history, including a beautiful wedding dress from the 1800s. And one of their ancestors' sabers from the Civil War along with many other artifacts from their personal collections. All in all, it was a great event. We learned a lot about each other. We learned a lot about the history of Lamoni. 

We appreciate Graceland University providing us with the facilities, and helping us bring these stories to life. We are especially grateful to Ashly for taking time to prepare the room. Thank you to BMO especially Serena Schwab, Audrey Chen, and Carmen Duver for helping us set up our banking, making it possible to accept payments for the event. We are very grateful to the city of Lamoni for their grant of $750 to help us push this project forward. A  special thanks to Eva Yelle, Diane Slade, and Barb Stuck for helping get the word via social media and printed flyers. We have our work cut out for us next year.

And last, but definitely not least, we are extremely grateful to Paul Debarthe for making Untold Lamoni Stories a reality. Without his vision and determination, even in spite of  a calcitrant assistant, we would not have had such a wonderful weekend.

At the end of the events on Saturday, the question was asked whether we should do this again. It was a resounding yes. So we are already planning for next year's event. And we invite any who are interested in speaking at next year’s event, or participating  on the committee to contact Steve Slade at 816-312-8536 or by email steve@lamonihistoricalassociation.org. We look forward to seeing you next year.