Dedicating oneself to the study of a great person, and striving to instill this person‘s ideals into another generation is a tall task indeed. Such is the task of Denzil Heaney, Director of the Pershing Boyhood Home in Laclede.
Denzil holds a Bachelor’s Degree in History, with an emphasis in Military History. He is working on his Master’s Degree in Land Warfare focusing on the late 19th and early 20th centuries, focusing on the Pershing Era.
Starting the Day
Heaney has been with the Pershing Home since 2002 and has a lot of varied duties in his daily life on these historic grounds. The day usually starts with one of the attendants at the park opening the Prairie Home School before his arrival. He opens the office and prepares the site for the tours and tourists that frequent it. Each year, 5000-7000 people make a stop at the Pershing Boyhood Home.
“We aren’t a targeted destination anymore,” said Heaney. “But we have evolved, as a site, and are doing more to attract the people. Most visitors that we have are enroute to somewhere else, but when they see the sign, they decide right then whether to go to the site or not.”
Evolving the Experience
A big part of the evolution of the Pershing Boyhood Home has been the addition of the Tourist Information booth that is located in the office of the site. “We did this to bring in some people who might not have normally been interested in coming here,” said Heaney. “We use that to get them interested in the site, and hopefully they stop off and learn a little bit about General Pershing.”
The site gets a lot of senior citizen traffic due to the name recognition of General Pershing to that generation. “These people grew up knowing General Pershing as the great American hero that he is,” noted Heaney. “Folks who know about the General are passing on, and the next generation aren’t familiar with the service and sacrifice of General Pershing and the World War I veterans.”
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