By Claudia Loucks
Correspondent

Family, faith and friends are important to Dr. Randall Mullin, who is well-known for his many years of practicing family medicine in Geneseo. In addition, he has a heart for the community in which he lives – Geneseo.

After retiring, he turned to ministry and took a two-year course that prepared him for interim ministry, a capacity in which he has been serving for the last several years.

Even though his schedule keeps him quite busy, traveling to the churches he serves in interim ministry, Dr. Mullin never misses an opportunity to promote his community – Geneseo.

He recently launched a project that resulted in the publication of “Geneseo - A View Through A Lens,” a pictorial journey through what Geneseo Is….

-Geneseo Values – photographs depicting Friendly and Welcoming; Faith Community; and Patriotic Spirit.

-Geneseo Hometown – includes Architecture, Geneseo Past History; Ties to Agriculture.

-Geneseo Hope And Pride – Our Youth; Education.

-Geneseo Fun – Geneseo Entertainment; Geneseo Parades; Planes, Trains and Automobiles; Recreation/Events.

-Geneseo Businesses And Services – Business District; Geneseo Business Promotion; Health Carew for the Region.

When asked how the idea for the book came about, Dr. Mullin said, “After retirement from my medical practice, I had an opportunity to be ‘on the other side.’ While sitting in the waiting room at Hammond-Henry Hospital, I saw what I considered as some wonderful art work displayed on the walls. As I had occasion to visit other areas in the hospital, I saw a number of other ‘Americana’ pictures, which I learned were the product of the late Tom Zwica as well as some from Jerry Hahn.”

Dr. Mullin said the pictures made him think of how blessed he is to have adopted Geneseo as his hometown…”As a longtime fan of Normal Rockwell, I felt that the Geneseo art pieces were reminiscent of Rockwell art, and indeed that Geneseo might (deservedly) be dubbed ‘Rockwell-ian’.”

“As a purely selfish venture, I sought to discover how I might acquire copies of these fetching pieces of photographic artistry,” he said. “Darcy Hepner (Hammond-Henry Hospital Foundation Manager) informed me that Tom Zwica’s work had been given to the hospital by his widow, Julie. At this point, I began to believe that I might not be the only one who might wish to capture this body of work. I had known Julie as a school nurse, and I spoke with her.”

What evolved was a notion that Tom Zwica’s artistry might become a collection that could be shared with the community,” Dr. Mullin said. “Julie was most generous in her willingness to share Tom’s work, and the Geneseo Rotary Club was receptive to compiling this work as a ‘gift’ to the community.”

“When it became evident that Zwica's work might not be sufficient to create an entire book, it was Julie that recommended Jerry (and Jean Hahn) and Dick (and Karen) Mowers as prolific photographic artists in the community,” he said, and added that each of their work products was offered to be part of the process.

He then called upon three Rotary-member friends who were rooted in affection for Geneseo….”Todd Sieben, Jim Nash and Dr. Chuck LoGiudice brought a perspective to the project which I, as an outsider, could not.”

Each of the three men contributed skills in portraying an idea, describing a vision of the community, and technical photographic expertise and became the engine for the project, Dr. Mullin said.

The Geneseo Rotary Club accepted that the project had its backing and we moved to devising a product which could be sold for cost-to-produce plus no more than $10 overage…”After recouping the production cost, any profit or surplus would be placed at Geneseo Rotary’s disposal, to be used for civic philanthropy at the board’s discretion,” he said, and added that 250 books were produced and Geneseo Rotary paid the cost of production, fully committed to the notion that this would be something that many citizens of Geneseo would appreciate possessing as a keepsake,

“We made a conscious decision to chronicle our community with a vendor within our community. It felt like a steep grade at times – Covid, supply chain issues, inflating prices, difficulties in acquiring staffing, but deadlines were moved and the project is now a reality.”

“Rotary International espouses ‘service above self,’ and that is what I have observed from both the club and from my three colleagues,” Dr. Mullin added. “The vision was to portray Geneso, not as a history book, because the Historical Museum and Society has done this well in the past, but as a view of a special community. That view, through the photographic lenses of three gifted photographers, Zwica, Hahn and Mowers, and also filled in by Dr. LoGiudice, as we fleshed out the themes we wished to portray.”

He said selection of what to include in the book was “a migraine waiting to happen….”We hope the book will be considered a fond remembrance for the people of Geneseo, an insight to curious outsiders, and a joyful recollection for those who have walked our streets and since moved on to paths in Australia, Florida, Delaware and everywhere else that Buss Lightyear may have traveled.”

IN A BOX

Hard bound copies of “Geneseo A View Through A Lens” are available to purchase at $25 each from any Geneseo Rotary member, Geneseo Public Library, Smith Studio, Pegasus, Central Bank (Chris Thompson), Farmers National Bank (Bill Dale), and Blackhawk Bank & Trust (Shelly Hickerson).