Elliott named 2025 Musgrove Evans Award recipient

Robert B. “Bob” Elliott, a local historian, community volunteer and member of the Tecumseh Area Historical Society, has been named the Musgrove Evans Award recipient for 2025, according to an announcement by TEAM (Tecumseh Events, Activities & Marketing). Elliott has been a Tecumseh resident for 40 years, is heavily involved in the Tecumseh Historical Museum and has celebrated the history of Tecumseh in many other ways.

He has shared his knowledge with many in Tecumseh through his tours of Brookside Cemetery and as a board member of the historical society. In 2023 he published a book, “Tecumseh’s Hometown Heroes,” highlighting the heroism of local military members from the Revolutionary War to the Vietnam War, which tells the stories of 35 such men. To date, 400 copies of the book have been sold.

Elliott learned his love of history at a young age, when his great grandfather, who lived to be 99, told him stories about the Battle of Little Bighorn in the Montana Territory. In 1968 his mother’s cousin, Greg Huston, a Green Beret sergeant in the Special Forces, went missing with two other Green Berets and was never seen again. In the introduction of his book, Elliott writes, “I have had a MIA (Missing in Action) bracelet for years to remember him by. I still believe in heroes, but they are truly the ones that serve our country.”

As part of Tecumseh’s Bicentennial Celebration in July 2024, Elliott and his friend and county historian Ray Lennard led tours of Brookside Cemetery and shared stories of those buried there.

He said he was “absolutely overwhelmed” when he got word that he was chosen as the Musgrove Evans Award recipient. “It’s quite an honor, especially when you look at some of the people’s names on that list through the years. Many of them are good friends of mine and I never thought I’d be on that list,” he said.

Elliott enjoys taking part in the community’s history education. He has three displays in the Tecumseh Historical Museum and for years took elementary school classes, Scout groups, and church groups on tours through Brookside Cemetery, telling tales of the people buried there. The tours he and Lennard offered during last year’s bicentennial event sold out quickly, he said. He also got some friends to put together the historic baseball game for the bicentennial.

“When I first moved here, we were driving through looking at the house that one of my wife’s friends recommended and we drove by the cemetery on Union Street and I said, ‘A city that takes care of its deceased citizens is a great place to live.’ That’s been it for me,” said Elliott.

A few years ago he noticed that the civil war monument in Brookside Cemetery was damaged. “That monument had been moved in 1928 to Brookside from where our library is,” he said. “The musket was broken, the trigger guard was broken, it was just in horrible shape.”

He decided to start charging $5 per person for cemetery tours to raise money to restore the monument. Within a couple of years, he was able to collect enough money to restore the Civil War statue, and when the repairs were complete the monument was rededicated.

He’s proud of that accomplishment. “…when I walk by and see that monument, it’s beautiful,” he said. As for the award, he’s surprised and grateful. “It’s awesome. I’m very happy,” said Elliott.

The Musgrove Evans Award has been presented since 1989 to recognize those whose efforts have contributed to the quality of life in the community and made Tecumseh a better place to live.  

Past recipients of the award are Vicki Riddle,  Dan Meikle, Linda Hewlett, Jack Baker, Gary Naugle, Ashley Chase, Paula Holtz, Dick Johnson, Jim Lincoln, Joe and Sherri Tuckey, Tom and Jeanette Meyer, Martha Melcher, Mary Tommelein, Dick and Pam Neidermier, Shelley Hickman, Chuck Gross, David Hickman, Mike and Colleen Sunderland, Jan Fox, Harvey Schmidt, John Wanke, Roma Gray, Ruth Crosby, Diane Proctor, Rochelle and Doug Bird, Jim Lincoln Sr., Cal Zorn, Vic Lawson Jr., Aden Mead, Bernice and Marda Gene Duncan, Ken Herrick, Harold Easton, Merlyn and Myrna Downing, Fred and Opal Dickinson and Carlton and Lynn Cook.  

An awards dinner will be held on September 24 at the Ashlar Hall in Tecumseh. Further details will be announced at a later date. Questions can be directed to Vicki Riddle at 517-605-0592 or Jan Fox at 517-423-3735.