The son of Richard and the late Gladys Hewitt, Jim Hewitt was born in Hillsboro and graduated from Hillsboro High School in 1985 where he played football, basketball, and tennis.  After high school, Jim attended Lincoln College on a tennis scholarship and left college in 1986 to join the family business, Hewitt-Ware Feed & Supply.

In early 1989, he made what he called "the toughest decision of my life," and left the family business.  He was hired as a programmer trainee at Enterprise Systems, a Chicago-based software company specializing in health care solutions.  He rose through the ranks, moving from programmer trainee to director of research and development within a few years, and eventually becoming vice president of development. While working for Enterprise, Hewitt married his wife, Kelly, and they welcomed their first and second child. After six years, he joined The Options Clearing Corporation, becoming managing director in 1995. The OCC focused exclusively on the financial industry and sent Hewitt all over the world to various stock exchanges. At home, he and his wife welcomed identical twin boys to their family during this period, giving them four children under the age of four. He also launched a side business called Northline Systems, Inc, which specialized in retail-focused software and produced products for FTD, among others.

 

Larry Mormino was also born in Hillsboro and graduated from Hillsboro High School in 1957 in a class of 112 students. In high school, he was active in Hiltop yearbook, student council, Spanish Club, Latin Club, Letterman's Club, football, track, baseball, was a class officer, and a basketball standout.  With 1,550 career points, he remains Hillsboro High School's all-time leading scorer. His father, Mike, was born in Sicily and mother, Gladys, in Nokomis.  His father owned Mormino & Sons, a produce business on South Main Street in Hillsboro.  Mormino had two sisters, Diane Hoover DuBeuf and Gladys (deceased), and two brothers, Mark (deceased) and Richard Mormino of Taylorville.

After high school, Mormino attended Bradley University in Peoria on a four-year basketball scholarship.  His team participated in the National Invitational Tournament."In Hillsboro, Coach (Bill) Conners believed in holding the ball and as a result, many of the games were low scoring contests," Mormino remembered.  "At Bradley, the coach used the run and shoot system with a full court press." While at Bradley, he married his classmate and best friend from high school, Claudia Collins, a cheerleader who went on to attend St. Louis University where she studied as an X-ray tech."Claudia and I met and grew up in Hillsboro and attended Hillsboro High School when Mr. Tuthill was the principal," Mormino said.  "We had great teachers at HHS." Mormino graduated from Bradley University in 1961 with a degree in mechanical engineering.  Their first child, Mike, arrived soon after. An ROTC graduate, he entered the Air Force at Waco, TX, and was trained and assigned  as a navigator in a  C-130, a turboprop military transport plane.  He participated in various flying assignments to supporting the Army for two years in Vietnam, including transporting troops and cargo in the war zone. Following his wartime Air Force assignment, he was sent to the Mather Air Force Base in California where he served as an instructor at navigation school.  Following this stint, he was assigned to Scott Air Force Base in 1971 where he served the Air Force an a procurement engineer for aircraft electronics.  He earned a Ph.D. from St. Louis University in 1980 with a degree in education. He spent the rest of his career teaching at North Carolina State University as a Professor of Aerospace Science in the ROTC program.  

Retired, he now lives in Cary, NC, near two of his children, Ruth and John.  Another child, Mike,  lives in the Belleville area.  During his retirement, Mormino enjoys his family and said he feels "truly blessed to have members of his family and grandchildren nearby."