No one has to be a stranger in their new home town. Anywhere you move anywhere in the world you can find the "Official Lay-person Town Historian". In the little hamlet of Lockport Illinois it is Sandy Greenham. She's a lifelong resident who knows every other lifelong resident - every other person who never left. Take a walk with Sandy down the neighborhood streets of your new home. She'll tell you who lives in almost every home you pass by. She can tell you real pillars of the town - the who's who - the movers and shakers - the folks who's names are on plaques on sides of buildings.
If a recent move has put you in an unfamiliar town - one walk with a Sandy - down the side streets in the old part of town and you'll soon know who lives in what house - what those folks do and why you should know them. The Sandy of Lockport can tell you maiden names and married name and the number of children. She's taught school for more than 20 years so she's now teaching the children's children.
It costs nothing more than a nice walk in the afternoon and a cup of coffee and the pay offs are huge. You'll find yourself reading the paper and there will be a name you recognize. Your standing in line at the grocery store and the woman in front of you lives on 4th street and her husband is the local butcher. Nothing makes you feel like a local more than knowing the names and faces of towns people.
How do you find the Sandy in your town? Start with your real estate agent - if they knew what house to put you in - - they know everyone in town - they could be a Sandy themselves.
Try your place of worship. Lots of long time residents there. You're local library will have someone working or even volunteering who could fill the shoes of Sandy.
It's worth the effort when those pangs of loneliness for your old home town hit. You can talk like an old timer to your new neighbors - tell them who lives in that big old house across the street.
