Dr Edwin M Swengel was born in Neoga Illinois in 1917 After he graduated from high school his parents moved to Urbana Illinois so that he could attend the University of Illinois while living at home Money was tight during those Depression years After earning his bachelor s degree he married Elizabeth Loeffler also an Illinois graduate and they began a life together that included three daughters Jane Marcia and Lockie now deceased For the next twenty five years Dr Swengel known as Mac by most taught school farmed and remodeled a one room school house to become the family home He founded a community orchestra known as the Fithian Farmhouse Filharmonic and was active in a local church When working on his master s degree in the early 60s he became interested in Montessori education believing it to be the right beginning for schools using what he would eventually name Mutual Instruction In 1963 he went to California to pursue more Montessori training The following year he Elizabeth and their youngest daughter Lockie moved to Los Angeles where he earned a Ph D from UCLA and developed YAK Phonics In 1969 he and his wife moved to San Diego where he became a professor at the United States International University both teaching classes and supervising student teachers at the high school and elementary levels After retirement he continued to study and read about education which led to his writing The Plainston Chronicles 1919 1951 and finally Conspiracy Jane Swengel Creason was born in Urbana Illinois in 1942 She has lived in the same house since she was four a remodeled one room school house located on a small farm her mother inherited She and her husband Don raised two children there now both married Their grandchildren the fourth generation know the old house well Jane who always wanted to be a teacher earned bachelor and master s degrees from the University of Illinois Then she began what became a forty plus year