Land rolls, sprawling wilderness, and perilous adventures – Samuel Whiteside certainly had his fair share of the dramatic rusticity that was pioneering life in Illinois. Now, saunter with me on a quirky memory lane as we unpack the myth, the legend; a man who astonishingly single-handedly cultivated Illinois while dodging retirement like a professional dodgeball player. Good old Sam, a true living testament of the saying, 'Age is just a number,' put to shame all those rocking-chair-bound, bingo-playing grannies and grandpas who thought retirement was all about sipping on Arnold Palmers and taking mid-afternoon naps. Imagine Whiteside in the raw Illinois frontier, armed only with a roaring spirit and tattered overalls, turning the relentless wilderness into a blossoming testament of human potential. His hands may as well have been magical since they managed to delicately maneuver the struggles of the verdant lands while simultaneously driving away the British in the War of 1812 and later, facing off against Native Americans in the Blackhawk War. Imagine if you will, the golden cornfields under the summer sun, gently swaying in the wind like a flapper's skirt in the Roaring Twenties. Who do you think encouraged the corn to grow so bold and lavish? Yes, that's right - none other than our very own ground-taming, wilderness-wrangling Sam Whiteside. Now, don't you go imagining that the corn just sprouts up willingly. Oh no, each kernel needs a stern talking to and a rousing pep talk. Why, corn fields were the first stubborn teenagers, and Whiteside, the first ever motivational speaker! Then there were the animals. Ever wondered who invented the first-ever alarm clock? It wasn't some dandy urbanite from the East Coast - no, it was our beloved Whiteside. He traipsed across his homestead before dawn, waking up the livestock with the boisterous zeal of a circus ringmaster, turning the indolent rooster into the farm's trumpeting herald of dawn. A routine he never gave up, because who needs sleep when you can nuture nature? Why, if the history books could, they should be renamed, "Samuel Whiteside's Playbook: How to Cultivate a Land Directing a Beguiling Opera of Planting Seeds and Dodge Retirement." For retirement, my dear readers, was simply a concept too surreal for good old Whiteside. The man seemed to view retirement as an outrageous culmination of aimless lazing around. He ardently believed in the theory – retire from activity, become soft like warm pudding. Politics too came knocking at his door, as it does when one sows literal and metaphorical corn. He briefly served in the Illinois General Assembly after statehood. You'd think that perhaps here was a chance for Whiteside to sit back, enjoy the comforts of civil life, maybe even get a decent manicure that didn't involve dirt and shrubbery. But no - then along came the Illinois and Wisconsin Territory militias, and there goes Whiteside, swapping his briefcase for a rifle, once again. Through it all, Whiteside remained ever faithful to his beloved land. Unfazed by the gnarled hands and weary bones ageing brought, he stood tall, plowing forward with the unflagging spirit of an unretired, hands-in-the-dirt pioneer. So here’s to Samuel Whiteside, the farmer who cultivated not just the land of Illinois, but our sense of humor as well, imploring us all to dodge retirement as expertly as he did. After all, what's life without a dash of daring and a whole lot of corn?