MAKING HISTORY
Gateway History Club preserves Clinton ' s Past for the Future
BY JENNA BLOUNT
Gregg Obren ’ s wife , Madonna , used to go to auctions and buy couches . Couches that she ’ d call her husband to come pick up .
John Rowland went to many of these auctions , and he and Madonna would have conversations about the history of the pieces they ’ d won , conversations that continued after Obren ’ s arrival to haul some of them home .
The couches ended up being delivered to Hightower Place , a Clinton addiction treatment center , and the conversations had about history by the long-time collectors developed into putting a group together .
Obren had known Rowland for a good 40 years , seeing each other often when Rowland coached in programs Obren ran during the years he ’ d spent with Clinton ’ s Parks and Recreation Department . After Obren had become a member of Clinton City Council , he ’ d sometimes see Rowland , a former councilmember himself , still attending meetings but now as a member of the audience .
Obren and Rowland began organizing , figuring out what the group would be , and finding out what parts of Clinton ’ s history that other people were interested in .
“ It turns out a lot of people were collectors ,” Obren says .
22 CLINTON MAGAZINE | SPRING 2024