40 years ago

The following is a humorous report from Publisher-Editor Bob Haeger. You decide if it’s true or a stretcher. Two firemen in a neighboring village were summoned to the home of a spinster whose beloved cat had died. The men offered to perform a suitable back yard burial but the lady demurred, asking that they “simply take it away.” The smoke eaters considered, then decided that cremation in the incinerator of a nearby department store might be appropriate as well as convenient and inexpensive.

Getting the store management’s OK, they dropped the dead cat in a handled shopping bag. Finding the incinerator temporarily in use, they browsed the sporting goods section.

While there so engaged, a lady shoplifter, whose own cat had died only recently, lifted the bag of dead cat and made off with it. The firemen found it a few minutes later alongside the prostrate form of the shopper, who had passed out.

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Same issue, same source. Bob Eggers, alias “Marengo Fats,” claiming he found the want ads a lot more interesting than the rest of the paper, offered the following: “Man to work with nuclear fissionable isotopes, three-phase molecular energy and photo-reactive synthesizers, No experience necessary.”

From the Sept. 126, 1970 Forest Park Review

30 years ago

Kimary Marunde was the daughter of former Forest Park Mayor Fred Marunde and his wife Roberta, last president of the Altenheim Board of Directors. While a 1980 pre-law senior at Milliken University in Decatur, Kimary was appointed to serve for eight weeks as a Congressional intern in the office of U.S. Congressman Henry Hyde. She spoke appreciatively of her first term and excitedly of the one to come.

“I recall on first entering the Congressman’s office the words, ‘Here Sir, the People Govern.’ I believe the statement truly represented the congressman’s views. In my first seven weeks as an intern I feel I’ve gained a wealth of knowledge about our great country, the federal government and its legislative processes.”

Throughout school and throughout her internship Ms. Marunde was regarded as a bright light by her family, her fellows, her teachers and friends. A promising future awaited this attractive young lady. Alas, it was not to be. A brain tumor was already at work. Within too short a time, her dreams were replaced by a strong will to live. It, too, was not to be. Bright light Kimary Marunde wavered, fought on and in the end slipped away as she entered a luminous and unknown universe.

From the Sept. 19, 1980 Forest Park Review

20 years ago

In case you didn’t know, the Forest Park Mall bought the Naval Reserve single-family housing site, a 14-acre property now occupied in part by the Wal-Mart store. The owners of the mall more than doubled their bid to the U.S. government from $1 million to $2.3 million as they looked toward future retail expansion.

From the Oct. 10, 1990 Forest Park Review

10 years ago

When you’re through with your day’s work, that’s it. You pretty much just want to go home and call it a day – good, bad or middling. You paid your dues and look forward to the change of pace. That may be how a River Forest Police officer felt driving her own vehicle on Adams St. in Forest Park when she saw three offenders apparently burglarizing a garage. Though off duty, she cell-phoned our police headquarters and maintained surveillance of the doings until local police arrived. Then she assisted in the apprehension of the suspects who reportedly had removed a snow blower from the premises.

The officer, Kendra Sullivan, was later presented with a Departmental Commendation plaque at a village hall meeting here by Chief Ed Pope and Sgt. Steve Weiler. Cooperation between neighboring police departments continues to be mutually beneficial and plays a surprisingly big part in maintaining law and order and deterring crime in the western suburbs.

From the Sept. 27, 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.