From the President

By: Kathy Gemperle

Our holiday season is filled with memories of years gone by and the people with whom we shared those days. Gathered around the Thanksgiving table, we remember that it always takes too long for everyone to pass all the dishes.

At Christmas or Hanukkah, we remember last-minute shopping and never quite being ready. But the holidays are not about the gathering of food or the gifts. The real celebration is in the coming together for the restoration, support and encouragement that we receive in a special way from those who love us. May you have a holiday season filled with love and may it be rich in the memory of those holidays gone by.

In this second year of the Edgewater Historical Society, we owe a special thanks to Sandee Remis, our newsletter editor, and her staff of writers who have made our community history come alive.

Thanks to Gregg Mann, our incredible photographer who has created a five-volume collection of materials on Edgewater history for the Edgewater Branch Library (available at the library’s reference desk).

Thanks to Phil LaPalio, at Books on Berwyn, for keeping track of everything, especially money and members. We are growing and, without Phil, our records would just be in a stack somewhere.

Thanks to Gloria Evenson for her tireless research into Edgewater history, especially for keeping up with all the special anniversaries for community churches.

We have been touched deeply by the loss of Ardell Nickels, who died suddenly on October 18. As a board member of EHS, Ardell was an organizer, a coach, energetic and full of fun. A meeting with Ardell was a party as well! We will carry fond remembrances of her as we continue the work of the EHS she helped to found.

As you will note in the Collections Committee report, we have been organizing our small collection. It will be computerized soon so that we can more easily keep track of it. Through the N.E.IL. organization we were able to acquire three display cases from the Chicago Historical Society, free of charge. (They must have read our WISH LIST!) Since we do not have a facility for displays, we have made arrangements for display space at the North Lakeside Cultural Center and the Edgewater Branch Library. Watch these cases for photos on a variety of subjects throughout the year.

At this time we are prepared to accept any photos you may have of the Edgewater community for our collection. We urge you to take the time to look in your box of old photos and see what might be useful. We are especially interested in photos of street scenes, photos of commercial streets, photos of various means of transportation, photos of famous community leaders and special events, photos of buildings, parks and houses.

At present we have very few photographs of the ’30s, ’40s or ’50s. We have only a few of the lakeshore and none of the creation of the Hollywood connections to Ridge for the Lake Shore Drive traffic.

If you have photos that you do not want to part with, we can have them copied and return the originals to you. We also can provide deed-of-gift forms for those who wish to donate something to the EHS but want to retain the right of access to it for possible future reproductions. Please contact me about a contribution to our photo collection by me or Phil LaPalio.