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FLORENCE, S.C. (AP) — Joe Stukes has been a regular at the Florence Library for two decades, and while he might not stop going, it's not quite the same after Nov. 25.
Stukes has been holding a history series program at the library four times a year since the 1990s, and because of failing health, the November program was his last.
He has had quite the ride, though, portraying more than 80 different characters throughout all of the programs he has done. He has been everyone from national figures such as George Washington, Charles Lindbergh and Andrew Carnegie to South Carolinians Francis Marion, James Francis Byrnes and William Moultrie.
"I got to impersonating historical characters because you can say, 'I did this,' or 'I did that,' and it grabs your audience better than a lecture does," Stukes said. "I had done a couple of those things, mainly at churches and schools, and then I retired as a Francis Marion professor.
"One day Bobby Floyd, who was then a city executive of the People's Federal Bank, and I were playing tennis, and I asked him if it would be OK for me to use the upstairs room in the People's Federal building. That is where I did my program, until I moved to the library."
Stukes said he had taken requests when he did presentations before retirement but began hand-picking each character himself after he retired.
"I was very fortunate to have freedom to do what I please," Stukes said. "You can't just pop those things off the top of your head. It required several hours of research for each one-hour program. I did men that are largely unknown in history. For instance, Archie Butt. He was an aide in the White House for Teddy Roosevelt, but very few people know Archie Butt these days."
Stukes said he got inspiration from history books but also from overseas trips that he led for people from Florence.
"I was leading trips, and we would visit people's houses and places where things happened in Europe," Stukes said. "I would try to tie in those trips with the history series. For instance, one of my programs I did (British Prime Minister Winston) Churchill, and another was (British general Bernard) Montgomery."
Stukes' history programs have taken him on adventures outside of South Carolina as well. He has given them in Chicago, West Virginia and Orlando, Florida, to name just a few places.
"I started the distant programs in Atlanta in the CNN building," Stukes said. "I was invited by a former student to make a presentation on international affairs since World War II. That went over big, and that's how I got other invitations. It was nice to be away and for me to say that I was a teacher at Francis Marion University."
Stukes makes sure that his presentations are authentic history and even don s costumes to represent his subject.
"I read books, I read essays, I read commentaries to form these people," Stukes said. "Everything you read about people is not to be trusted, but I try to be historical You have to recognize what's bad about you and what's good about you. We all have both sides."
Even among the 80-plus characters he has tackled, Stukes still has a soft spot for one in particular.
"One of my favorite people is Jackie Robinson," Stukes said. "We did a program on Jackie's birthday. I played Pee Wee Reese (of the Brooklyn Dodgers), and the program was called 'Jackie and Me and the Ol' 6-4-3.'"
Stukes got advanced degrees during a time when it was uncommon. He also has received the Governor's Award in the Humanities and served two terms as the president of the South Carolina Christian Action Council.
Though he is modest about the success of the program, Stukes is proud of the part he played educating people in the Pee Dee. He said some people have even attended all of his presentations at the Florence Library.
If he could say anything, "I would tell them thank you for inspiring me to do what I thought I would never do, for encouraging me along the way and for sticking with me," Stukes said.
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Information from: Morning News, http://www.scnow.com
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