To request a copy of this photo for your own personal use, please contact our state coordinator. If you are not a family member or the original photographer — please refrain from copying or distributing this photo to other websites.
Thank you for visiting the Illinois Gravestone Photo Project. On this site you can upload gravestone photos, locate ancestors and perform genealogy research. If you have a relative buried in Illinois, we encourage you to upload a digital image using our Submit a Photo page. Contributing to this genealogy archive helps family historians and genealogy researchers locate their relatives and complete their family tree.
Submitted: 10/3/08 • Approved: 10/3/08 • Last Updated: 4/1/18 • R17921-G17920-S3
TOWSLEY
1895 MYRON 1985
1907 GENEVIEVE 1995
Note: From Alibris website description of daughter, Caryl Towsley Moy's, book about her mother, "Naperville's Genevieve: A Daughter's Memoir'.
"For over 45 years Genevieve Towsley was a highly respected journalist and historian in Naperville, Illinois. Through her weekly columns she chronicled and influenced the changes in Naperville from a rural community to a major and prosperous suburb. She was always a talented wordsmith, whether telling about one of the city's founding families, of an atomic physicist newly moved to Naperville or her pioneer childhood in Idaho. Her many historic articles were so well researched that they were collected and published in one volume, "A View of Historic Naperville" that is in its sixth printing. She was described as courageous and a woman of valor, for she often wrote about controversial issues. Because of her feature stories, the community's Centennial Beach became integrated, and there is a business corridor instead of a dog racing track north of the city. She championed the saving of an historic church which led to the establishment of the Naperville Heritage Society. She loved to bake as much as she loved to write and became famous for her caramel pecan rolls."
Outside the entrance to the downtown Naperville Barnes & Noble store is a bench with a statue of Genevieve Towsley, seated with notebook and pen in hand. There is a bronze plaque near the bench inviting passers-by to sit a spell with Genevieve.
Section 10A
Contributed on 10/3/08 by pasteffen99
Email This Contributor
Suggest a Correction
Record #: 17921