Beth Palmer - Transcript
Transcript of Beth Palmer
Interviewee: Beth Palmer
Interviewer: Dorothy Nygren
Date: October 9, 2017
Place: Epworth United Methodist Church, 5263 N. Kenmore Ave., Chicago, IL.
Transcriber: Dorothy Nygren
Time: 20:31 minutes
Copyright © 2018 Edgewater Historical Society
DN: This is Dorothy Nygren of the Edgewater Historical Society interviewing Beth Palmer, our 2018 Living Treasure. Congratulations Beth for all the work you’ve done and this achievement. We’re very grateful for all you’ve done for our community. Today is October 9, 2017 and we’re at Epworth Church doing the interview. Beth, I’d like to start out asking you when and under what circumstances did you come to Edgewater to live or work?
BP: I came in 1983 and to be the organist at Epworth United Methodist Church. I heard they needed an organist and so I applied for the position. I hadn’t realized that Epworth has one of the best organs for a small church in this part of Chicago. So I feel very lucky to be able to be playing that organ. In the 1920s Epworth was actually the place where the bishop worshipped. So I feel very lucky to play Epworth’s three manual pipe organ.
(1:26)
DN: Well maybe we’ll be lucky enough to hear a touch of that if there’s time. What encouraged you to become involved in community activities? Were there some problems that you saw out there? If there were, what steps did you take to try to deal with them?
BP: When I first came to Epworth Church I wanted to start a children’s choir. So I started a children’s choir. But I soon found out that the second and third graders could not read the words on the page for the lyrics of the songs. This just shocked me. At the same time, the organization O.N.E. (Organization of the Northeast) which is now O.N.E. Northside, did a report that said 50% of the children in the Chicago Public Schools were not graduating from high school. This was just shocking! Where I grew up in Fargo, North Dakota in the 1950s, everyone I knew - that is all my friends - all graduated from high school. They could all read in the second and third grade and they all graduated from high school.
I felt something had to be done. So I told the pastor, Rev. Krueger, that I would like to start a tutoring program to help children learn to read. That was in the fall of 1985. Other church members and people in the neighborhood - we got together and started a tutoring program for first to fourth graders. After a year a church member said, “What about the older kids? What about the fifth through eighth graders?” So we added a different section on a different day for the fifth through eighth graders. Then another person said, “First grade isn’t early enough. We need to give them a head start.” So we started sections for kindergarteners and pre-school. That was in the basement of Epworth Church in the blue house which was next door before it burned down.
(3:30)
But then someone said, “When the kids graduate from eighth grade and start high school, they’re lost. We need to start a special section for high schoolers.” So then we started a section for high school students. And we still have the section for high school students in the program. Now when we first started the tutoring program in 1985-1986, a woman from Epworth’s sister church in Glenview, that is the Glenview United Methodist Church, whose name was Bonnie Frame, said she would like to bring her girl scout troop to Epworth to help the kids with their reading, writing and arithmetic and art projects. So we began the Saturday tutoring program. And then in 1994, there was a class at Wilmette Junior High School, taught by Jake Jacobson. They read the book There Are No Children Here. That junior high class wanted to do something to help inner city children. A person in the class happened to mention that girl scouts were coming to Epworth Church on Saturdays to work with children. So the class decided to join in and the connection between the tutoring program and Wilmette Junior High School is still going on.
(5:08)
Now the tutoring program started at Epworth Church but then it grew too big for Epworth. So in October 2004, the program incorporated as Inspired Youth, Inc. and we moved to Bezazian Library and we have Monday evenings for eighth to twelfth graders and Wednesday afternoons for first to fourth graders. The tutors are volunteers: whoever we can get from the north side of Chicago, Loyola University, New Trier High School and wherever. The Saturday tutoring program is held at Margate Park and that is for four year olds to eighth graders. The tutors are eighth graders from Wilmette Junior High School who come those eighteen miles every other Saturday to work with the kids. All these tutors are wonderful. They are dedicated and intelligent. They are so good at working with children.
(6:16)
DN: How many children were in the tutoring program when you moved from Epworth to Bezazian, would you say?
BP: Oh, okay. There was a little bit of a decrease. I‘m sorry. I don’t know numbers. My general number is one hundred.
DN: I’m just thinking, would you say the program doubled when it moved?
BNP: No, no. It went down because you see it was a different location. It was harder for some of the kids to come. We had an adjustment to make. The space. Going to Margate was different. But then it gradually came up and up and so now we have around one hundred.
DN: One hundred now?
(7:08)
BP: Yes, with all the different sections. And so that’s what we have. But there’s another aspect. Don’t let me forget this. The children in the tutoring program who were in the youth choir which had been going on all this time, wanted to learn to play the piano. And so in 2000 we started the Summer Piano Program. That’s a six week program where neighborhood kids come and get free piano lessons on volunteer keyboards from what we call “volunteer piano tutors.” So I got piano tutors to tutor for the tutoring program.
It’s been held at Edgewater Presbyterian Church since 2005. We are so lucky to be at Edgewater Presbyterian Church. It is just a perfect place. Some of the kids are different because they live closer to the Edgewater Presbyterian Church. But many of the kids from Uptown and come too. They come two days a week for an hour each day. They practice and learn on keyboards that have been collected or purchased by Inspired Youth. A few of the students have keyboards at home that they can practice on and we encourage them to practice. The thing is real piano lessons are very expensive, but there is still a strong desire for families and children for piano lessons. That’s why they come. They love the summer piano program. They don’t get bored. They work. In the summer of 2017 there were so many children that we had to have two recitals. There were fifty-six children that played solos or duets in August 2017. It was so much fun and the parents loved it. So that’s what that was.
DN: You’ve done amazing work in this community. Is there one more thing you’d like to accomplish?
(9:30)
BP: Yes. It’s so much fun to see the children grow. But also I’d like to write about the gains that the children make and the miracles that happen because we just see miracles all the time. Every year I write maybe three or four newsletters telling about some of the children: how they gain and develop.
One of our tutors, Bonnie Frame, who I mentioned from Wilmette United Methodist Church, helped start the girl scouts coming over on Saturdays…she reminds me of what Joseph Campbell said, “Follow your bliss and the universes will open doors where there were only walls.” This happens for the students and for the tutors and for the children’s parents as well as for me. And it’s really exciting to see this kind of growth that happens.
Anybody that wants to look at the newsletters, they’re on Inspired Youth’s website, “Inspired Youth.org. We’re just kind of proud of what it is.
DN: Now you’ve lived and worked in Edgewater for many years. Is there anything that you think is different about this community, or special about it?
(11:30)
BP: Well, I would say special because I love the diverse people. There are so many diverse people, different language backgrounds, different clothing that people wear. This was given to me by a tutoring mother from Guatemala, and you can see the bird. [Points to the beautiful multi-colored jacket she is wearing] There are restaurants from all over with foods from all over the world in Edgewater. In the Summer Tutoring Program seven students were from India, six from Ethiopia and Cameroon, Romania, Mexico, Puerto Rico, the United States, Bolivia. You know what? It’s just fun and exciting to be a part of this.
(12:34)
But can I tell you one other special thing. The lake – which you can’t from where I am. But it’s just two blocks away. Edgewater. You notice that, Edge-water – right next to the lake. People take the lake for granted but we’re lucky to be able to live near Lake Michigan. Let me tell you a little story. Several years ago I went to a music conference in the eastern part of Tennessee. In the ride back in the car, we passed field after field, mile after mile, more fields and more fields, growing crops of different things. Finally we came to Chicago and we saw Lake Michigan. I was just so excited. I was so exuberant. What a jewel we live right next to. I realized that whole stretches of the country aren’t near a fresh body of water such as Lake Michigan. In fact, it’s one of the largest bodies of fresh water on the whole planet Earth. It’s just a real jewel.
(13:50)
But I like lots of things about Edgewater. Edgewater Library. It is one of the most used libraries in Chicago. People line up to check out books and bring their books back. Lots of people use the computers there. It is really special. I was there on one of the early voting days. I voted really early. People came for early voting by throngs to vote early. They stood in long lines for over an hour to vote. Now I think that also says something about Edgewater.
Another special thing is the Edgewater Arts Festival - the last weekend in September. It has so many aspects. There is a special section featuring elementary school children playing the piano and singing. In September 2017 six children from Inspired Youth played solos or duets with a brother or a sister on the stage. In the street several members of the audience were singing along with them. Everybody was so proud of them. They were just very excited. Do you want me to go on?
DN: I think you’ve really covered a lot of things. Over the years the community has changed and I’m sure your focus has changed as well. Can you describe that change a little bit that you see and what direction you see Edgewater as having?
(15:34)
BP: Okay. I came to Edgewater in 1983. Since then there has been a huge change. In the later 1960s, early 1970s, people had been so afraid. They were afraid to go out. I don’t know what kind of a rough area it was because I wasn’t here exactly then. But there’s a large stained glass window in Epworth’s sanctuary. The people of the church were so afraid it would be broken they covered up the stained glass window. It’s a huge window. They boarded it up. But just before I came in the summer of 1983, they uncovered it. But people were still afraid to walk out at night. This is what I’m going to tell you about the change. At that time, members of the adult choir had to be chaperoned in order to come to choir practice. But I said to myself, “I need to do things. I have to do them no matter what.” So I went to the homes of several choir members every week and walked them to choir practice because we needed to practice and I needed to go get them. So that’s what that was. Now, since that time, people aren’t afraid. They don’t even remember that time. That’s OK. Edgewater has become a beautiful place to live.
DN: I think I’ve asked all my questions but this is really your story. Is there anything else you’d like to share about your experience here?
(17:28)
BP: Well, I really appreciate being in Edgewater and the many opportunities it has and the many people willing to work with children and to hear the children’s choir sing. And so I appreciate the people of Edgewater, the opportunities and the care that people give. That’s what I appreciate.
DN: What advice would you give young people about becoming involved in community activities? So many of the younger families and teenagers lead such busy lives. They feel as though perhaps they don’t have time to volunteer or give service. What would you say to them?
BP: Some of the tutors – a lot of the tutors are young people. They say, “I want to give something back.” They feel grateful for what they have. So for one day a week for a couple of hours a week, they can tutor the children. Or one afternoon they can take time out to tutor the children. We had one tutor a few years ago who took time out from a paying job to come and tutor the children. So this is what I say. “There are opportunities!” Some of the tutors have said, “I get back so much more than I give.” So this is what I would like to say.
DN: The last thing I would like to ask you is that in one of your newsletters I was reading about Leonardo M. I would like to ask you if you would share his story with us because I found it just quite amusing.
(19:23)
BP: Leonardo M, a first grader, entered the tutoring program bawling. For four weeks he cried, didn’t talk, and bit pencils. Various tutors tried different things to work with him. Rory tried art. Zack tried tug –a-pencil. Mark talked to him in Spanish. Nothing worked. Although the tutor usually helped him complete the worksheets of his homework. In week four of the tutoring program something happened. Leonardo was a changed person. He didn’t cry. He walked willingly with the other children to the library, even helping to push the carts full of folders. He eagerly did his homework. We don’t know how this happened. We are just amazed!
DN: And on that note, I think I’ll end the interview. Thanks you so much for sharing your life and your work with us, Beth. It’s been a pleasure.
(20:31)