Riverbend Head Start - Circle of Care Recipients

Alton-Godfrey Rotary Club's steamboat mural is the most visible community project of retired surgeon Dr. Robert Hamilton. However, Hamilton and his wife, Charlene, have contributed to a variety of civic activities since they moved to the area from Nebraska in 1973.

Riverbend Head Start & Family Services will honor the couple with its Circle of Care Award for 2011. The agency is recognizing them with its 18th annual award for exemplifying the spirit of caring through their profession, volunteerism and philanthropy. The Hamiltons' devotion to family, education, and health issues make them ideal honorees for the agency, which dedicates itself to comprehensive services to at-risk preschool children and their families.

Concern for the community comes naturally to the Hamiltons. They grew up in small Nebraska towns with parents who demonstrated involved citizenship.

Dr. Hamilton's father came to the central Nebraska town of Geneva, population 2000, as the high school principal in the 1930s. He was active in the community right away. He later read for the law, was a county judge and a newspaper editor. He spent time away from Geneva during World War II, when he worked for the American Red Cross in Washington, DC, and elsewhere.

His mother was the town librarian for 37 years. "She knew who had brains before anyone else did by what they read," Dr. Hamilton said. She would ask needy or underachieving students to help out in the library, paying them herself and serving as a mentor.

Charlene Hamilton grew up in North Platte, population 15,000. Her father owned a small business, still run by family members. The family's activities centered on the Lutheran Church. “I remember playing games and occupying myself at the church while my mother was quilting or meeting with the ladies' aide group. She sang in the choir and nurtured her love of music there. She also developed a lifelong interest in needlework."

The couple met and married when he was a senior medical student at the University of Nebraska College of Medicine in Omaha, and she was a registered nurse earning her bachelor's degree in nursing at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. After his internship there, he served as an Air Force flight surgeon posted to France.

Time in France opened the couple's eyes to the wider world, and an observation there was the seed of the Rotary mural project more than 40 years later.

Their base adjoined a small French town near the German border. "I remember noticing that the stucco buildings in France looked so drab, while the same little structures in Germany looked great with just a coat of paint," Dr. Hamilton said.

Many years later, he reports thinking that Alton was a beautiful town that just needed a coat of paint to brighten up its fading downtown. When he saw the Hayner Library mural, he got interested in promoting more than a simple coat of paint. "I talked with Laurie Milner from Jennie D. Hayner Library Association, and we met with other interested people including Kathryn Nahorski from the Jacoby Arts Center and Bill Moyer, and Dr. Sharon Johnson in 2006.

"Charlene and I looked at murals in Chillicothe, MO, on our way to Nebraska and Paducah, KY, when we went to Florida to visit our son." Several years of meetings and research led to artists, designs and locations analyzed and discarded.

By the time the project got in full gear, Dr. Hamilton had a sidekick, "Mike Osborne was the community service committee chair for Rotary. He stepped in and did a fabulous job." A committee developed which involved Dr. Richard Jones, David Walker, Jasper Fischer, Bill Moyer, Richard Rook, Steve Cousley and all Rotary presidents from Dr. Sharon Johnson forward. Other Rotarians contributed in many ways. "The talent of the people involved was what really carried it off," Hamilton said. "So many problems were solved with the expertise in Rotary."

Rotary proudly unveiled the mural on the side of the Riverbend & Head Start office at 550 Landmarks Blvd. in September. Just a few blocks from the Lewis and Clark 2 Bridge, the colorful steamboat, designed by Michael Eckhard and painted by Euripides Kastaris, offers a beautiful welcome to Alton and its history.

After military service, the couple returned to Nebraska where he finished his residency in surgery, and she taught nursing. He served as staff surgeon at Lincoln, NE, Veterans' Hospital and faculty of the University of Nebraska College of Medicine. He is certified by the American Board of Surgery and a member of the American College of Surgeons.

Charlene Hamilton earned her bachelor's degree in nursing in 1961, worked as a nurse, and taught medical-surgery nursing to students at Nebraska Methodist Hospital in Omaha.

Both have been deeply involved in the community, as professionals and volunteers, since he joined the Alton Surgical Clinic in 1973. Charlene Hamilton worked in real estate for 20 years as well as using her nursing skills in several capacities.

The local chapter of the American Cancer Society benefits from her dedication. Although she had volunteered for many years, her interest deepened after her own cancer in 1997.

Her many activities include:

Before retirement in 2002, most of Dr. Hamilton's volunteerism centered on his profession. He passionately continues work through "think tanks," researching and presenting papers and speeches on behalf of consumer driven health care and health care reform. He has published and spoken to groups nationally.

Charlene Hamilton grew up in North Platte, population 15,000. Her family's activities centered on the Lutheran Church. " I remember playing games and occupyingHis activities include:

Lifelong music lovers, the Hamiltons are founding members of the Great Rivers Choral Society. He also takes trumpet lessons in jazz improvisation.

They enjoy travel, theater, golf, and gardening. Their devotion to family finds them attending grandchildren's activities in Alton and Dublin, Ireland. They also have traveled with the family in the United States and in Europe.

They are parents of three children and grandparents of four. Phillip Hamilton is an attorney in Alton, married to the former Susan Norton, a nurse. They are parents of Cate and Hilary. Daughter Laura Muldowney lives in Dublin and is an art historian and assistant to the curator of the Chester Beatty Museum at Dublin Castle. She and husband James, a business consultant, are parents of Louisa and Rob. Dr. Richard Hamilton is a retinal surgeon in Lakeland, FL.