To the editor:

Over the past year I have followed from afar the stories about Watkins Museum and Steve Jansen. Though I now live in Chicago, I grew up in Lawrence and experienced it as a town with a unique and special relationship to its history; a relationship fostered by Steve Jansen.

I am heartbroken to see that my home has lost its most valuable link to its stories in the loss of Steve Jansen from Watkins Museum. Every community must have its storyteller. In Chicago we have Studs Terkel. Lawrence had Steve.

We are living in a time when it is more important than ever that our children, communities and political leaders understand their history and how it impacts their current lives and the lives of those around them. Valuing our communities means valuing those who can tell us the most about them. Lawrence has not only lost an important link to the past, but also an essential perspective on the present.

Rachel Unruh,

Chicago