With the passing of Charles Lohman “Chuck” Dancey at the age of 107 earlier this month, Pekin lost not only an accomplished journalist and honored World War II and Korean War veteran, but one of our community’s historians.
As only to be expected for a man whose life story constituted so remarkable a chronicle, one that began about a year before the U.S. entered World War I, Dancey’s obituary fills up half a newspaper page, and recounts his experiences in journalism, the U.S. Marine Corps, and community service.
Though he’s best remembered for his decades in print journalism – a profession that has been said to produce the “first draft” of the historical record – in point of fact Dancey also had opportunities to personally write some second, third, or fourth drafts of history. It is especially fitting to consider that aspect of his life now, in the first month of Pekin’s Bicentennial Year.
Some of that narrative was the story of his own World War II experiences. So, although his obituary briefly states –
“During a thirty-day leave from the Marine Corps, he married Nina Evelyn Manker on December 10, 1944 at Grace United Methodist Church in Pekin. . . . He joined the United States Marines in February 1941 and served in the South Pacific for two years and 11 months, with tactical commands from Second Lieutenant to Major, thereafter at Camp Le Jeune, North Carolina, as Director of the Combat Machine Gun School.”
A detailed account of his wartime experiences can be found in Robert B. Monge’s “WW2 Memories of Love & War: June 1937 – June 1946.” Dancey tells of his experiences in the Pacific Theatre of World War II at length on pages 217-232, 254-269, and 463-470. His narrative forms an invaluable contribution to the record of Pekin’s contribution to that global struggle against the brutal expansionist designs of National Socialist Germany and Imperial Japan. A copy of Monge’s book can be checked out of the Pekin Public Library’s Adult Services collection, and another non-circulating copy is available for research in the Local History Room.
Another very significant contribution that Dancey made to the local historical record is none other than the 1949 Pekin Centenary volume, which was published as part of Pekin’s celebration of 100 years as an incorporated city in Illinois (even as Pekin has now commenced another significant anniversary celebration). The title page of the Centenary credits Charles L. Dancey for the writing of that volume’s historical account of Pekin from 1824 to 1949. This historical narrative begins on page 3 and concludes on page 153, and is interspersed with numerous vintage advertisements for Pekin businesses that themselves tell of those businesses’ history.
Dancey no doubt was chosen to write Pekin’s story on account of his experience as a writer, reporter, and radio newscaster. His obituary notes that, “From 1946 to 1950, he was employed by Peoria Newspapers, Inc. as Pekin/Tazewell County correspondent, by WSIV Pekin radio as newscaster . . . .”
At the conclusion of his story of Pekin, Dancey apologetically writes, “This Edition of the Centenary, as published, is actually a ‘first draft’ of such history.” However, a comparison of Dancey’s narrative to the information related in the previous published works on Pekin’s history – William H. Bates’ 1870 narrative, the narrative submitted to Charles C. Chapman’s 1879 Tazewell County history, and Pekin Daily Times editor Ben C. Allensworth’s 1905 update and expansion of Chapman’s history – shows beyond question that Dancey’s survey of Pekin’s origins and growth is rather a fourth draft of Pekin’s history. In its turn, Dancey’s account provided the narrative structure for significant portions of the 1974 Sesquicentennial volume, which at times plagiarizes – or shall we say, “recycles” – Dancey’s narrative.
In my own estimation, Dancey’s 1949 account still holds up pretty well even 75 years later.
Copies of the Pekin Centenary may be checked out at the Pekin Public Library or studied for research in the Local History Room Collection.
Chuck Dancey’s life is now a precious part of Pekin’s history, and so I’ll conclude with a reprint of his full obituary from Dignity Memorial, which includes visitation and funeral times and dates.
PEKIN – Charles Lohman Dancey, age 107, of Pekin, died on Tuesday, January 9, 2024 at his residence, a Frisbee-throw away from the family home where he was born.
Born on November 28, 1916 in Pekin, he was the son of Albert Duane and Bertha (Lohman) Dancey. During a thirty-day leave from the Marine Corps, he married Nina Evelyn Manker on December 10, 1944 at Grace United Methodist Church in Pekin. She died June 14, 2019 in Pekin. He also was preceded in death by his parents; one son, Richard Dancey; a daughter-in-law, Tina Dancey; one grandson, Jacob Dancey; three brothers and two sisters.
Surviving are two sons, Burt Dancey of Orchard Mines and Clinton (Debbie) Dancey of Blacksburg, Virginia; a daughter-in-law, Margaret Dancey of Silver Spring, Maryland; nine grandchildren, Zedford (Kyong) Dancey, Sarah Dancey, Silas (Kristen) Dancey, Rebekah Dancey, Amos (Mara) Dancey, Abigail (Nathaniel Williams) Dancey, Elias (Bethany) Dancey, Emily (Jordan) Head and Ethan (Malissa) Dancey; a granddaughter-in-law, Lia Dancey; eighteen great-grandchildren and one great-great-granddaughter.
He graduated from the University of Illinois in 1938 with a degree in Journalism, after four years during which he was employed as a research assistant in the Physiology department during the school year, and in the summers as assistant manager at the Mineral Springs Park swimming pool.
Between 1938 and 1941, he was employed by the Peoria Star as a Pekin correspondent, then by the state of Illinois in Springfield as a press agent, and finally, by the Peoria Journal as a reporter covering the federal court.
He joined the United States Marines in February 1941 and served in the South Pacific for two years and 11 months, with tactical commands from Second Lieutenant to Major, thereafter at Camp Le Jeune, North Carolina, as Director of the Combat Machine Gun School.
From 1946 to 1950, he was employed by Peoria Newspapers, Inc. as Pekin/Tazewell County correspondent, by WSIV Pekin radio as newscaster, also served as commander of “Charlie company” the Marine reserve unit in Peoria area, as Illinois state commandant of the Marine Corps League, and as a Pekin city councilman, the Commissioner of Police and Fire departments.
With the conflict in Korea, in 1950, the personnel of “C” company were called to active duty, and he ended up on the headquarters staff, “plans and training”, at Parris Island Recruit Depot, assigned to deal with the changes of integration of the armed forces into the new Defense department, along with the first racial integration. In 1951, he was promoted to Lt. Col. The reservist tour ended, but in 1952, he was called up to participate in a month long session at the Naval War College, and in 1959 at the National War College. (He was promoted to Colonel dated to 1959, and retired a few years later.)
On his return to the newspaper in 1952 he worked the copy desk, and covered the state legislature, when in session. In 1956, the two Peoria newspapers merged into the Peoria Journal Star, and the reorganization process brought him a series of titles, including assistant to the publisher, supervisor of the editorial and mechanical departments, and, when the reorganization was completed, editor. He retired in 1986, but was retained as a consultant, and as a member of the board of directors into the 1990s.
He was probably best known, locally, for his search for the “Peoria level” realities on the streets inside the Soviet Union, the Middle East, and Latin America and in the “workshops” of Hubert Humphrey, Richard Nixon, and Illinois Senators Paul Douglas and Everett Dirksen.
He served many years on the Board of Directors and the Executive Board of the Inter-American Press Association (Sociedad InterAmericana de Prensa), and several years as Vice-president of its Freedom of the Press committee, and chairman of the Conclusions committee. His other board memberships included the B’nai B’rith Covenant House, the St. Francis Free Clinic, and the Dirksen Congressional Research Center. He was a longstanding member of Grace United Methodist Church in Pekin and Empire Lodge 126, Ancient Free & Accepted Masons in Pekin.
He served in the 1970s as a Pulitzer Prize juror, but the “compliment” he considered to be the highest was the bomb which destroyed the family car in 1959.
His funeral will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday, January 30, 2024 at Grace United Methodist Church in Pekin. Pastor Eric N. Swanson will officiate. Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Monday at Preston-Hanley Funeral Homes & Crematory in Pekin, and also from 10 to 10:45 a.m. Tuesday at the church. Burial will be in Glendale Memorial Gardens in Pekin, with military rites accorded by the United States Marine Corps and the Tazewell Area Ceremonial Team.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Grace United Methodist Church, 601 North 4th Street, Pekin, IL 61554 or to Pekin Union Mission Society, P.O. Box 1027, Pekin, IL 61555-1027.
The Dancey family would like to thank his beloved, good-hearted, “wonderful” helpers, who cared for him and Nina. They were considered their “band of angels” as Chuck would softly sing.
As a boy and young man, he wanted to read and be a writer – soldier was not at all in his plans. Throughout his life he had to adjust to what the “God of Circumstance” had in store for him. He did that well during his storied and amazing life.
