Elmhurst, Illinois Hot Spots!

Elmhurst Calls Steven Sutherland

RIGHT AT HOME On a breath taking summer day we spent our first day in our new house at 380 West Grantley Avenue where the trees tunnel the streets. This was a big step for our family. We all seemed ready for a change and a fresh start. Elmhurst gave us all of that and ever so much more! Ron and I were in the front empty bed room looking out the side window towards the Highland front right side of our house as you’re directly in front of it. We look out and see two boys.
One boy is thin with dark straight hair with glasses and the other seemed stronger with dark curly hair. They waved at us to come outside. We wasted no time and told Mom we were going to meet the new boys. Ron and I introduced ourselves to Billie and Jimmie Schumacher who lived in the big house directly
behind us. Little did we know they would become the center of our lives though the balance of grade school and fill our days, evenings and weekends too.
We went over to their house and played basketball in their driveway. The basket was at the point of their roof on the garage and you could do a layup and go right into their garage safely. This would come in quite handy for safety sake. They definitely believed in fouling and take no prisoners to make a shot. We learned that day that we would have to be tuff skinned to remain friends with them and we did.
We played tackle football at Roosevelt School our grade school about six blocks east on Grantley. Yes, it was tackle football! I came home more than once able to relate to Kevin Arnold (Fred Savage) of the Wonder Years when he went home walking grabbing his side from the pain of getting the wind knocked out of him. We didn’t avoid the pain. We seemed to walk hand in hand with it as boys often do!
We played Ghost in the grave yard late and night when the sun went down and tackling was allowed and encouraged. We met so many amazing friends within those couple blocks too! Danny Kerrigan, Dave Stevens, Vern Field and so many more friends. I would have to say were creative too!
Ron came up with the idea to make a movie and get some feature films from the library. We made popcorn and collected a lot of cold hard coins from the neighborhood kids.
The movie was called The Great Jewel Robbery directed by Ron Sutherland. Little did we know Ron would pass this talent on to his son who made two movies nominated by Heartland Festivals in Indiana and one won the Jimmy Stewart Award by his son Tim Sutherland. We used the cash to buy more sporting goods stuff at Champaign’s in Elmhurst.
We enjoyed our days at 380 W. Grantley. The opportunity came up to buy the ranch house across the street 3555 Highland. The house faced Grantley though. The Kerrigan’s owned the house and Mr. Kerrigan was buying the house directly behind us. Mr. Kerrigan was great friends with our parents and worked out a fair deal. So, we were moving across the street. This seemed to go on for months even though it was only a week to move. It seemed like every time you left the house Mom had us taking a lamp or a table across the street to the new house. It was the hardest move we ever made as a family.
Ron and I have many fond memories there. First would be, meeting many of the 1967 Cubs at the local Arby’s that opened all the way East On Grantley right by York Road. We road our bikes down for five days straight to meet Billy Williams, Fergie Jenkins, Glen Beckert, Don Kessinger and received an autograph picture from each. Ron and I definitely became Cubs fans in Elmhurst. We watched a lot of ball games even replays from games past on rain delay days!
Mom and Dad always had an open door policy. Our friends were always welcome to come have pizza and play pool. One friend of mine, John Stutzman use to add things to my Mom’s grocery list like Ruffles, Twinkies and come back the next week and sure enough Della bought them. He had a great scam going on until she caught him and started laughing really hard. Mom and Dad loved our friends and we loved their friends too!
In fact, many friends stayed with us for months at a time at the Highland house. My Brother Bob’s friend came, our pastor’s son stayed to finish senior year at York, my Dad’s friend and my Mom’s boss and daughter too. We had amazing times around the kitchen table and all became a part of our family. All grew to love Elmhurst too! One of my favorite memories of living in Elmhurst is the way the trees tunnel the streets. They brought shade on hot summer days, The Elm trees blanketed us when they were snow covered and protected us in the storms. Those Elm trees are at the very heart of my Elmhurst memories.
I have a picture I took in High School that inspired this book to be written along with my love for writing from my York High School Writing Teacher Mr. Harrison.

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Chapter 1