Well, other than the fact that we're going to have to turn the governor's mansion into a pre-prison transition hall, it isn't a bad place to live.
We live about an hour+ N. of there. It's cold in the winter and hot in the summer. Nice places to go from there---Shawnee National Forest, Springfield's Lincoln Museum, St. Louis, Chicago, Indianapolis, etc. are all within a few hours drive. But best of all if she's a quilter, Threads of Time in Danville Il! Great shop. I'm not real close but I don't think that Effingham is any different than any other relatively small city. There's lot's of festivals around here, the largest of which is Parke County Indiana's Covered Bridge Festival in October. She'd also be within a short drive to a wonderful Amish community in the Arthur/Arcola area.
Effingham was on Jeopardy just this last week. The catagory was something about "C" something or other. The answer was "The largest one of these religious icons, (standing or wieghing xxx) is in Effingham, Il." The question was "What is a cross."