Michelle Heurung-Davis - President
Michelle made her home along with her husband and two sons, in Mokena, Illinois for thirty years and was the owner and operator of a daycare and preschool until relocating to Galena in 2016. After making several trips there over the previous 30 years, she was overjoyed to be able to buy an Italianate house built in 1870 and establish the Lamberson Guest House, a bed & breakfast that is now run by the present owners. When walking the streets, she often wished there was more information available on the magnificent old homes she would see around town.
After selling her Bed and Breakfast in 2020, she was able to make her wish come true, joining together the board members of Galena’s Living History Alliance, with the Historic Plaque project as their first goal.
Michelle loves her work with GLHA, especially communicating with homeowners and learning the history of their homes. She takes great pride in the camaraderie and team spirit of the GLHA board members and historians.
Michelle is now married to fellow board member, Norm Davis. Together they share 5 wonderful children and 10 grandchildren, and she is grateful every day to be living in such a beautiful and welcoming town.
Norm Davis
A 5th-generation Galenian whose family roots in town stretch back to 1850, Norm has worked for more than 35 years as a master carpenter and builder, as well as a general contractor. His enthusiasm for period carpentry and restoration work is a testament to his admiration of old structures. He enjoys working on historic properties, coming up with ideas alongside homeowners, and witnessing their happiness when their restorations are complete.
As the liaison between our organization and the Westwick Foundry, Norm orders the steel needed for the posts and has overseen the painting, sanding, welding, and installation of each plaque.
It is no wonder he would be on the board of GLHA, as he is an old soul at heart. As a numismatist, Norm has amassed more than 400 antique toys and Civil War memorabilia. In nice weather, you’ll see him around town behind the wheel of his 1940 Dodge.
Recently married, Norm and his wife, Michelle, are the owners of two historic properties in Galena, and between them have five children and TEN grandchildren.
Stephanie Braunreiter - Treasurer
Although Stefanie was born in Janesville, Wisconsin, she spent the most of her adult life growing up in Milton, a nearby small town. Prior to relocating to Galena in 2020, Stefanie's professional experience was in corporate accounting.
Before moving to Galena, Stefanie and her husband Jeff would travel here three to four times a year. They were always guests at the beautiful 1870 Lamberson Guest House. This is where Stefanie’s attraction to Galena began. The architecture of the homes in Galena, as well as the unique downtown, great restaurants, and amazing people, really drew her in.
When the opportunity arose for Jeff to work remotely, they jumped at the chance to move to Galena. Stefanie and Jeff (along with their twin daughters) purchased an historic home on Park Ave. GLHA is the second organization she has been a part of, with historic preservation as its main purpose.
In addition to helping with the plaque painting and conducting research on properties for the project, Stefanie works as the organization's Treasurer and collaborates with the historians. History and learning about where things come from are passions of hers.
Jeff Braunreiter - Vice President
Jeff was born in Waukesha, Wisconsin, but grew up in Janesville, Wisconsin. He lived in the Janesville area until moving to Galena with his wife Stefanie and twin daughters in 2020. Jeff works in a Global Sales role for a large industrial food processing manufacturer. He has been with the company for 15 years. He was able to transition into a remote position, which opened up the opportunity to move to Galena.
Galena drew Jeff and his family in because of the history, beautiful homes, fun activities, and truly nice people. Jeff and his wife Stefanie live in a well-known historical home on Park Ave. and take pride in owning a part of local history. They are excited to maintain the home and keep it going for many years to come.
Jeff enjoys helping the community as part of the GLHA and hopes that in the future, they can do more to help others. Jeff enjoys golfing, fixing up their home, and spending time with friends.
Mike Jones
Mike was born in Washington, Iowa, but grew up in Davenport. For much of his life, he has been a “river rat,” living alongside the mighty Mississippi in the Quad Cities as a kid, then Bellevue, Iowa—across the river from Galena—for 18 years. Mike swapped lakes for rivers for 25 years while working for the University of Wisconsin-Extension. He’s happy to be back on the Galena and Mississippi rivers again.
Mike’s work background has been in education, tourism, marketing, community development, and writing. In an earlier life, he was the executive director of the Galena/Jo Daviess County Chamber of Commerce. These days, he works part-time at The Galena Gazette.
He and his wife, Milly, moved to Galena in 2018. They live in the proudly-signed Temple House, aka Spare House, circa 1845. Like legions of others, Mike and Milly have a love affair with Galena: its historic architecture, history, hills, valleys, crags, and bluffs. Galena is an old city, but it never gets old living here.
Mike and Milly have 4 children and 9 grandchildren. They enjoy walking and biking in Galena and the Driftless Area. Mike is an avid genealogist and reader, particularly histories: “so many books, so little time.”
Milly Jones
Milly lives in Galena with her husband Mike in an historic home on Dodge Street. Milly grew up on a farm outside of Independence, Iowa, where her family raised Angus beef cattle and Quarter Horses.
Following college, she lived in Maquoketa, Iowa, for twelve years. She moved to West Branch, Iowa for three years to direct the Eastern Iowa Tourism Association. Her love of tourism promotion and appreciation of the wonderful history of the eastern Iowa and Driftless regions of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin was developed there.
Then came a stint of 22 years with the University of Wisconsin-Extension in Madison, working in a unit that provided distance learning technologies for UW campuses and State of Wisconsin agencies. Most of this work revolved around marketing and developing training resources for distance learning systems.
Milly and Mike have always loved Galena because of their love of history and the quality of small-town life Galena provides. Many trips to Galena (including getting married here) convinced them that Galena should be their forever home, so five years ago they took the leap. Between them, they have four children and nine grandkids.
Milly enjoys history, gardening, traveling, biking, and hiking and is excited to help the GLHA in any way she can.
Bill Speer - Secretary
Bill is an Illinois native with ancestors on both his paternal (Speer) and maternal (Virtue) sides coming to the Galena area from Ireland in the early 1830’s. In fact, Bill’s namesake—his great-grandfather, William Speer—was born in transit from Ireland to Galena. Bill was born in Dekalb to parents who were raised in Hanover and Rodden and fondly remembers many happy summers spent on the Orville Virtue farm on Black School Road, as well as numerous trips to this area to visit family—some still residing in the area to this day.
Bill met his wife, Marge, while they were in high school. If it wasn’t love at first sight, it was certainly a case of love at every sight thereafter. After 48 glorious years of marriage, Bill lost Marge in 2015, yet she remains a guiding light and inspiration.
Bill graduated with a degree in mathematics from Northern Illinois University and anticipated a life in teaching with his first position as a high school teacher in South Beloit, Illinois. He did want to learn more about mathematics, and so he continued to study at Northern Illinois University and at Kent State University in Ohio, earning his Master’s in 1971 and PhD in 1976.
He taught at Bowling Green State University for 20 years and was awarded an Emeritus Professorship at Bowling Green State University in 1996. He also served as the Dean of the College of Education at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, and was awarded Emeritus Professor of Mathematics Education at UNLV in 2022. He was recently honored as the recipient of the coveted Lifetime Achievement Award of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
Bill has had the good fortune to have served as an ambassador of sorts for mathematics education through consultancies and presentations in over 100 countries on six continents during his career. Still, when the question of retirement (finally) came after 53 years in the classroom, the question of where to go barely deserved a question mark, as it became evident that novelist Thomas Wolfe has been misinterpreted in his famous quote; you actually CAN go home again. Galena was the natural choice. To invoke another novelist, Frank Baum, there is no place like home.