My Lincolnwood Story- Jerry Schenwar

“Compared to the sixties, Lincolnwood is a whole lot more diverse, and more interesting.”

Jerry Schenwar has lived in Lincolnwood since 1989. Originally from Chicago, his first job was at the Milk Pail in Lincolnwood. Jerry remembers jobs from his teenage years, talks about his career as a high school teacher, and why he enjoys living in Lincolnwood today.

The views and opinions expressed in interviews do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Lincolnwood Public Library, including its Board of Trustees and staff.



TRANSCRIPT:

Lev Kalmens  0:00  
My name is Lev Kalmens. Today is May 6th 2019, and I am interviewing Jerry Schenwar for My Lincolnwood Story. Jerry, thank you for being here. What is your Lincolnwood story?

Jerry Schenwar  0:15  
Well, I'm 74 years old, and I only moved to Lincolnwood in 1989. But my Lincolnwood story takes place 1962-63 when I was in high school. I lived by Devon and Kedzie, in Chicago. But Lincolnwood was a couple blocks away. I got a job in high school, working after school and on weekends, at the Milk Pail, which was about a block west of McCormick on Devon. It was a small supermarket, very popular, small supermarket that was there for many years. It was one of my first jobs, it was a big experience, for me. It was a great experience in high school. Just to describe the Milk Pail a little bit. It was a small supermarket, you'd say now, and at the back of the store there was a counter where the dairy products were and we, the clerks, would -- people would come up to the counter and ask for milk, or butter, or eggs, or sour cream, or half and half. And we would get it from the cooler for them right in back of us. Then we would ring up their order, it was all one counter and just had registers and [the register didn't specify] nothing about how much change we owe them, we would just take their bills -- no charge cards then, just money -- you take their money and count back from the price to what they gave us. And here's your change. We would put it in a bag for them, no plastic bags, just paper bags. The funny thing is, I still remember the prices. Even at the time the groceries were average prices. Oh -- also there was a produce counter at the front end of the store; by the street, by Devon. There was a produce guy who worked there, Byron, very funny guy. He would weigh the produce for the people, put in a bag, mark the price, and then they bring it back to us. The prices were very reasonable. It was a very popular store. A gallon of milk cost 79 cents. If you bought a gallon of milk, you'd get a pint of half and half for 23 cents. Only with a gallon of milk. Half a gallon was 42 cents a quart was 24 cents. Cigarettes, we sold them cigarettes, 25 cents a package for the regular -- you know, the non-filter, 28 cents for Marlboros and the filter cigarettes a carton was $2.41. I don't know, I just happen to remember these prices from way back and it sounds funny nowadays.

Lev Kalmens  3:59  
So customers didn't walk around picking up their own --

Jerry Schenwar  4:01  
They did. They would pick up the produce, the fruit and vegetables. He [Byron] would weigh them and put them in a bag for them mark the price. But otherwise they would walk up and down the aisles with their shopping carts and it was self service. Then they would bring it to us in the back. Mostly guys, for some reason, worked there. There were a couple of women, older women.

Lev Kalmens  4:34  
How did you start working there? How did you find out that there was a job opening at the Milk Pail?

Jerry Schenwar  4:40  
That I don't remember. I was a junior in high school. In those days you just went around to stores in the neighborhood and asked them if they needed help. I worked at the Red Hot Ranch on Devon before that, that was slave labor. That was 60 cents an hour. Even then it was a terrible wage. Milk Pail was much better, it was a $1.50, or something. I worked at Thillens ballpark a little bit, but the Milk Pail was my best experience. When I started there I was as a kid, I was very nervous. It was new, it was hard for me at first. The manager who worked during the day -- I worked on the days and Saturday and Sunday -- was Louis Guskey. He was just a great guy, he took me under his wing and was like, "it's okay, kid I'll teach ya." I was kind of this, you know, sheltered, middle class Jewish guy. And the place was not a Jewish business. It was Art Blanch, by the time I knew him, he was a really old guy and he'd sit up in the office. It was just a very broadening experience for me just to learn about the world. I remember Art Blanch, the owner, said to me, "Kid, this is a penny business." In other words, you know, every penny was important. [The manager] Louis was a great guy. Saturday we would work three to twelve. Afterwards we would go out bowling sometimes. For a 16 year old kid that was big experience, you know, go out late at night, and it was okay. 

Lev Kalmens  7:06  
What about it was mind opening for you?

Jerry Schenwar  7:14  
The guys I met there, the workers, were different. Kind of a different milieu that I was used to. They weren't Jewish, they were working class guys. It was very interesting for me, it was very broadening in that sense to get to see the greater world outside. It was it was very educational, I would say.

Lev Kalmens  7:46  
You said you grew up in West Rogers Park at Devon and Kenzie, right?

Jerry Schenwar  7:49  
Yeah. Yeah.

Lev Kalmens  7:51  
Where did you go to school?

Jerry Schenwar  7:53  
Mather.

Lev Kalmens  7:54  
Mather High School.

Jerry Schenwar  7:57  
I don't know if that's allowed because this is Lincolnwood. Can I talk about -- [laughs)

Lev Kalmens  8:02  
[overlapping] Of course. You live in Lincolnwood now, everything is fair game.

Jerry Schenwar  8:09  
Okay. The working in high school was a great experience for me because teenage years can be kind of hard and socially I wasn't too adapt. The jobs were great. It was fun working at the hotdog place at Thillens. There was a bigger supermarket called Hillmans in those days, by Devon and Western, I worked there one summer.

Lev Kalmens  8:47  
Tell me about what it was like on Devon Avenue back when you're growing up. I'm familiar with the area now but I'm curious to know what the neighborhood was like back in the 50s and 60s.

Jerry Schenwar  9:03  
Very quiet, middle class. Mostly Jewish, but not orthodox at all. Not orthodox, like it is now. Let's see. There was a Robert Hall, that was kind of a cheap clothing department store. Rosen's Drugs on Devon in Sacramento. Randal's Restaurant on Devon and California. Very thriving. Very thriving, lively place.

Lev Kalmens  9:53  
What was your experience like in Mather High School?

Jerry Schenwar  9:58  
Well Mather was a brand new school when I went there. It had just opened up in 1959, that's when I started high school. I was sort of new in the neighborhood. My family had moved from Albany Park. Like a lot of other kids at that time, I had moved from Albany Park up to Rogers Park

Lev Kalmens  10:24  
Why did they decide to move?

Jerry Schenwar  10:32  
I guess it was a nicer neighborhood, you'd say. So I moved out to Rogers Park when I was about 14. It was a different world, I was [really] into cars and in those days cars were -- it was just interesting because every year the new styles would come out, and there wew big changes. Now cars kind of look like each other more.

Lev Kalmens  11:25  
Right.

Jerry Schenwar  11:26  
They were very -- they had their own personalities.

Lev Kalmens  11:29  
Did you have a favorite? Favorites?

Jerry Schenwar  11:32  
Oh, yeah. Corvettes. [laughs] But we had a Studebaker Lark, which was a compact car. From the Studebaker Company.

Lev Kalmens  11:43  
What was your first car?

Jerry Schenwar  11:45  
That I owned myself?

Lev Kalmens  11:47  
Right. Yeah.

Jerry Schenwar  11:47  
1965 Ford Galaxy. So it's like a two door Ford. It's okay.

Lev Kalmens  11:58  
Was there a specific dream car that you wanted? Because in 1965 you were just out of high school, right?

Jerry Schenwar  12:09  
Well, like I say, you know, the Corvette, you know, there was the Thunderbird. Those were beautiful sports cars.

Lev Kalmens  12:18  
What did you do after graduating from high school?

Jerry Schenwar  12:20  
I went to college at the University of Illinois, Champaign.

Lev Kalmens  12:26  
What did you study there?

Jerry Schenwar  12:29  
I ended up majoring in history.

Lev Kalmens  12:31  
Okay.

Jerry Schenwar  12:32  
But later, I picked up education classes and I became a high school teacher in Chicago. High school Spanish then English teacher.

Lev Kalmens  12:42  
Where did you teach?

Jerry Schenwar  12:43  
I started on the south side; Tilden High School, Philip's High School for some years. In those days, you would get transferred, suddenly, for some reason, and I get transferred to Kelvyn Park High School, which is on the northwest side by Fullerton and Cicero. And I was there for 25 years.

Lev Kalmens  13:07  
So is that where you retired from?

Jerry Schenwar  13:09  
Yeah, I taught for 34 years.

Lev Kalmens  13:17  
Was that something you wanted to do growing up, was to go into education?

Jerry Schenwar  13:21  
No.

Lev Kalmens  13:21  
What was your dream job?

Jerry Schenwar  13:24  
For a long time, I wanted to be a lawyer. And then I thought I would be a judge. But also, when I was very young, they wanted me to umpire a baseball game. It was very unpleasant for me, my friend was tagged out at second base, and I called them safe. The other guy threatened to beat me up after the game. So I said, you know, I don't think I want to be a judge. Because my experience as an umpire wasn't good. For a long time I wanted to be a lawyer, and then that kind of faded away. I really didn't know what I wanted to do in my early 20s. Then I just sort of fell into teaching but ended up really loving the job, being a high school teacher, I tried to teach at grammar school, and that didn't work at all. So the older kids were better for me.

Lev Kalmens  14:30  
What's been the highlight of your career as a high school teacher? What made it worth it?

Jerry Schenwar  14:41  
The day to day. If I could connect with the students in a way; if I felt they were learning something and excited about learning. That was very satisfying to me. When you're standing up in front of a group of teenagers you can't really go to sleep; you got to be alert and time went fast. There were a lot of difficulties too. I was in an inner city school. So there were a lot of problems. But it gave me a direction in life because I grew up in the 60s, and there was a lot of uncertainty about things. So that was great.

Lev Kalmens  15:38  
So you said you moved to Lincolnwood in 1989?

Jerry Schenwar  15:42  
Yeah.

Lev Kalmens  15:44  
Tell me about that.

Jerry Schenwar  15:55  
We were living in Rogers Park, my wife, Clara, she had been a teacher, but at the time, she owned a bookstore, a children's bookstore on Touhy near California. So we were living in Rogers Park and [my daughter] was at Rogers School. The kindergarten class was very big and we weren't excited about the teacher at all. And Clara had this bookstore and this woman came in, Mrs. Naka, she and her husband lived in Lincolnwood for a long time, and still do. And Mrs. Naka, she was an aide, then she became a teacher in the Lincolnwood Schools. She came into the store a lot, bought a lot of books. She and Clara would talk and Clara was talking about the school Maya was going to and Linda said, "you know, the schools and Lincolnwood are good." So that's really why we moved to Lincolnwood. But the funny thing there, another Lincolnwood connection, her husband, Denny, and I went to grammar school together. And we knew each other. Just more recently, we become good friends.We go to Starbucks together up on Touhy. So it's kind of funny how things are -- what it was, six degrees of separation.

Lev Kalmens  17:49  
Right.

Jerry Schenwar  17:50  
But anyways, we moved to Lincolnwood for the schools. And it worked out. It was good for Maya. Our daughter Maya.

Lev Kalmens  18:02  
How old was she when you guys moved? Because she started in Chicago schools and then you immediately brought her here?

Jerry Schenwar  18:10  
Yeah, first grade, she went to first grade in Lincolnwood. Yeah. The first teacher wasn't great, but most of the teachers are very good. She got a good education.

Lev Kalmens  18:23  
So it sounds like Lincolnwood was your first experience living in the suburbs, having grown up in Chicago.

Jerry Schenwar  18:36  
Oh, yeah, yeah. I wasn't dying to living rooms but you know, Lincolnwood, it's great. Just because the location you know, you're so close to things.

Lev Kalmens  18:49  
Was there was there some was there a difficulty adjusting? And I know, like you said, we are very close to Chicago. Was there a difficulty adjusting to the suburban life versus the city life?

Jerry Schenwar  19:01  
Not really. Yeah, that that wasn't it. There are plenty other problems. But no, the neighbors were friendly. We felt welcome. Infact, back in the 90s, we had block parties every summer for a while. The selling point -- I didn't mention this -- the selling point is we live right next to O'Brien Park by Chase and East Prairie. So that was definitely a selling point. At that time we just had Maya. Later Keeley came along, our other daughter. The people that lived around O'Brien Park would come to this block party every summer. We had maybe five, six years. It was very nice. I've always liked it. I love, well I like the location because we're a block from the Touhy with Dunkin Donuts. Wholly Frijoles. Now Wholly Frijoles -- we went in there when they first opened, and it was very much smaller than it is now, it was just a little place. And we ate there and it was really good. And we were the only ones there. So we say jeez we hope this place survives! Because this is really good. We got to tell people about it. Then something happened that I think it got reviewed in the [Chicago Tribune] or something. And it just changed real fast. It caught on in a big way. And then you couldn't get a seat. Renga Tai is on the corner, the Japanese restaurant. So I like having that stuff close by. Especially Dunkin Donuts [laughter].

Lev Kalmens  21:18  
It's a good place to have nearby.

Jerry Schenwar  21:20  
Oh, yeah. I mean now that I'm retired -- I've been retired for 12 years now -- just to go there in the morning, have my coffee, sit down, read or do a crossword puzzle. I like being in public spaces like that. So that's nice. I like that. Because the the other thing is, I like living next to the park because what I don't like about suburban living is the empty streets without any [unintelligible]. So when you got the park there, whenever the weather is nice there are people there, a lot of people. And the park is just nice. 

Lev Kalmens  22:05  
So you said you've been retired for 12 years, what have you been doing with your time since then?

Jerry Schenwar  22:10  
Well, I had a couple of part time jobs. I was what they call teacher in the library in Chicago Libraries, where you come in like 3 to 6 and help kids with their homework. So I did that for several years. And I do some volunteer things for quite a few years at Gail's School, which is an East Rogers Park program where you help kids with their reading. You sit down and read with them. As I said Dunkin Donuts, and I like to explore the city, and just kind of have fun like that. 

Lev Kalmens  22:57  
What are some life lessons you've learned over the years?

Jerry Schenwar  23:01  
Keep trying. Keep moving. Be kind. I like what the Dalai Lama said, "kindness is my religion". [laughs]

Lev Kalmens  23:11  
So you've lived in Lincolnwood for 30 years now what? What's different? What has changed?

Jerry Schenwar  23:16  
I don't notice. I could compare Lincolnwood in the 60s, the Lincolnwood that I knew just --

Lev Kalmens  23:25  
From living down the street?

Jerry Schenwar  23:26  
Yeah. Oh, the other thing, just a couple of things about Lincolnwood. A colleague of mine at Kelvyn Park, Harold; he was older. He's about 10 years old than me, older Jewish guy who had grown up in Chicago. And he said he would come here in the 30s, -- it must have been in the 30s or 40s. And Lincolnwood was a network of sidewalks without any houses because I guess what happened is they laid out the village in the 20s then the depression hit and they weren't doing any construction. So yeah, he told me he would come out with his family for picnics and Lincolnwood was just this open place with all these sidewalks. If you look at the inscription on some of the sidewalks, it says Peter Lutch 2905 Farragut 1928. But the houses are not from 1928 they're, you know, from the 40s, 50s --

Lev Kalmens  24:58  
Right.

Jerry Schenwar  24:58  
Right?

Lev Kalmens  24:58  
Yeah.

Jerry Schenwar  24:59  
So it was really interesting. I actually went to check out the 2905 Farragut in the city and [it's a] big, old house. Really nice. I think now as compared with the 60s Lincolnwood is whole lot more diverse and more interesting. You know? We've got very international, which is nice.

Lev Kalmens  25:27  
Is there anything about Lincolnwood that made you feel like you really belong here? Anything that comes to mind?

Jerry Schenwar  25:33  
I really enjoyed watching the eclipse from the school. They had like a little event for the eclipse.

Lev Kalmens  25:44  
Right. Two summers ago now.

Jerry Schenwar  25:48  
Was it that long ago?

Lev Kalmens  25:49  
I think so, I think it was 2017.

Jerry Schenwar  25:51  
You know, the big, where the the glasses --

Lev Kalmens  25:53  
Yeah it was the whole thing.

Jerry Schenwar  25:54  
Yeah, that was that felt like a nice community event. I liked that.

Lev Kalmens  26:01  
Well, Jerry, I want to thank you for coming down and sharing your Lincolnwood story with us.

Jerry Schenwar  26:05  
Very happy to. Thank you.