Molly Hall Remembered John Buehner and Blake Wood with the Good Golly Miss Molly Kindness Award

Jeff Williams:
Welcome to Community Voices, a production of NPR Illinois. I'm your co-host, Jeff Williams. In the studio with me today, Blake Wood. Blake, how's it going?
Blake Wood:
Good. Thanks for having us.
Jeff Williams:
It's good to see you again.
Blake Wood:
Good seeing you too.
Jeff Williams:
Right on. Also in the studio, John Buehner. John, how is it going?
John Buehner:
Very good. Thanks for having us.
Jeff Williams:
Right on. And so, this kind of, either one of you, if you want to start to just Tell us what brings you in today.
Blake Wood:
Well, we're here with the Mid-Illinois Communication Association and we're here to announce the launch of a new award called the Good Golly Miss Molly Kindness Award. It's about recognizing people right here in Central Illinois who are making a real difference through simple acts of kindness. This award is really meant to shine a light on those everyday good deeds that can have an impact on someone else's life. So sometimes they're small acts of kindness and sometimes they're big acts of kindness. We're looking for the whole gamut of kindness.
Jeff Williams:
Love it, yeah.
Blake Wood:
Hoping to honor those folks who don't always think they're deserving of the award. And we really want people to pay attention and nominate those people out there in the community who they think are deserving.
Jeff Williams:
Right on, that's very cool. So, this is the first year for it.
Blake Wood:
This is our very first award and we'll be giving out that first award in August. And the line to nominate people is June 1st. So we're asking people to go on our website, midilcommunications.org slash Miss Molly and nominate someone.
Jeff Williams:
Right on. So, Do you know where the awards will be taking place yet?
Blake Wood:
So, this is a virtual award. So, we're going to select the people for the award once we have all the nominations. We have a committee of volunteers who are going to go through that. And once they're selected, we're going to go meet them in person and present them with the award, probably take pictures to post on social media. And then we're also going to do a press release and kind of try to get the story out there behind their kindness to let the community and other people out there know about it.
Jeff Williams:
Right on, right. For people who aren't familiar, basically, Molly Hall, she was a reporter, correct? And she was also, she was an anchor at WCIA for a long, I mean, I remember from like forever. So yeah, John, did you want to speak to Molly a little bit?
John Buehner:
Yes, thank you. And we're just so delighted that the Mid-Illinois Communications Association is remembering her in this way. Unfortunately, Molly passed March 31st of 2023, very unexpectedly. But she foundationally going back to her mother, Mama Hall. Mama Hall raised four daughters and they came from Arkansas.
Jeff Williams:
So, Arkansas, that's where she is from originally.
John Buehner:
And Mama Hall was hired to come up to Petersburg, Illinois, Petersburg Porter High School, as a reading teacher. And when these girls came in, including Mama Hall, five young women to Petersburg from Arkansas in the late 60s, boy, did they charm them. That sweet Southern charm. They were raised to be very polite and just do the next best right thing. So, I have to mention Mama Hall. That's where it originates from. Unfortunately, their dad passed away in Arkansas when Molly had one younger sister and two older. So, I'm sure Molly's youngest sister was still in diapers.
Jeff Williams:
So Mama Hall brought them up to Petersburg with her own wherewithal, basically. That's right.
John Buehner:
She had got, Mama Hall had gotten her master's degree in Arkansas and was recruited to come up… I don't think Petersburg has ever been the same after those girls!
Jeff Williams:
Right on, right on.
John Buehner:
That's the foundation.
Jeff Williams:
The foundation of it. Okay, so then as far as how did Molly start to get involved with communications?
John Buehner:
Yes, she had a real knack in debating.
Jeff Williams:
Okay.
John Buehner:
That was a forte of hers through high school and then she had a scholarship to go to Eastern Illinois University.
Jeff Williams:
Oh yeah… Charleston.
John Buehner:
Yes, debate scholarship. That certainly led to a foundation of her skills that she was building to be a broadcaster in radio, television, and then a variety of media in her future jobs.
Jeff Williams:
So (WCIA) that's in Champaign, correct, where she was. So did she, is that where she started or did she, I mean, obviously in Charleston, in college, but then her path...
John Buehner:
She was so proud to have been able to be a radio news reporter at WTAX.
Jeff Williams:
Oh, in Springfield? Okay.
John Buehner:
And that would have gone back to the late 70s, early 80s when she was there. A brother-in-law who came along a little bit later, his name is Ben Kinningham. And he is an award-winning, just revered radio broadcaster throughout Illinois. So, it's been wonderful to have that connection with others.
Jeff Williams:
Very, cool. Once again, we're in the studio right now with Blake Wood. And Blake, you're the president of the Mid-Illinois Communications Association. And we're also in the studio with John Buehner, who is the husband of Molly Hall, reporter, anchor person at WCIA, and whom the Good Golly Miss Molly Kindness Award is named after. Blake, back to you. What were some of the other ways that the wheel started to turn on this to get it to fruition?
Blake Wood:
Yeah, so a little bit more about Molly. She was the former president of the Middle Illinois Communication Association when it was called the Association for Women in Communication. And that organization nationally dissolved in 2023. So Molly's a past president of our chapter and that's one of the reasons we took on this award and named it after her to honor her and kind of continue that legacy of service. So, we're really proud to have this award out there and continue that on.
Jeff Williams:
Right on. And so, you know, one day this wasn't thought of and then all of a sudden one day there was like the initial spark. You know, what, can you talk us through that a little bit? How did it start to come?
Blake Wood:
Some of the long-term members of the group came up with this idea because they were friends with Molly, knew her really well, and were looking a way to honor her. And they started this kind of as a grassroots effort to kind of develop this award and get it going. And it's grown since then to the fact that we announced a few weeks ago that this award was happening, and we're very excited to take it from here. And we're very excited to name our first nominee come August and it's exciting for us.
Jeff Williams:
Right on. Love it. And so then once again, could you give the dates for that for the people listening?
Blake Wood:
Absolutely. So the deadline to nominate someone is June 1st and our first award for the Good Golly Miss Molly Kindness Award will be awarded in August. And once again, you can nominate someone on our website at midilcommunications.org slash Miss Molly.
Jeff Williams:
Right on. So, John, give us a little bit of your background.
John Buehner:
I had the delightful, unbelievable good fortune to be a news cameraman hired at WCIA in 1985. When I saw Molly, my world changed. Okay, And I courted her like no other, just so singularly focused. I met her family and felt like… she is the one. And I'm so fortunate that she thought I was the one. Goodness gracious. And so, yes, we did not always work together as a news cameraman. I'd work with, assigned to various reporters throughout and so on and so forth. But Molly, she just had that presence, and she was identified as someone who excelled. So, after the reporting role in Champaign, she became the statehouse news bureau chief for WCIA. And they had their offices right there in the (Illinois) State Capitol. And then she also anchored the Sunday night news for the station for a number of years. I could go on and on. But she's I want to say she could have continued to advance her career throughout the nation, but family first. And that was the case for my family. We're all central Illinois based. And so as our careers evolved, it was based upon the desire to be there for our families.
Jeff Williams:
Right, Well, the sense of connection to your roots, you know, sometimes some people move away and do that and that's what they feel is right for them at the time and then it's good that some of us stay around and have that connection with our roots so Yeah, I commend that, definitely. So then, Blake, tell us a little bit about your background.
Blake Wood:
Yeah, so I grew up here in Central Illinois too. I grew up in Franklin over by Jacksonville.
Jeff Williams:
Oh yeah, Franklin. I've ridden, I've gone over there, kind of ridden my bike around that area and stuff. Yeah, totally.
Blake Wood:
Yeah, and Molly and I actually have a few connections. We both attended Eastern Illinois University and got our bachelor's degree there. And I also worked for WCIA as the capital reporter many years after Molly. But I got a chance to meet her a few times, and we connected over that and our love for EIU as well. So, she was a great person and I was honored to meet her twice, which I wish I could have met her more.
Jeff Williams:
Right, on. Very cool.
John Buehner:
So, I'll go back to Mama Hall as the foundation. They were raised to be respectful and to be able to stand on their own 2 feet as women. Core component is Mama Hall wanted her girls to be able to fend for themselves. She welcomed her sons-in-law into her life, but she wanted to make sure that all of her daughters were self-sufficient and not dependent on another person.
Jeff Williams:
Well, and especially back then, around that time.
John Buehner:
Certainly, yes, things have changed and girl power. One of Molly's core just feelings, just the way she was raised, reach out and be kind to others that going back to high school days. As we think about high school, you've got the variety of people and personalities and so on. She had some dear friends that weren't the star quarterback or the Homecoming queen, what have you. She always had an ear and a friendship for folks that weren't the stars of the show. And that was throughout her life. She was a spiritual person and was involved in church throughout her life. Anecdote, you know, would take a parishioner to church on a Sunday morning when it was snowing, like, oh, get out or what have you. And she was involved in a lot of organizations early on. Rape information and counseling service was in Springfield. I don't know if it still exists.
Jeff Williams:
It doesn't sound familiar, but yeah.
John Buehner:
She was a board member and an element of that carried on through her career and her life, whatever entity or organization she was involved in, those around her saw something special in Molly. And so she was invited to be on the boards of directors. And I'm glad to say that throughout Molly's motivation to continue to improve herself, it was never about her. It was others that recognized a talent in Molly, how they could benefit an organization. Illinois News Broadcasters Association. She was a president of, as Blake mentioned, the Association for Women in Communications. She was actually still on the national board at the time of her passing when they were trying to figure out where does the AWC go from here. And I'm delighted that the communications professionals in Springfield, with Blake being a key component, have been able to carry that forward, even though the national organization went away, the Mid-Illinois Communications Association, as it became known, they said, we're not going away. We're going to carry on and serve our communities. So that's, I'm getting a kind of goosebumps, but that's the kind of vibe Molly had, onward and upward.
Blake Wood:
All the credit to Brandy Renfo, who is our past president. She oversaw that whole transition and made sure Micah continued in its current form. And we're up to about 70 members. So we're people who work in public relations and marketing. We have some journalists who are members, and we have professional development opportunities. So, if there's anybody out there listening who wants to join our organization, we would absolutely welcome you to do that.
Jeff Williams:
Love it.
John Buehner:
Yes, I would say this organization, and then it goes back to Molly as well, they're mentors. They care about those that are coming up in the profession. Molly, while she was at WCIA as the State House Bureau Chief, there's an organization through the University of Illinois at Springfield called the Public Affairs Reporting Program. And she mentored several young reporters who would follow in her footsteps to go on to some wonderful careers, but she always wanted to share her knowledge with others.
Jeff Williams:
Love it, love it. Well, once again, we're in the studio with Blake Wood, who's the president of the Mid-Illinois Communications Association, and John Buehner, who was the husband of Molly Hall, reporter and anchorperson at WCIA, and who the Good Golly Miss Molly Kindness Award is named after. And do you want to give them one more time how to nominate?
Blake Wood:
Absolutely. So, if you could go on our website, it's https://www.midilcommunications.org/missmolly. And there's a form on there where you can submit your nomination. And anyone in Central Illinois can be nominated for this award.
Jeff Williams:
Right on. Very cool. Well, once again, Blake, John, thank you so much for stopping by and letting everybody know this.
Blake Wood:
Thanks for having us.
John Buehner:
Thank you.
Jeff Williams:
Thanks. Community Voices is events you might have missed. conversations with neighbors, artists and area businesspeople suggest a guest or comment at communityvoices@nprillinois.org