Allan Eckert (1/30/1931-7/7/2011)

[lhelton]

Allan Eckert
Playwright of Ohio 'Tecumseh!' drama dies
The Associated Press

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio (AP) — Allan Eckert, playwright of the outdoor drama "Tecumseh!" that has drawn millions to central Ohio since 1973, has died.

Anthony Stephens of the Jesse Stuart Foundation that published many of Eckert's works, said the historian and author died Thursday at his home in Corona, Calif. He was 80.

The drama about the Shawnee leader, performed annually in Chillicothe, was adapted from Eckert's book "The Frontiersmen."

Eckert also wrote for the Emmy-winning "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom" series. His children's book, "Incident at Hawk's Hill," won a Newbery Honor award in 1972 and was made into a television movie by Walt Disney Productions.

A U.S. Air Force veteran, Eckert was born in Buffalo, N.Y., and raised in the Chicago area. He attended the University of Dayton and Ohio State

[lhelton]

I got to meet Allan Eckert and his wife and have him sign my copy of "The Court Martial of Daniel Boone" at a Little Professor Bookstore several years ago. Years later when I started my visiting, documenting, and photographing Eastern frontiersmen sites, we emailed some and he told there should me a market for me to publish a book on my works. I hope to do that one day. We have lost a great historian.

[Matthew S. Schweitzer]

I was very sad to hear this news. His books were an inspiration to many and he helped to keep the past alive. His works helped to get a new generation of people interested in a neglected era of American history and for that I'll always be thankful.