Forty Years Ago

This from a 4-inch, single column article in the middle pages of a November, 1967 issue: “A spokesman for an anti-civil rights organization appeared in Forest Park seeking financial and moral support for his cause. He spoke for more than a half-hour before an audience of 100 at the Park Building, urging Forest Parkers not to give to their church, to replace the superintendent at Proviso High School and to realize that local officials were inadequate.” He described the civil rights movement as communist-inspired and financed through “do-gooder” organizations.

The wonderful thing about such a report is that it gets reported. That’s because-from those rebellious, be-wigged, be-knickered, far-seeing “outspokesmen” of late 18th Century Philadelphia-to the Terkel people at Bughouse Square, to Here and Now, the citizens of this cock-eyed, non-perfect nation can be stirred to action by those who speak justly–and reject those who don’t. In more places than Iowa and New Hampshire

From the Nov. 23, 1967, Forest Park Review

Thirty Years Ago

Truck driver Chuck Clark lived in Forest Park 31 years ago. One day while tooling down Cicero Avenue he saw a distressed woman not doing well fixing her flat tire. Without a second thought he pulled behind her, got out and fixed the flat. He took no reward, accepting only her sincere thanks. However, the lady had heard that the Illinois Trucking Association recognized such acts of kindness. Sometime after, she called with her story. Clark was named Driver of the Month in December and, along with 11 others, was honored at a dinner banquet in Chicago.

The above is certainly laudatory but doesn’t have the mojo of a joke told by Emo Phillips, a Naperville comedian. It seems Emo was walking east on Wacker Drive into a howling, horizontal, freezing blizzard off the lake. Bent forward and head tucked far down into his padded parka, he took a right at Wacker, blithely passing by a frail, spent, shivering, little old lady down on one torn-stockinged knee, trying gamely but ineffectually to replace her flat with a spare. Half way down the block, a titanic guilt seemed to consume him. “Emo! Emo! Emo!” he cried in his despair! “What’s wrong with you? That little old lady badly needs your help!” He spun about, returned to the little old lady, and said, “Have a nice day!”

From the Dec. 7, 1977, Forest Park Review

Twenty Years Ago

The binder of 1987 newspapers is still missing, and hope is fading fast. The computer back-up at the library is a lost cause. Good thing I have lists to fill the space.

Books by Improbable Authors — Part II

“The White Cliffs of Dover” by Estes Kefauver … “The Jungle Book” by Herman Wook … “I Married a Pachuco” by Bernard Barucho … “Two Years Before the Mastro” by Fidel Castro … “Leaves of Grassie” by Haile Selassie … “Payton Placy” by Spencer Tracy … “The Scarlet Letta” by Phil Cavaretta … “Bociaccio 70” by Andre Preventy … “The Lodger” by Ginger Rodger … “Fenesi” by Skinnay Ennisy … “Tigers is what I Hunts” by Madman Muntz … “The Prince and the Pauper” by Hedda Hauper … “Aesop’s Fables” by Jack Mables … “Franny and Zooey” by Ben Bluey … “That’s Enough” by Dave Tough.

From the missing pages of 1987

Ten Years Ago

A familiar Forest Park name was stricken from the roles when John Stange was killed in an automobile accident driving to join his family at their second home in Powers Lake, Wis. He planned to meet with them after a day’s hunting, according to his wife Jennifer.

Stange, 49, was a born-and-raised Forest Parker. The couple was married in 1975 and had three sons, John Jr., James and William. He was active in Forest Park affairs and, in addition to operating two businesses here, he served two terms on the District 91 Board of Education. He was a member of the Moose, the Kiwanis and a lifelong communicant of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church. He ran unsuccessfully for the office of mayor in the late 1970s.

From the Dec. 3, 1997, Forest Park Review