More Top Picks Ratings
player ready...Fans of the 1985 movie “Back to the Future” may remember the significance of Nov. 5, 1955, since that’s the date when character Doc Brown discovers how he can make time travel work.
But during the real Nov. 5, 1955, Buffalo Grove resident Tom Kajohn married his wife Jeri Myszker, who was his companion in life until she died in December 2015 following a near seven-year bout with Alzheimer’s disease.
Kajohn, 85, or as he said, “older than dirt,” worked as her caretaker during the time, witnessing firsthand the effects the disease had on his wife.
That’s how he found therapy in woodworking, a hobby he started out of his basement woodshop.
“When I went downstairs, I was in another world,” Kajohn said.
Kajohn, a native of Oak Park, fields requests for his woodworking and he makes items for free to give to people.
Among his creations, he has made a birdhouse for a neighbor, a model airplane display for a friend’s son and even small, gift-bag items for a local church.
Q: There’s all kinds of creative outlets. What is it about cutting and gluing wood that excites you?
A: I took every shop class I could do in school. I backed off of auto because at 15, you didn’t have a car. I take that back — I used to steal my dad’s car. But I started out doing room additions. After we bought this house, I added a lot to it. Jeri decorated everything. My wife was a sweetheart.
Q: What was the real Nov. 5, 1955, like in Chicago?
A: It was not freezing out but there was some snow on the ground. We spent our honeymoon at Round Lake. My grandfather had a cabin up there.
Q: Why do all this work for free?
A: Nobody knows how to do anything — that’s my problem. I don’t refuse anybody. The only person I’ll refuse is, “Do you have more money than I do?” It was easy because I had a guy in St. Charles. He would go and pick up scrap wood from a mill for free. I used to go to him every three or four months. But he died a few years ago. What keeps me going? I don’t know. I’m not a laid-back, sit-down person.
Shout Out is a weekly feature in which we introduce our readers to their fellow community members and local visitors throughout suburban Chicago.
Twitter @RonnieAtPioneer