40 years ago
Here’s a sample reaction to the “Sick American” reprinted letter that ran the past three weeks. The writer (from Vancouver, Washington) voiced more than 40 concerns over the state of the nation in 1970.
“Dear Editor: Thank you very much for the reprint of the fine letter, ‘I Am a Sick American.’ It expresses what any of us feel. I am going to cut it out and post it on our bulletin board at work. We need such inspiring ideals instead of the ideology that fills many of our news media. Thanks for listening to …”
A.M. Scheibel
1107 Dunlop Ave.
“Dear Editor: The Forest Park Review seems like the old town paper that I looked forward to reading so much in the past. ‘I Am a Sick American’ is great, so I’m saving it. Please keep the good writing up.”
Mrs. S. Egan
From the Sept. 2, 1970 Forest Park Review
30 years ago
Ask anyone under age 50 who Lloyd Nolan was and a constellation of question marks would materialize over their heads. Ask any oldster which bad guy, B-movie ’40s actor, came second only to Bogey. Same guy, Nolan.
Lloyd Nolan was in town (Chicago) to receive the American Patriot Award from the VFW. After the honor he was collared by Review Editor-Publisher Bob Haeger to appear at the Aspire Group Home here for Autistic people. Mr. Nolan was happy to do so because he had recently lost a 24-year-old autistic son and had been involved in efforts to establish community-based residences for autistic persons in California.
The Aspire Group Home here, at 512 Desplaines Ave., was the first such community-based residential facility in Illinois. It provided an option for six autistic children who, not being able to remain at home, would have no other alternative than being institutionalized. Today Aspire provides the same essential help at 9901 Derby Lane in Westchester., 708 547-3550.
From the Sept. 3, 1980 Forest Park Review
20 years ago
You may be looking at history in the accompanying photo – a man and his zucchini. Some of us stand for liberty, some for equality and yet others for justice. Jim Brildakis stood for (or alongside of) his five-foot zucchini. Jim was manager of the Phillips 66 (now Citgo) gas station on Roosevelt Rd. I don’t know how many children he and his wife, Ria, may have had, but they sure had the makings for many a meal with this home grown baby.
According to the 1990 Guinness Book of World Records the biggest ever grown weighed 36 pounds and three ounces and measured a mere 29.5 inches long. So who would know? A matter of bulk or length. Only this one looks like you could knock the seeds out of it if used as a baseball fungo bat. It came from a robust plant in the Brildakis’ backyard that produced lesser behemoths of the 20- to 25-inch class. The plans were, once determined if edible, how many Greek favorite meals of moussaka would be yielded, given that Zucchini could replace egg plant? Either that, or buy the book, “101 Ways to Prepare Zucchini.”
From the Oct. 3, 1990 Forest Park Review
10 years ago
The last resident of the nursing home portion of the Altenheim was officially placed three weeks before the scheduled closing of the facility. Two wings – for independent living and for assisted living – remained open, and are still open today. The closing of the nursing unit was blamed on a high vacancy rate, financial difficulties and a changing health care environment.
Director Bonnie Lindgrim said that the home was losing nearly $100,000 a month. She added that every one of the home’s employees had found work or been placed in a similar position at other health care facilities. She also said that several employees maintained uninterrupted employment by following residents as they left.
From the Sept 6, 2000 Forest Park Review
Bob was born in Yonkers, N.Y., in 1932. His family encouraged him to join the Air Force (ours) during the Korean War. There, he fell into the clutches of Barbara Miles. They still have two world-class daughters, Jill and Cara. “Each of the four of us likes the other three of us,” says Bob.
