September 07, 2024
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Shutter to Think: Fervor inspires others to follow their passions

By Alex T. Paschal
Retired SVCC professor Ralph Pifer shows off a couple of his photos of the Upper Peninsula during a program in Lowell Park. Pifer talked about the diverse and interesting area that is the U.P.

Retired Sauk Valley Community College professor Ralph Pifer shows off a couple of his photos of the Upper Peninsula during a program in Lowell Park. Pifer talked about the diverse and interesting area that is the U.P. (Alex T. Paschal)

It’s always great to see someone express a passion for something. Something real I mean, not just being a meatball over, say, the Chicago Cubs who continue to pull out my heart and stomp it into the dust.

Last week, I met two such people showcasing fervor in distinctly different avenues.

Retired Sauk Valley Community College professor and Upper Peninsula advocate Ralph Pifer hosted a showing at the Ruth Edwards Nature Center in Dixon’s Lowell Park of his photographs and mineral samples collected in the U.P. of Michigan. Pifer traveled there for the first time in 1977 and was hooked.

The landscape as described by Pifer is diverse, from heavy pine woods and swamps to some of the oldest mountains in the world. Pifer laid out a few dozen photographs he snapped and presented samples of metals and minerals he picked up in old mines or while hiking. He also regaled a small but focused crowd about an ore scavenger mission in which he broke his leg. After being whisked away to recover, he returned to the spot a year later and laughed.

“My bag of specimens was still sitting there, except all the best ones were picked through,” he said. The discovery literally added insult to injury.

Then there is Melissa Schultz, who had a dud of a summer by losing her beloved Haunted Haven barn in rural Rock Falls to a devastating fire, then her job to a business closing. After that, she endured a roller coaster of emotions starting with promising solutions to rebirth her haunted house that were followed by hopes dashed after those potential plans fell by the wayside.

“But I’m not going to give up.” She told me this several times as we met to announce she has, in fact, found a new place to outlet the haunted fun she so loves. Who Else Land in Nelson will host Schultz and her actors as they take visitors through a haunted trail on the club’s campground.

That enduring spirit and, she’ll freely admit, absolutely critical support and love from the community are why after losing everything two months ago she is well on her way back to scaring the socks off us.

• Alex T. Paschal is a photographer with Sauk Valley Media.

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Alex Paschal

Alex T. Paschal

Photojournalist/columnist for Sauk Valley Media