A special surprise in Springfield

Posted on July 10, 2020
A trip with a niece and nephews now includes a milestone at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. (WJBC file photo)

 

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD– A trip from Florida to Illinois to pick up a new dog included a big surprise for Regina Padgett, a social worker from Orlando. She became the five millionth visitor to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield.

Padgett, who is black, brought three nephews and a niece, ranging in age from 9 to 20. “With the climate as it is, i thought it was befitting,” she said during a brief ceremony in the museum’s plaza, “the opportunity to show them and have them be educated as to who Abraham Lincoln was and what he did for our people.”

She says she purchased a Shih Tzu online and had to drive to Taylorville to pick it up. President Lincoln – who bears an uncanny resemblance to Randy Duncan of Carlinville – told Padgett she should name the dog Fido, after Lincoln’s own dog.

 

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