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player ready...I’ve written about the Park Forest Veterans Closet twice before, and of how it serves those who helped defend this country by allowing them to take what they need at no cost.
The items – clothes, dishes, pots and pans and even television sets — are disposable items we take for granted. But when donated to the Closet, they become available to all former service personnel. For some, a pair of shoes and an overcoat can make all the difference in their narrow, gritty world.
I wrote how the Closet, was located in a tiny corner of Forest Boulevard; of how it was too small and too cramped for all the donations it received, and of how these items are shoehorned, piled and snuggled into every available nook and corner. We discussed the problem of moving into a larger space owned by private real estate and of how much that would cost in rent and utilities.
The Fire Department must have read about the Closet and the code enforcement officer probably got writer’s cramp in listing all the violations. In the end, the Closet was forced to shut its doors.
Closing the Closet was not an option to many, including Village officials, who scoured available space and found a suitable site whose back door opened to an alley a few steps from the old site and with a front entrance at 388 Founder Row. The move began last week. Hopefully, by the time you read this, the Closet will be open in a larger, brighter location; one with washrooms, running water, a small kitchen, two entrances and enough space to store more items including some large pieces of furniture.
It seems only fitting that Park Forest, America’s “G.I. Town,” continues to serve all ex-G.I.’s.
Jerry Mathews
Current Park Forest Mayor John Ostenburg tells this story on Facebook.
Although Jerry Mathews lost his race for village trustee in 1985, he was named to fill the unexpired term of Trustee Lou Patras, who resigned. Early the next year, Village Mayor Ron Bean (the office was then called “president” then) resigned because he was moving out of town. That left the choice of Bean’s successor to the sitting trustees – Pat Duffy, Pat Kelly, Ken Kramer, Janet Muchnik, Mathews and Ostenburg.
According to Ostenburg, it soon became obvious no consensus could be reached. Mathews was the former president of Park Forest School District 163 and also served on the Rich Township District 227 Board. But Mathews was emphatic. He did not want the job. After much back-and-forth, the trustees decided to put all their names in a hat and have someone pick the next president-slash-mayor.
Mathews, then 63, was the oldest board member and was chosen to do the honors.
The odds were good any name chosen would do a good job. Duffy was the senior trustee at the time. Kramer would become the longest-serving trustee in village history. Muchnik would later become Park Forest village manager and both Kelly and Ostenburg were elected village mayors.
The entire board then retired to a pizza restaurant in town to decide how to announce the selection to the public. The current boundaries of the Illinois Open meetings Act, Ostenburg noted, “were not in play” so a news release was crafted and released.
Ostenburg said Mathews didn’t plan to run for a full term, but was persuaded to do so. During his term, a massive community protest of Marshall Field’s planned closing led to an agreement to keep the store in Park Forest for another 10 years. Mathews’ effort in that regard helped earn the village a Governors Home Town Award.
Jerry Mathews, who along with his family moved into the brand-new village of Park Forest in 1953, died last week. He was 94 and spent 63 years working to make his community a better place to live. That alone is a fitting tribute.
Jerry Shnay is a freelance reporter and can be reached at [email protected]