Actress Lynn Rymarz To Visit Grayslake Heritage Center

Actress Lynn Rymarz will portray the life of Civil War spy Sarah Emma Emmonds tonight, August 3 at 6:30 p.m. The event will be in the courtyard of the next to the Grayslake Fire station, 164 Hawley Street. The rain location will be in the museum’s community room.

Step back in time as Rymarz, an actress, children’s author and storyteller, shares the story of Sarah Emma Edmonds. Hear how she tried for years to please her father who had hoped she’d be born a boy to help him work on his farm. At the age of 17, she ran away from her hometown in Canada to start a new life in America.

When President Lincoln issued the first call for volunteer soldiers after the Civil War began, she heeded the call to serve her new country. On April 25, 1861, “Frank Thompson,” as she called herself disguised as a man, became a male nurse in Company F of the 2nd Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

Follow her journey and adventures in hospitals, camps, battlefields and
across enemy lines as a spy.  Historical photographs and memoirs from the Civil War will be used to tell this story.

Rymarz has entertained audiences with her portrayals of women since 2005. As a children’s author and storyteller she enjoys sharing little-known historical stories. Such stories have been published in the children’s magazines of CRICKET and HIGHLIGHTS.

Her performances told in the first person have included Mary Pickersgill, Martha Washington, Mary Lincoln, Nellie Bly, Susan B. Anthony, Madame Curie, Mary Cassatt and Eliza Dibble Sawtell who traveled on the Oregon Trail.

Visit Lynn’s website at: www.lynnrymarz.com.

A good will donation for the Grayslake Heritage Center is appreciated for tonight's program.

For more information, contact Dave Oberg, executive director at doberg@villageofgrayslake.com.