Chicago and Elk Grove for Theresa's 50th High School Reunion!

Elk Grove Village and Chicago, 26-29 September 2024

About a year ago I learned that we would indeed have a 50th high school reunion for my high school, Elk Grove HS. Since I missed the 40th, I definitely wanted to attend this. My best friend Kim and I made plans to arrive a day early and spend time together. One of the group of women I am friendly with, Sally Ricks, was the overall coordinator, and friends Linda Latone and Bev Jarosch were on the planning committee, so I knew it would be fun. I planned to stay with Jan Nickelson, Kim's sister-in-law, which would be nice to be in a home and not in a hotel.

• Thursday the 26th: I flew to Chicago on the 26th, and my flight was delated for some reason for 3 hours. This meant I arrived in the dark, but I found my way to the car rental and drove to Jan's house, about two blocks from where I lived in high school. It was nice to arrive at a home, and Kim and Jan had some pizza from local favorite Lou Malnotti's waiting for me.

• Friday the 27th: One of kim's dear friends form college had become a Deacon in the Catholic church after his wife passed away, so she wanted to attend the 8:00am Mass to hear his homily. We managed to make it there on time and it was a nice service. Afterwards we stopped at the Jewel, the grocery store we grew up with, to get some breakfast items. After breakfast and coffee, we headed to see Kim's cousin Nicholas, who lived on the North Side of Chicago with his wife and two children. Their house was relatively new and we had a nice tour and chat with them. Everyone was so nice, and it was fun seeing a new neighborhood where I had never been.

Then we were off to the Art Institute of Chicago, one of Kim's and my favorite places. We found a place to park in the underground lot, and entered on Michigan Avenue - it seemed mostly the same as the last time I was here 20+ years ago. We toured the Greek and Roman Galleries, saw the Stock Exchange room, and then went for lunch, which was in a lovely outdoor enclosed area. Then off to see the Impressionists! This is one of the great collections, and we enjoyed every minute, every picture both familiar and new. We spent many an hour here in high school on field trips, so it was fun to come back.

I told Kim I wanted to take photos of the places my family lived, so we were off to the Near North and Far Northwest Side.  First stop was 323 W. Menominee, where I had a tiny apartment after graduating from college once I had my first real job. Then to 2012 N. Howe where I lived before leaving for California. I could not find the building I lived in briefly on Lincoln Park West between those two places, maybe it was gone. The next stop was the place my grandparents lived in, where my father was raised, and where we visited many times as kids, Armitage and Drake, at 2025 N Drake. It was always a working class neighborhood where my grandparents had lived since the early 1920s, had declined during the white flight to the suburbs, and was pretty rough for a while, but seemed to be coming back. It was a shock to see my grandparents' six-flat with the whole rear wooden porches torn off, the roof and all the windows gone. A developer had a sign up about the new project, so I guess this was a good indication of a better future. The passing of an era... the building was probably 150 years old. Then we went to 3429 W. Shakespeare where my parents lived when they were first married and when Larry was born in 1953, nine months after they got married, only a few blocks away. Then to 4110 W. Oakdale, where I was born in 1956. This is the site where the infamous racist landlord neighbor took place... the bigoted landlord was upset that Dad had a Black guy in his law school study group in the backyard, told them to get out, and Dad told him that they would not live with a racist and they left a few days later; the Black student ended up as a federal judge.  My Mom and Dad moved quickly to a new apartment, in the 2600 block of Neva Avenue in 1957. Then in 1958 they bought their first home using the GI bill, at 5545 N. Canfield, a single-family home with a yard.  We then drove back to Elk Grove to get ready for the first big gathering.

The evening was a casual one at the Coach's Corner Sports Bar. We had the very crowded side room, and folks were either at tables or standing or walking around. Kim and I had had pizza before as we thought ordering food would be complicated, so we just walked around to connect with people. It was great fun to see folks - thanks goodness we all had nametags, as there were honestly people I would never have recognized, and some I would have for sure. It was amazing how the years melted away. I especially enjoyed re-connecting with Rich Hutchinson, a terrific oboist who is now a sociology professor with similar political views I recently connected with on facebook.  We left about 9:30pm as Kim was getting tired, though I know some folks stayed much later.

• Saturday the 28th:  This morning we drove to the St. Joseph Cemetery in Rover Grove where my grandparents are buried. I cleaned up the grave and took photos ... no one has been here for many years. Then we did a bit of a drive around Elk Grove and took photos. After Canfield in Chicago, we then moved to 641 Clearmont Drive in 1960, where I started kindergarten at Clearmont Elementary in the fall of 1961, and then went to Queen of the Rosary School for 1st-4th grade, when my whole family was asked to leave the school (we were too rambunctious). We lived briefly at the Washington Square apartments after the fire in our house in 1963. Then I went to Grove Jr. High, and we moved to 1316 Cumberland Circle East when I was a sophomore in high school. We took some photos of the high school front and back, so spread out and large compared to city schools, we had 2,400 students in our school.

A highlight of the trip was having a lunch at 52 Seasons with the women I had known since 6th grade - Bev, Jan, Kim, Linda, Bernice, Jan, and Carla. We remembered good times and talked about our current lives. I feel so fortunate to have known these accomplished and wonderful women for almost 60 years!

After lunch, we went back to Jan's and chatted for a while, and got ready for the big reunion event at Real Time Sports Bar & Grill, also in Elk Grove close to where Jan lived. This was a cash bar and buffet diner. It was great to see some folks who had not attended the night before, and they had a slide show of photos folks had sent which was fun. It was so nice to re-connect with even more classmates. Bev Jarosch had her family bakery do an incredible cake which was both delicious and beautiful in green and gold, the school colors. As I helped to pass out slices of cake, so many people were thrilled to have a Jarosch cake again! We left about 10:00pm, though I learned the next morning that some folks closed it down at 1:03am!

• Sunday the 29th: Another early morning for 8:30am Mass with Kim, and I learned that indeed I cannot quite kneel on my artificial knee. I did sneak in a piece of Jarosch cake I brought back for breakfast. Then we went to Elly's, a local breakfast place, where we met with some of the same women and Sally, the reunion coordinator, and two guys who were on the committee. We had a lovely lunch and caught up, easier to do in a small group than with 100 people at a larger event. Then I headed off to O'Hare, returned the car, and caught my flight (on time!) to SFO. Barney was waiting for me and we had a slow drive home. It was good to get back, and I was filled with wonderful memories of the trip.