Page 14 2024 Hometown HEROES Magazine LINCOLN DAILY NEWS June/July 2024 After his retirement, Long continued working at a fertilizer plant for an additional thirteen years. Long would spend a lot of time volunteering before his retirement but added a lot more to his volunteering plate after he retired. Long and his wife Janet have both been longtime members of the VFW and have spent a lot of time there. Long served as the State Commander of the VFW in 2008 and 2009, and his wife served as the State President of the Ladies Auxiliary in 1996 and 1997. Long shared that he would spend most of his vacation time going to conventions for the VFW. Another veteran and VFW member Gene Hickey could not overstate Long and Janet’s contributions to the VFW. He stated that, in his opinion, they are the VFW. Long and Janet have been keeping the VFW afloat with all the good work they contribute to it, Hickey shared. The VFW has been able to do a lot of great things for the veterans in our communities. Long and others have lobbied Congress for veterans’ benefits, aided veterans in need with compensation, and have taken care of veteran widows. “Lincoln is very fortunate to have the VFW,” Long stated. When asked what the VFW means to him, Long stated that it is about taking care of our veterans and improving our communities. As stated previously, Long also provides a lot of volunteer work to the Lincoln community through the LCMG. Much of this work, Long shared, is done at Kickapoo Creek Park. The group works on removing invasive plant species from the park, and then replacing them with native species the following spring. Long also appreciates all of the different people he has been able to meet through the LCMG. He says he has met people and friends there that he would never have met otherwise. One of these friends is Jim Struebing who is also a Master Gardener and Master Naturalist. Struebing was the person who convinced Long to take the class to become a Master Naturalist after Long had already become a Master Gardener. Streubing shared that Long kills and removes honeysuckle and autumn olive from Kickapoo Creek Park, “the most invasive plants in Central Illinois.” Struebing said that he, Long, and others have dedicated a lot of time to trying to remove these invasive species. “Over the last 10 years the park has changed greatly in appearance in a positive way as a result of our efforts to fight the invasives and plant native trees and shrubs.” Struebing also shared that Long has volunteered at the annual plant sale at the
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