Interview with Al Grosboll # ISG-A-L-2009-017.1 Interview # 1: May 20, 2009 Interviewer: Mark DePue COPYRIGHT The following material can be used for educational and other non-commercial purposes without the written permission of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library. “Fair use” criteria of Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976 must be followed. These materials are not to be deposited in other repositories, nor used for resale or commercial purposes without the authorization from the Audio-Visual Curator at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, 112 N. 6th Street, Springfield, Illinois 62701. Telephone (217) 785-7955 Note to the Reader: Readers of the oral history memoir should bear in mind that this is a transcript of the spoken word, and that the interviewer, interviewee and editor sought to preserve the informal, conversational style that is inherent in such historical sources. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library is not responsible for the factual accuracy of the memoir, nor for the views expressed therein. We leave these for the reader to judge. DePue: Today is Wednesday, May 20, 2009. My name is Mark DePue. I’m the director of oral history for the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library. I’m here today talking to Allen Grosboll about his experiences working with Jim Edgar through the time Edgar was secretary of state and while he was governor in the 1990s. Good morning, Al. Grosboll: Good morning. I might add, by the way, that I also worked with him when he was in the legislature. DePue: Well, we’re going to get all of that, and it’s going to take a little while to cover all of the bases. Let me say up front, Al, that because you’re a working guy, make your living doing this business, I understand you’re going to have to cut this one short today. But we will have future sessions, and we will not cut short the opportunity to hear your stories and to reflect on things. We always start, though, with when and where you were born. Grosboll: I was born here in Springfield, at Memorial Hospital. My family lived in Petersburg, but my mother came in here for the delivery. I was born on May 17, 1951. I’m very proud of that date, by the way; because, of course, three years later was the Brown v. Board of Education decision—so on my third birthday. DePue: There you go. Grosboll: There it is. DePue: And I’m sure when you were three years old, you were celebrating. Grosboll: That’s right. DePue: That makes you a Baby Boomer— Grosboll: Yes. DePue: —and all that comes with that. What did your father do? Grosboll: My father was an attorney. He had grown up on a farm, got an ag degree—went to the University of Illinois on an ag scholarship—but when he got out, he worked a little while; then World War II broke out. And when he came home from the war, he decided that he wanted to go to law school. So he went to University of Michigan Law School—graduated from there. Actually, while he was still there, he ran in the Republican primary for state’s attorney, won; and then in the fall, he won the election. He came home to be state’s attorney for the county, and then about a month later passed the Illinois Bar. DePue: What timeframe are we talking about? Grosboll: Nineteen forty-eight. So he was an attorney, and he was state’s attorney at Menard County for twenty-four years. DePue: What was his name? Grosboll: His name was John E. Grosboll. My son has the same name; he’s John Emerson Grosboll II. DePue: Excellent. How about your mother? Her name? Grosboll: My mother’s name was Dorothy Tipps, T-i-p-p-s. Prior to her marriage to my dad, she was a lifelong resident of Springfield. Went to Springfield High School. Her father was a barber and ultimately moved into beauty salons and ran the Ambassador Beauty Salon here in Springfield for a couple of decades. And then later, my mother was in Petersburg visiting cousins—met my dad; they started dating, and eventually, during the war, they married. 1 DePue: And real quick, what did your father do in the war again? Grosboll: My dad entered the Navy, went into officer training, and was trained to be a captain on a PT boat. He trained, interestingly, in Chicago, at Northwestern; he trained at Notre Dame and then went to Newport, Rhode Island; and ultimately was shipped out, went to Australia, and then went over to New Guinea. And in New Guinea, he was given command of a PT boat. Technically, he was a lieutenant j.g. [junior grade], which was the highest that the officer training could get you to; but he would then command a PT boat, and as the commander of a PT boat, it made him a captain. 1 John Emerson Grosboll (November 20, 1918-March 9, 2002) married Dorothy Tipps (July 16, 1919-October 22, 1986) in Tallula, Illinois, on May 23, 1944. Patrick Murphy, “Family Genealogy,” http://www.familyaffairs.ws/wc01/wc01_219.htm. 2 DePue: Did he actually go on quite a few missions? Grosboll: He did. You know, he never talked very much about that. There were two breeds of people that came out of World War II, those that—basically it was the highlight of their lives and became the center point for the rest of their lives. And then the other crowd were the people who came home, sort of left it behind, and moved on; and my dad was in that category. Never really would talk about the war, other than he’d answer questions. DePue: Al, I’m going to venture forth and probably get myself into trouble here, but you have something of a reputation for being a very good storyteller yourself; so does that mean you take after your mother? Grosboll: No. My mother did tell stories, but my dad was a terrific storyteller, a tremendous joke-teller; and could tell a story about the simplest incident that might have happened at some point in his life and turn it into a very amusing, entertaining, and sometimes educational story. DePue: That speaks volumes for why he wouldn’t then talk about his experiences in World War II, doesn’t it? Grosboll: That’s right. Again, I don’t think it was any particular reason other than I just don’t believe that he viewed himself as being a hero, or being anything like that; he just went over, did his job, came back. He had stories that he would tell about when he was in New Guinea one time—they were hot and sweaty on the PT boat, and he thought he’d jump in and take a swim. He did, and as he was swimming along, he noticed a snake swimming beside him, and he just thought it was a beautiful snake. And he got out later and was describing it to someone, and then was informed that it was a coral snake, which was one of the most poisonous snakes that you could possibly be around. So he got a big kick out of telling that type of story. DePue: How would you characterize your years growing up in Petersburg? Grosboll: Very much small-town, 1950s life. When I think back to my childhood, I think probably the most vivid day-to-day memory I have is getting up. My dad would have already gone off to work—sitting in the kitchen; no air conditioning, of course—and my dad would leave notes for my two brothers and me with chores; and once those chores were done, we’d get on our bikes and we’d ride to the Jaycee Park and play baseball. We’d play baseball till noon, run home, eat lunch, and then come back and play baseball all afternoon. So riding my bike and playing baseball is what, at this age in my life, I define my childhood as. DePue: Growing up in Petersburg, did you go to PORTA High School? Was it known as PORTA High School at that time? Grosboll: When I started going to school there, of course, it was Petersburg; and then about the time I was probably in junior high, two smaller areas came into the school district, and they decided to rename it. They held a contest, and the winner would win a 3 twenty-five-dollar savings bond to come up with the winning name. And the reason I’m telling you this is that little Johnny Stiltz won that contest; and little Johnny Stiltz grew up, graduated from PORTA, went to California, did very well in California, came home a few years ago, bought an old house, turned it into a bed and breakfast, and then this last spring ran for mayor and is now the mayor of Petersburg. So little Johnny Stiltz named the school district and is now the mayor of Petersburg and is a very good guy. DePue: Where did he come up with PORTA? Grosboll: He took the first letter of the five communities that go to that high school. So it’s Petersburg, Oakford, Rock Creek, Tallula, and Atterberry. DePue: In high school, what were your interests? What did you see yourself becoming once you graduated? Grosboll: I gravitated to history and government and political science almost from the very beginning. All of my family was very much interested in current events.