I have a paper subscription to the Chronicle and the arrival of the October issue was of particular significance: it was one of the first pieces of mail at my new address (in Carol Stream).
A back story: My husband, Steve Maurer, worked as a caseworker for Cook County public assistance following undergrad, and spent two days a week “in the district” visiting the people in his caseload.
He used those days to get acquainted with the south suburbs where we hoped to find a house after three years of apartment life; he chose Homewood. We bought a little house at 187th and Ashland, but moved to a bigger house on Idlewild to have room for two children – not knowing that we had changed school districts.
Our children were blessed to attend Western Avenue in Jack Henneberry’s and Judy Kirby’s time. I joined the Homewood League of Women Voters, edited their bulletin, served on the board, remember the merger with the Flossmoor League, remember volunteering on Saturdays at the recycling center in the H-F parking lot, and having a connection to both communities. Enough backstory.
I remember when the HF Star was published in Chicago Heights in a building where a giant printing press was on display behind a ground floor window.
I remember having a subscription to the HF Star, which was delivered to our house on Idlewild by our neighbor, Paul Maxwell, and later by our son Erik.
As a child in a family with little money in the forties, I remember the Chicago Daily News and the Christian Science Monitor coming to our house by subscription and being read by my parents, a librarian and a pattern maker.
Is there a gene for reading and loving language? The Star was a good piece of work and its demise with time left Homewood and Flossmoor with no quality newspaper. Enter Tom Houlihan, Marilyn Thomas and Eric Crump, with whom you can share my gratitude for the contribution you have made to the quality of life in Homewood-Flossmoor.
Steve Maurer died in 2007 and for the past three years I have lived at Brookdale-now-Sunrise on Vollmer Road, but my heart is in Homewood.
The letter to the editor on page 2 from Andrea Tucker says it all, so that’s one thank you.
I have been a Dunning’s customer since the big snow of 1967 when senior Mr. Dunning sold bread and milk from the back of a delivery truck in Southgate and have been a fan of Maureen Mader since the death of the Dunning men: I appreciated the article about her success in downtown Flossmoor, so that’s a second thank you.
I treasure Izaak Walton’s significant presence in Homewood and Bob Ahlf’s significant contribution – not unlike your own – with the protective addition of the prairie land following the Washington Park fire; that’s the third thank you.
And finally, for your column about your retirement from the Chronicle and the generosity implied in your search for a new third owner. Thank you.
Karen Maurer
Carol Stream