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Summer job near Cambridge brings brush with history
Originally Posted Online: July 27, 2009, 8:38 pm
Last Updated: July 27, 2009, 10:44 pm
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Print this story | Email this storyLast Updated: July 27, 2009, 10:44 pm
By Lisa Hammer, rlhammer@qconline.com
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CAMBRIDGE -- In summers past, Kelsey Swan detasseled corn and worked in a vineyard. Courtney Kruskop babysat and substituted on a paper route. Cassandra Eilts never had known a summer job before. Cassy Williams waited tables, baked factory cookies and sold Kirby vaccuum cleaners door-to-door. This summer, the work is better, said Ms. Williams, even though she can't see the end of it. Literally. "It's a good job because you get to be outside, and we all like to be outside," she said. The village of Cambridge hired the four Kewanee women to paint 1.25 miles of fence at Rosedale Cemetery southwest of Cambridge. "We've been wanting to get that fence cleaned up and painted for several years," said Cambrige Trustee Dale Doubler, who chairs the cemetery committee. "This deal come along and sounded pretty good." The work doesn't cost the village anything. The project is funded with federal stimulus dollars through the Partners in Job Training's Workforce program. "The price was right,"Mr. Doubler grinned. Their names can cause an employer's nightmare: two Cassies, a Courtney and a Kelsey. Ms. Williams said the four don't have a problem themselves with the similarities. "I think if anybody does, it's probably Dwaine (Van Meenen, Cambridge village administrator)," she said. The challenging thing about painting a fence is that, after you paint the entire length, you still have to paint the other side. Ms. Williams was on her fourth scraper by the fifth week, with the bristles worn to the nub. All four painers make the 15-mile commute from Kewanee, usually carpooling in two vehicles. Three times, Ms. Williams has driven to Cambridge for nothing after it was determined the rain wasn't going to stop. They can get started as long as it stops, but the quartet can't even scrape in the rain because they'd have to go back over their work when it got dry. Ms. Williams noted they do a lot of squatting and standing. They're allowed to bring MP3 players, but often their ears remain "unplugged" so they can talk, Ms. Williams said. Painting in the cemetery beats detasseling, said Ms. Swan. "There's not so much walking," she said. "In detasseling, you were walking so far in a long field and it's so hot out. Here, you can just relax and take the time you need to get it done." There are serious hazards. Ms. Eilts and Ms. Kruskop were stung by bees within two minutes of each other on July 23. Ms. Eilts, who is allergic to stings, was stung twice and had to be rushed to her doctor's office. Her arm swelled and she lost feeling in it, she said. But she was scheduled to take the next day offer, anyway, to take her mother to surgery. Ms. Williams said they hope to finish the work by the end of the summer. "We're going to put our feet down and get it done," said Ms. Williams. "We all really like the idea of getting it done." "If I didn't have to go back to school, I'd still be out here," said Ms. Swan. "I'm pretty sure Cassy and Courtney will be able to handle it." 
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