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Bloomington woman killed in pedestrian vs. car crash remembered as ‘circus royalty’
February 5, 2025
By Sam Matheny
Published: Feb. 4, 2025 at 6:55 PM EST|Updated: 11 hours ago
BLOOMINGTON (25News Now) - A Bloomington woman who was struck and killed by an SUV late last weekis remembered for helping make McLean County a hub for aerial circus trainers.
76-year-old Cherie Valentine was killed after she was struck by the vehicle in the parking lot of Empire Plaza Shopping Center on Bloomington’s east side.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, Bloomington was the training ground for many of the nation’s best circus performers. Over the years, more than 210 people from the Bloomington area became performers.
“She’s part of this community’s rich history. You could call her circus royalty of a kind,” said Maureen Brunsdale, a special collections librarian at Illinois State University’s Milner Library.