About Lucy Engbring

Lucy Engbring is the matriarch of the Engbring family. After marrying a military man, Jerry Engbring, the family and their growing brood moved from place to place until settling in rural Valmeyer in the 1970s. The Engbring kids are now grown and scattered across the Earth's four corners, but her family makes frequent visits to the Bluff House.

Lucy's essays cover a wide range of topics, including her past and current travels, as well her family's fascinating adventures.

Life At The Bluff House

Visiting son Jim in Cave Creek, Ariz., at the famous Rare Earth Gallery, a gigantic rock shop where this dazzling hunk of quartz crystal sells for $39,000. Too bad it won’t fit in Mom’s living room.

Choosing The Right Time To Visit Phoenix, Where It’s Sunny All Day Long

By Monroe County Independent | November 17, 2019

Recently I turned into a bona fide snowbird and went, along with daughter Susie, to visit son Jim in sunny Phoenix. I learned they now have 59,000 snowbirds who visit Arizona every winter. Snowbirds are people who travel south when the weather turns cold where they live. Most stay the whole winter in the desert, …

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Son Jeff Engbring made sister Susie a birthday dinner of Low Country Southern Boil, a delicious dish mingled with corn, crawdads, shrimp, clams, onions and potatoes. Enough for everyone!

Everyone In The World Has One! We’re Talking Birthdays Here

By Monroe County Independent | October 20, 2019

by Lucy Engbring On a beautiful, crisp autumn Sunday, daughter Susie and I, along with a record number of out-of-towners, were browsing through all the goodies at the Oktoberfest stands in Maeystown. The sunny day was special because it was also Susie’s birthday. Then I got to thinking that there must be hundreds, no, thousands …

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Put Pendleton, Oregon On Your Bucket List

By Monroe County Independent | October 7, 2019

by Lucy Engring After reading daughter Susie’s vivid description of her great visit to the Grand Canyon recently, I was again surprised to hear of the Northwest exploits of son John and his family. I wasn’t aware that a major annual rodeo is held every September in Pendleton, Ore. They say the Pendleton Round-Up is …

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Horses and riders line up for the opening ceremony of the Havasupai Tribal Annual Peach Festival Rodeo, whose participants were from various southwestern Native American tribes.

If The Grand Canyon Beckons, Just Say Yes!

By Monroe County Independent | September 23, 2019

by Susan Engbring When some Native American friends of mine asked if I wanted to accompany them to the Havasupai Tribal Annual Peach Festival at the Grand Canyon, I was booked solid with freelance work and almost said no. But a helicopter ride down to Supai Village at the bottom of the canyon? And a …

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Great-Grandkids Luke, Hunter and Macie Engbring enjoy a ride this summer in an Amish wagon in Pennsylvania’s Lancaster Country.

Learning About The Amish Way Of Life In Lancaster County

By Monroe County Independent | August 20, 2019

photo – Great-Grandkids Luke, Hunter and Macie Engbring enjoy a ride this summer in an Amish wagon in Pennsylvania’s Lancaster Country. By Lucy Engbring It should be easy for our grandchildren to have something to write about their summer vacations when they return to school this fall. It’s been a very busy summer. All the …

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Why Neil Armstrong’s Magnificent Moonshot Of 50 Years Ago Was So Personal

By Monroe County Independent | August 2, 2019

By Lucy Engbring Even if you weren’t paying attention, you must have noticed all the news stories and TV programs that recently heralded the 50th anniversary of that magnificent day in history when America put a man on the moon. To this day I can hardly believe that miraculous event actually took place. But it …

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If it’s true what they say about cats having nine lives, then I want what they have. With only one life to lead, when will I ever find time to learn what the grandkids have been up to?
I long to follow their careers, see what paths they’ve chosen to take, what they’ve accomplished along the way, meet their life-long mates, and watch how their lives take shape. They’ve taken different roads, all exciting and adventurous, and now I’m finding it extremely hard to keep up with them. That’s why I desperately need those nine lives.
What a pleasure and great joy it’s been to follow the many roads taken by our very first and oldest grandson, Matt, and to watch his exciting career bloom during his four years at SIU Carbondale where he majored in music. I thought for sure he would choose a college to play sports, having been named Most Valuable Player time and again in basketball at Cobden High School. But he chose music, which turned out to be exactly the right choice for him. While still at school, he started a popular band called “Stank Willie,” and played at several events.
After graduating, he moved to northern Illinois with his band to play more music in the Rockford and Chicago area. Sometimes it was rough going, but it meant three extra years of good experience for a budding musician.
Somewhere along the line he asked if it was okay to use my maiden name of “Martino” as his stage name. I said of course he could. It’s so much easier to spell than “Engbring.”
And then it was time for him to try his hand in Music City, Nashville, Tenn., a town full of excellent musicians all hoping for success. There you have to be standing in the right place at the right time with the right song. Matt performed several times at Nashville’s famous Blue Bird Café, offering his latest original songs.
Matt bought himself a house, and found work at a company called Market St. Enterprises, where he was introduced to the world of finance.
While in Music City, Matt established a recording studio, put out two great CDs loaded with songs he wrote, and then decided to go back to school at Belmont University in Nashville to earn a certificate in financial planning.
It was 10 years later that he sold his Nashville home, moved back to southern Illinois, and started his own finance company.
Besides returning to school and joining the business world, Matt took on another adventure. He purchased two large historic buildings in downtown Alto Pass with rental units to tend to. I believe the buildings are over 100 years old, so you know that maintenance is a high priority and a challenge. New roof, new windows, new staircase, new laundry room. He has a “To Do” list that never seems to shrink, and thank goodness he has his Dad Jeff around to lend a hand.
But Matt is doing well as a successful financial advisor, working on his buildings, and still doing what he loves best, playing music. Besides all that, he has dear friend Kendall Bolsen to help schedule his gigs and cheer him on. What’s not to like about a life like that?
Now Matt does much solo work, where a unique network pairs him with hosts who want music played in their homes with their invited friends. It’s a growing trend. He also plays at casinos, and has a standing Sunday evening job playing at a nearby casino restaurant. He also has gigs that take him to other cities and states, and he couldn’t be more content because he’s playing just for the fun of it.
To me, basically, he’s still a musician, a good one, making people happy, and as he grows older, I find he is now more polished than ever, and so easy to listen to.
A few weeks ago, when many family members were home for Mother’s Day, we all got together to hear Matt perform at the old Varsity Theater in Carbondale. A good crowd came to hear him, and you could tell he was having a good time. Some of his old musician buddies were also on the program with him. He has a following in Carbondale, which means one successful show after another.
He’s considered a “Blue-eyed soul singer,” belting out songs in a sultry way as he tells his story in music. When he played the song “Georgia” on his saxophone, it was so sweet, smooth, and soul-searching that it brought down the house. The program didn’t end until the audience brought him back for encores.
Like everyone else in the family, we’ll be anxiously waiting for Matt’s next concert. The grandkids keep surprising me. The more I think about it, I won’t need those nine lives after all. What I have to do is play one of Matt’s CDs and remind myself of the one good life I already have.

Keeping Up With The Grandkids Requires Lots Of Living And Lots Of Fun

By Monroe County Independent | July 23, 2019

By Lucy Engbring If it’s true what they say about cats having nine lives, then I want what they have. With only one life to lead, when will I ever find time to learn what the grandkids have been up to? I long to follow their careers, see what paths they’ve chosen to take, what …

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Domenica Martino, Lucy Engbring’s mother, pictured almost 70 years ago in Milwaukee, Wis. Domenica passed away shortly after, in 1949, just before her 51st birthday.

Remembering My Dear Mama On This Mother’s Day

By Monroe County Independent | May 28, 2019

By Lucy Engbring Not a Mother’s Day goes by that I’m not reminded of my own hard-working Mama, and the very short life she lived. When I think back to my childhood, one of the first warm memories that come to mind are of coming home from school, and walking into a kitchen filled with …

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The kids look over Granny’s collection of rocks found around the yard. Grandson Luke calls it our “Natural History Table.” The little ones are, left to right, Nora Carlson, Hunter, Zia Edwards and Luke Engbring. The girls are great-granddaughters, the boys are grandsons.

Easter Bunny Needs A Good Rest After A Visit To The Bluff House

By Monroe County Independent | May 20, 2019

By Lucy Engbring Well now, which of the 12 different hues should we choose to color the eggs? It was the day before Easter, and son Charlie and family were visiting from Cary, South Carolina. I always breath a sigh of relief when I see their RV coming up the driveway, happy to know they’ve …

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It’s All The ‘Ups’ And ‘Downs’ In Life That Make Living So Unpredictable

By Monroe County Independent | May 1, 2019

By Lucy Engbring Without a care in the world, I was still basking in all the unforgettable, refreshing memories made during my month-long visit to California earlier this year. The change of scenery, the busy capital city of Sacramento, the excellent food, the warm, friendly farms and neighborhoods, the long, lazy days of enjoying life …

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