Forty Years Ago
It may be October now, but it was July then (1967), and it was slow and everything was hot. It was so hot that a quartet of performing dogs on a baked sidewalk out-danced the Nicholas Brothers, the top tap dance act of the past century.
It was so torrid that Review journalists couldn’t touch a hot story instead, reporting on such consequential events as: Robert Lixey, 3, of Marengo Avenue and Frank Killenger, 6, of Beloit Avenue incurring similar head injuries. Bobby was struck on the noggin by a metal lawn chair (Owie!) while Frankie crawled under a bed and bopped his skull pretty good. Both were taken to the hospital just in case. A good excuse to get out into that broiling weather.
Same week: Mike Sivleri, 12, hit a dog with a rock. The dog bit him. Mike probably won’t throw stones at dogs anymore, if an editorial opinion is allowed. Also, Twiggy, (not the leggy toothpick-built stick figure model of the same era) but the forgettable wispy relief pitcher of the Cubs, a.k.a. Chuck Hartenstein), was the speaker-guest at a Kiwanis breakfast in Homer’s.
From the July 27, 1967, Forest Park Review
Thirty Years Ago
As reported by Jackie Schulz in her Talk of the Town column: “Guess who finally took a vacation-Bob Haeger, our boss! Yes sir, there he was up in the Big Sky country of Montana. You know who else was there, don’t you? His singing buddies of the SPBEBSQSDA, or whatever the letters are–Barbershop Quartet. Big Timber, Mont., was the scene of the second Barbershop Bust sponsored by the Buckaroosters.
When Bob gets to heaven I hope they have a piano, a martini and a bunch of people standing around waiting to sing a little harmony.”
Ah Jackie, they don’t write column pieces like that anymore.
From the Sept. 21, 1977, Forest Park Review
Twenty Years Ago
Nurse Lois Lindorff of Forest Park was driving east on the Eisenhower heading for work at the U. of Illinois Hospital. Approaching California Avenue, she saw in her rear view mirror a car losing control and swerving into the rear of a truck that overturned. Pulling over and rushing to the scene on foot, she checked the truck driver. She told him to sit a while so she could check the driver of the car. He was not badly hurt.
The truck driver had crawled from his cab to the flat bed trailer. Diesel fuel and gasoline surrounded the area. An Oak Park firefighter arrived and together they reached him, and cut his trousers to expose an open leg fracture. They cleaned and bandaged his wounds, made makeshift splints and calmed the trucker till an ambulance arrived. What was she thinking as she was lifted off the fuel-drenched trailer? “You don’t think,” she answered. “You train and you act. Thinking comes by itself.”
She finally made it to work, blood-spattered and gasoline-soaked. They called her a heroine on the radio. She said she didn’t do anything unusual. Seven years earlier, Ms. Lindorff had worked as a nurse along the Thai-Cambodian border.
From the June 3, 1987, Forest Park Review
Ten Years Ago
Alright dudes and dudettes–this is it! The final, last, terminal end-of-the-road segment of the Frustrating Forest Park Geo-quiz. No more. No how. Answers below
Q. Four “labor martyrs” executed on Nov. 11, 1887, were buried in Forest Home Cemetery. Their monument is only a few feet from the grave of “Red Emma.” What was the incident, and when was the year?
A.
Q. Bakery goods of all kinds can be purchased at Athena Silver Desserts, 439 Desplaines Ave. What business stood there previously?
A.
Q. This street is named for a mayor accidentally shot and killed by an assassin’s bullet intended for F.D.R. Who was this mayor?
A.
From the July 9, 1997, Forest Park Review
Answers
Chicago’s Haymarket Riot in 1886.
Calcagno’s Food Market.
Anton Cermak. The street known as 22nd Street; is also called Cermak Road.
