The injuries affected her ability to walk for some time and she lost her spleen in surgery.

The traumatic turn of events made Gellman re-evaluate her life and make some serious readjustments. One was to leave her career with Morgan Stanley in New York to seek out a smaller community with a slower pace of living.

The single parent moved to Chestnut briefly before deciding to open a business on the square in Mount Pulaski.

She and her son Trey, 28, moved to Mount Pulaski last November and purchased the former Bertoni's Restaurant building, which includes two apartments upstairs.

Intent on making a presence on the square, Gellman at Christmas decorated her windows to add to the decor of the square while she transformed the former restaurant into Sadie's Secret Place, a consignment shop open to artists, antiquers and crafts people. She will have a large inventory of antique furniture, carry lines of collectibles, and items for resale.

"My objective is to provide a nice ambiance of treasures and collectibles to bring more shopping and tourist trade into Mount Pulaski," Gellman said. "I have loved the slower pace and the tranquility of this community."

She also plans to open a laundromat at the back of the building. Ambiance also will be key to the surroundings of the laundromat. "I plan to have four coin-operated washers and four dryers, plus an oversize tub for those big items." Two of the washers, she said, will be oversize.

And she plans to make laundry time a pleasant time for her customers as well.

"I plan to have a sofa in there with a television, open up a patio area in the back and add some video machines so that the customer can relax in comfort while getting laundry done. I want it to feel 'homey,'" she said.

It has been years since Mount Pulaski has had a self-service laundry.

"People need to be more open-minded about opportunities in this community. This is such a beautiful place on the prairie. We need to move into the 21st century and allow people to explore new ways to expand their creative ideas," she said.

The phone number at Sadie's Secret Place is (217) 792-5636.