News-Gazette (Aug. 25) – A fondness for farm life growing up and a round barn near her rural Douglas County farmstead has led to a University of Illinois graduate’s sizeable gift that will lead to the upgrading of three round barns on the university campus.
Leah Wightman, who grew up near tiny Filson, near Arcola, has left her estate, valued at $10 million, to the university.
Peter Constable, dean of the university’s College of Veterinary Medicine, said the round barns “stand as monuments to the state’s agricultural foundation and the university’s many contributions to that industry.”