Barb and Bob Hathway aren’t complainers. They’re doers.
Social justice has been a running theme in the couple’s life, evident in decades of community service pointed toward education, civil rights and care for the less fortunate.
The Hathways’ contributions to the community will be enshrined at the McLean County Museum of History gala on June 18 when they and four others are officially inducted as McLean County History Makers.
The 2024 class of History Makers also includes John Penn, Bob and Julie Dobski and Jan Lancaster.
Bob Hathway taught mathematics at Illinois State University. Barb Hathway worked at the former Mennonite Hospital and Diamond-Star Motors Assessment Center. And nearly every moment away from work was spent giving back to the community.
The Hathways met at an ice skating rink at Peoria’s Glen Oak Park. She was 14; he was 16. But it wasn’t love at first sight.
“He walked my girlfriend home,” said Barb.
“The way I tell it,” said Bob, “I chatted with the two of them and walked one of them home. Just on the basis of that walk, I found she was kind of an airhead. So then I called Barb and asked her out.”
The Hathways’ seven-year courtship and the beginning of their marriage included multiple moves as each pursued an education. The couple settled in Normal in 1966.
The center of Barb and Bob Hathway’s community service has been First United Methodist Church of Normal, where they met like-minded people almost as soon as they arrived in the Twin Cities.
They joined the committee that helped bring Head Start to Bloomington-Normal. Bob landscaped Habitat for Humanity homes and served 10 years on the Human Relations Commission. Barb's station wagon was the nexus of her service, driving PATH clients and, later, serving as de facto school bus driver for the New School.
Dissatisfied with the elementary schools at the time, the Hathways were part of a group of parents that started one in 1971. The school still exists today and is now called the Mulberry School.
The New School was built on a single principle:
“No question should go unanswered,” said Bob Hathway said. “Kid has a question about something? Answer it. Deal with it.”
The Hathways bought a house on Mulberry Street for the school — hence its current name. The model was flexible based on how many students enrolled and how many teachers they could get. Students were generally divided into “little kids” and “big kids” on separate floors of the home.
“It was curious,” said Bob. “There were no codes at all about what the education was. There was fire code and building codes, so we had to build some extra exits, and we landscaped the yard into a little playground in the back.”
In good company
Bob’s summers off from the university catalyzed his capacity for service, a quality he said was passed down from his father.
“You gotta do something,” he said. “Let’s put it this way. At our church, I ran into people: Ralph Smith, Fern Downs. We ran into those people, and we just joined the group.”
“It's just getting to know certain people, and they get you involved in things,” said Barb. “I got really involved with Habitat— mostly in fundraising — with Judy Stone. That was a really good project.”
In 1988, Barb Hathway was Mennonite Hospital’s final “employee of the year” before the hospital closed. She counts Sonja Reece, her boss at the time and a 2015 McLean County History Maker, as a positive influence.
The couple agreed they have no regrets making their lives in Bloomington-Normal. They’re less in sync on the concept of being History Makers.
“I’m kind of proud of it,” said Bob. “She thinks, 'what a nuisance.'”
“There’s meetings and things,” Barb said, “but it's kind of nice. We have so many friends who have been [History Makers], so we’re among a lot of friends doing this.”
The History Makers Gala takes place from 5:30-9 p.m. June 18 in the Bone Student Center at Illinois State University. Tickets are $74-$100 at 309-827-0428 and mchistory.org.
