My Lincolnwood Story- Barbara M. Gerich-Smith

“It was wonderful growing up in Lincolnwood. I’d do it over again in an instant.”

Barbara Gerich Smith has lived in Lincolnwood her entire life. She spent 35 years working at the Lincolnwood School (now District 74), working her way up from the cafeteria to the administration office. Her sense of humor, vivid memories, and pride in her hometown make her an excellent first participant in My Lincolnwood Story. We hope you enjoy listening to her story as much we’ve enjoyed recording it.

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  
Today is March 27, 2019. My name is Lev Kalmens. I'm an Information Services Librarian at the Lincolnwood Public Library, and this is an interview for the my Lincolnwood story oral history project. Please tell me your name and how long have you lived in Lincolnwood?

Barbara Gerich-Smith  0:19  
Okay, my name is Barbara Gerich-Smith. I've lived in Lincolnwood all my life so far, which is 77 years.

Lev Kalmens  0:26  
And how did you- how did your family end up in Lincolnwood, or Tessville, as it was called before?

Barbara Gerich-Smith  0:31  
Okay, on my side, my mother- my parents' side, they came to Lincolnwood- because I asked my oldest sister, who is now deceased- when they came, and she said 1935. Which means my sister was five years old. My brothers were probably three and a half, two. Something like that. I didn't come along 'til 1941. But when I did, I came straight from the hospital to a little house, a very old farmhouse at 3810 Fitch Avenue. It's been since torn down, and there's two houses on those two lots now. But they, it was my grandma Reels, my grandma and grandpa Reels, which is my mother's parents' house. But they weren't living there. My parents moved from Chicago to that house, to that old house. And that's how they came. And the other side of the family, my in laws, they came around 1924 from Chicago- of course, it was Tessville, both times- and had a little house in the prairie on the east side of Hamlin. Except Hamlin wasn't there. It was a rut in the road where one of the farmers used to drive his plows down because he had corn growing in those fields. And then they switched lots with Mr. Reinberg. And then my father in law built a Montgomery Ward house at 6910 North Hamlin, which is still there. And that's how we all came to Lincolnwood. [laughs]

Lev Kalmens  2:03  
What prompted your parents to move from Chicago to Lincolnwood?

Barbara Gerich-Smith  2:07  
Probably economics, I don't know. I never really asked, but, you know, they went through the Depression and everything, and I suppose my grandparents' house was available. Nobody was living in it. So they moved there. It's all I can think of. I never asked, really. So they stayed there until my grandparents, one day, decided to move in. According to my mother, they didn't tell them. So got kind of squishy after that, and my dad found- you know, Lincolnwood was little. Everybody knew somebody then, and they heard that the house on East Prairie and Morris, which was owned by Mayor Proesel, was vacant. So my dad went over and asked if they could rent it, and they said yes. And then we moved a whole five blocks down to 6904 East Prairie. Which was a little red house at the corner of Morris and East Prairie where my parents lived for 25 more years, and I until I got married. And that's how we moved five blocks down, but we didn't go very far. And that's where I went to school from. The school was right there, and my parents both worked at the school. My father for 25 years, my mother for 24. I had an uncle who worked there for 16 years, and then I worked there for 35 years. I retired in 2005. Started out in the kitchen and ended up in the administration building, which was great. Was a great place to work. Great place to work with these people that I knew. The little red house had a cute thing. This is just from memory. I call it a creek, but it was really a drainage ditch. Right at Morris and East Prairie. And the thing about this little drainage ditch, if you will, is it had a little bridge over it, and that's how I would go to school. I'd go through the yard, over through the hedges, over that bridge and through the other hedges and over to school. But in the springtime, when we had a lot of rain, that whole creek would flood and the bridge would be floating. So I had to go through the street and around to go to school. But I always got a kick out of that. And in the winter, if we were lucky and we had rain, it would flood again, and it would turn to ice. And I have a picture somewhere of my girlfriend with her skates on, skating on that overflown creek. I thought it always was cute.

Lev Kalmens  4:30  
What are some of your earliest memories of living in Lincolnwood?

Barbara Gerich-Smith  4:35  
The earliest memory I can remember, and you're probably going to laugh. 

Lev Kalmens  4:40  
[laughs]

Barbara Gerich-Smith  4:40  
I remember, I was in the little house that my grandparents owned. I was laying on the carpet, and we had the radio on. And there were two windows on the side of the radio, and there was a- it was thunderstorming. And I don't know if something hit, if the lightning hit a branch on the tree or the wind blew it. It knocked the glass so that it broke, and a piece of the glass somehow hit my lip, and I was bleeding. And I'll always remember my mother picked me up from one arm, my sister the other, and they carried me out to the kitchen by the sink to do that. That's about my earliest memory of that house. Kind of traumatic, wasn't it?

Lev Kalmens  5:24  
A little bit, yeah.

Barbara Gerich-Smith  5:25  
And the other one was I was going to, I was going to kindergarten. And I was still in that house at the time. It's the only time I got to ride the school bus, which my father drove for that first year. I really liked driving- riding in the school bus. But my friend and I, we went to kindergarten together, and we had come home. My mother was working at the school at time, my grandma was taking care of me. She was living there then. And there were fields all around. And my friend and I were playing in this field, and there was like a dugout thing where it looked like they took sand or something out. And the two of us, we were just, you know, kids playing, and I jumped into that hole- another traumatic experience. There was a coke bottle sticking out of my leg, and I had to pull it out. And my grandma bundled it all up and and when my mother came home- we didn't go to the doctor! We poured peroxide on it, and she bandaged it all up. For years, I had a scab there, but I guess my memories there are kind of traumatic, I don't know. But other than that, I loved it. I had two friends there that I- they're lifelong friends. Still today, I still see them. And then when I moved five blocks, there was another group of kids. And they were all boys, except for one girl, and she wasn't left off Cherry Lane for a while. And so I became quite, quite a tomboy. I didn't have a choice. [laughs] 

Lev Kalmens  6:47  
Right. 

Barbara Gerich-Smith  6:48  
So I played baseball and we built forts. We built a lot of forts. We had one really good one, which we got in trouble for, because we built it right on East Prairie, right on the street, kind of. But it was all field, like I told you. And right across the street, that house is still there, it's now owned by Mrs. Roman, and this older couple lived there. And they resented the fact of looking out their window seeing this hut. Actually, it was a very good hut. [laughs] So they complained to the police, and the police came and it was one of our, my friend's uncles, as a matter of fact, that told us we had to tear it down. And I didn't- we told our parents. And, I don't know, a group of the- including my dad and I think my brothers and his friends- they actually moved that fort, hut, whatever you want to call it. Picked it up. They put boards on the side. They picked it up and they moved it back into the field where they couldn't see it anymore. And then everybody was happy, and we still had our fort. But of course, they tore that all down when they built Todd Hall. Because they just leveled all that land, you know. And again, there was a creek there too, only it was a drainage ditch. I don't know what else to tell you. I went to a brand new school. It was beautiful. Just loved that school. Still do. But what it looked like before, I wish you could have seen it. It was really nice. So I went to Lincolnwood School from kindergarten to eighth grade. Had a lot of good friends. At first, we were all in the same class, because there was only one first grade, second grade, until fourth grade, when Fairview came over and we had more kids. So then we got two classes of, you know... But we still kind of knew all everybody. And I was delighted when they put the gym in, because I loved sports. I don't know where to go from there. Had good friends. Still have some.

Lev Kalmens  8:45  
What were some of the, you know, fun things that you did with your friends growing up?

Barbara Gerich-Smith  8:50  
Oh God, we got into all kinds of trouble. Well, in summertime, we built that fort. But we also played baseball, mostly the boys. Sorry, that's all I had. Was boys. We played baseball. We went through the sprinkler. One of us, who was very brave, would drive over to Devon Avenue. This was a big deal- I know you're going to laugh- and get a thing of Kool Aid and come home, and we thought we were really that was really neat, because we could have Kool Aid. We go to the Skokie Show on Saturdays, which cost a whole quarter. One of the parents would drive us and pick us up. Thankfully. 

Lev Kalmens  9:29  
And where was this?

Barbara Gerich-Smith  9:31  
In Skokie, the Skokie Show. That's the only one that was around. And, gosh, what else did we do? We got into some- oh, we did- [sighs]. We used to- when they put the- this is a terrible thing to tell. I think of it and I shudder, how silly kids can be. How stupid. When they built the gymnasium, there was a porch that came out and there were steps going up. And you have to, you'd have to see it to understand. And on top of that porch- which is up there- it's gone now. They enclosed it. We would- and underneath was a cement sidewalk that went into a door, and over on the other side was landscaped and a little hill. And us silly kids would perch on the edge of that porch and we'd shove off with our legs and land on the other side of the landscape. But when I think of it, if when any of us had missed we would have gone down on that sidewalk. See what silly things kids do? Nuts. One kid jumped off the top of the monkey bars. One of my friends. That's the old fashioned monkey bars. He was the only one who did it, though. The rest of us only did it from the next one. But I mean, those were bad things. You know. I don't know if you want to know about it- with all these prairies, we would get prairie fires. 

Lev Kalmens  10:56  
Oh, really?

Barbara Gerich-Smith  10:56  
I don't know if someone started them, but I remember many times my dad and other men and my brothers, my teenage brothers, they'd have burlap bags and they'd wet them, and they'd fight these fires, you know. Never did the prairie much harm, I have to tell you. It at all sprouted out very nicely. And my dad always had a garden in that prairie, so. But I mean, it was something different. You know? Those prairie fires. I can remember that. Over by Fitch, all the land east of Hamlin up to Bell and Howell and the railroad tracks. And there was an Illinois Tool Works there. It was all prairie, and a lot of it was in corn. Huffman's had their cornfield-pumpkin field. And like I told you, Hamlin was just a rut. But in that section, believe it or not, sidewalks had been put in because they thought at one time they were going to build houses later. Now it's all, [inaudible]. There is some houses on Hamlin, but behind that's all business, as you know. And my friends and I, my two friends on Fitch that were still there, my two oldest. One day, we decided to go down to the railroad tracks on these sidewalks with our bikes. And you'd go up and down where there was no sidewalk you'd go down and up into the next sidewalk. We got all the way down- which seemed to us a very long way- all the way down to the railroad tracks. And imagine our surprise. We turn around, there was a prairie fire, and we're going, "Oh, this is nice!" because there's a lot of smoke. So we decided we better head back. So we started heading back, and one of us, I don't know which one, whoever was in the lead, fell off the bike. And now he was in the ditch. So we all, two of us joined him, and there was so much smoke. It was like, you know, it was not fun. It was gagging you. So we kind of dragged our bikes while we were in this ditch until we got kind of out of it. We kind of smelled from smoke after that. But that's how I mean about the forest fires. I mean not the forest fires, the prairie fires. All of a sudden they were there. I don't know how they started, or if someone started them, but that was one of our so-called adventures. I don't know if you want to know about a fellow that- his name, I only knew his first name. His name was Frank. And he- the story I heard from my in laws was that he once had a little money, but he was kind of cheated out of it by another neighbor. And the neighbor, sort of in response, gave him a little bit of land to live on. And frankly, he lived in a shack right on- behind what would be Froman's house. Right off East Prairie. And right in front of a house that's also been torn down that the Shays lived in. And he was behind Shays between those two houses in this shack. And his nickname was Prairie Frank. And he wasn't a bad man. He didn't, didn't do- have any harm toward us kids or anything. But he would come and he would ask my parents, could he get water? You know, from the taps or the hoses. And most all the neighbors there knew him, and they were all very good to him. They gave him water, some gave him some food. And unfortunately, he passed away in that shack. And it's been since torn down. And, you know, so he was kind of a character. I don't know what else to talk about, really.

Lev Kalmens  14:37  
How has Lincolnwood changed over the years? 

Barbara Gerich-Smith  14:40  
Oh, jeez. 

Lev Kalmens  14:41  
I mean, you've seen it from the ground up.

Barbara Gerich-Smith  14:43  
Let me put it to you this way. When my parents moved out there, my dad's brother said to him, "Why'd you move out to the boondocks?" It was like living in the country. I mean, all of us kids went out and played. We never thought about- our house was never, never locked. Anyone could- we didn't have anything- they could walk in there anytime. And I think a lot of the neighbors' houses, half the time, weren't locked. It was, it was wonderful. I loved it. My sons were very jealous. You know, you got to grow up here when you could do all kinds of things and build forts and, you know, play and have a good time. And it, you know, it's just so changed now. I mean, at East, at Toohey and McCormick, there was an old farmhouse there. And I think it was, you could- we'd rent horses there. What do you- a livery, whatever. 

Lev Kalmens  15:40  
Mhm. A stable. 

Barbara Gerich-Smith  15:41  
Because I know I have an old, old, very old newspaper clipping that's falling apart with my sister on a horse with a bunch of other people. And they were horseback riding down McCormick Boulevard, I guess. As a matter of fact, if I remember right, my grandfather Gerich, which was my dad's. He was- both my grandparents came over from a little, tiny village in Yugoslavia called [inaudible] around 1911 or so. It's strange, they were both from the same town, and my mother and father got married. And he farmed at first, my grandparent, my grandpa Gerich. And he rented land where Queen of All Saints is now, and also at Touhy and McCormick. And my dad said, when they lived near queen of All Saints, when they plowed, they'd find arrowheads. Because a lot of Indians, Potawatomis, I guess, were there at that time. Not that time, but before that. And as my dad said when he retired and they interviewed him, they just threw them in a cigar box. They didn't think anything of these. But I think it's kind of cool. That there was traces of Indians there, you know. But my grandparents finally ended up in Chicago on Clifton with a three story apartment building. How in the world, both sets of my grandparents saved money- I mean, they were just manual laborers, the guys. You know, to even buy something amazes me. God bless them for coming here, though, because I didn't have to go through the second world war like my poor uncle did, who was left there. But, you know, it's just like everything else. Things change. I mean, I could tell you there was a vacant lot across the street, you know. There were homes that burned down that were there. There was a greenhouse, another greenhouse, between our house, the little red house on East Prairie and Morris and Crawford. There was a greenhouse right behind it. And there was an alley that went all the way from right past our house. Right from East Prairie and then you'd go up a hill, around the greenhouse and out to Crawford Avenue. You could do that. It's, course, it's all gone and there's no alley there. You can't do that anymore. It's all school property. But I used to love to ride- it was, all the alleys were cinder. You'd better not fall down on them. They hurt. And I used to love to go up that hill, but I liked coming down better. It was fun. So there was that greenhouse, and there was a greenhouse on Touhy and East Prairie. That was Myers'. And the only one left, of course, is the one over here, Erhausen's. Which sell flowers in the spring, and they've been here a long time. Unfortunately, the two older brothers are gone. So it's the kids that carry on. And I don't know how much- I mean, they're my son's age- so I don't know how much- unless they were told stories, of course, like I was. So everything's grown just like everything else. I mean, look at the school. Started out with like 285 kids, and at the peak it was over 2,000. Now it's settled down to around 1,200. But it was beautiful school.

Barbara Gerich-Smith  15:42  
How did you get started working at the school?

Barbara Gerich-Smith  17:36  
Well, as I told you, my mother worked. My dad was the only custodian at the time and drove the school bus. One for the east side, one for the west side, another fellow drove the west side. They were free school busses. Which were- they used to have Lincolnwood days, and whatever profit they made, they bought those two school busses. But remember, it was a small school. Lots of kids walked. So, my mother started working part time in the lunchroom when I went to kindergarten. And I grew up, blah, blah, blah. And I've had my two kids. And I think they ran out of substitute helpers, part time workers, in the lunchroom. So they asked me if I wanted to do it. It was just a part time at first. And the lunchroom is where I stayed for, I think, nine years? And then I went to look for a full time job because I thought I would need it. And something opened up at the administration building, just by chance. And it was on the switchboard, and I went over, and then I started working in the switch- on the switchboard. And then later became secretary to the assistant superintendent, where I remained. That's how I ended up there. And it was nice, because I could walk right to work, you know. Didn't have to do it. I was home. Well, no, by that time the kids were older and I did work through the summer. Of course, when I worked in the lunchroom when they were young then, little, I was home for the summer. So that worked out perfectly. You know, they were old enough later to look after themselves in the summer. And I was close by if they needed me. So that's that story.

Lev Kalmens  20:55  
Who are some of the people that you met while working at the school district? 

Barbara Gerich-Smith  21:00  
Wow. Well, when I started working there, Dr. Garelick, Marvin Garelick, was the superintendent. Ron- Dr. Ron Berwald- was the assistant superintendent. And of course, the gals- I was the youngest one there. I think they just patted me on the head. Anyway, I worked with the gal that was in charge of some of the business stuff, Mrs. Holt. No, she was Miss Holt, sorry. I can't, trying to remember her first name. I can't. There was Marlene Lawson, who was Mr. Moody, Mr. Eugene Moody, who was the business manager. She was his secretary. Edith Binus, who was Dr. Barewall's secretary. And Marian Von Holt, who was Dr. Garelick's secretary. And they were a really good group to work with. Really. I always said I always respected Dr. Garelick and Mr. Moody. Mr. Moody was a lot of fun. He'd have these sayings. We called them Moody-isms. 

Lev Kalmens  22:00  
[laughs]

Barbara Gerich-Smith  22:01  
And it was a pleasure to work with them. But then through time, I worked with other superintendents. And, you know, the staff changes. And they were all pleasant to work with, I have to say. I just enjoyed my time there.

Lev Kalmens  22:18  
What were some of those Moody-isms? 

Barbara Gerich-Smith  22:20  
Oh gosh, I can't even think of them all, but he would come up with some. You'd just have to laugh at him. And I really can't tell you some of them.

Lev Kalmens  22:30  
[laughs]

Barbara Gerich-Smith  22:31  
So I'm gonna skip that part. But he was from Southern Illinois, as Dr Garelick was, and I think they were- I don't want to say, they understood each other. I think because they came from the same region, same age, you know. And they worked wonderful together, I thought. You know. It was a pleasure to work with them, and I always respected both of them. And the other girls, ladies, too. I don't know what else I could say about that time. It sure went fast. I'll tell you that. You know, 35 years, pfft. It's a long time.

Lev Kalmens  23:08  
Now I saw on- I saw a picture that there is a street named after you. 

Barbara Gerich-Smith  23:14  
Yeah.

Lev Kalmens  23:16  
Which is just at the corner of-

Barbara Gerich-Smith  23:17  
Morse and East Prairie.

Lev Kalmens  23:18  
-Morse and East Prairie, correct. So how did that come about?

Barbara Gerich-Smith  23:23  
Well, when I retired, they had a party for me. And I was, actually, I was in awe of how many people came. The teachers and people I had worked with that had retired, they came. And Dr. Garelick came, and Mr. Moody, and some of the ladies from my first group came. And it was really wonderful. My sister was there, my husband, my kid, and even my sister in law came. And my friend, one of my oldest friends, one of the guys, came. And they presented me with this big, long thing, which I had no idea what it was. And I opened it up, and it was the street sign at which part I cried because my sister cried, because I was very happy that they put my maiden name in there, Barbara Garrick Smith. And it was put at that corner because I felt that it represented not just me for my 35 years, but my dad for his 20- I'm going to get choked up now- 25 years, my mom for 24 and my uncle for 16. And it was at that corner where the little red house was, and I felt it was an honor to them. Not just to me. And my sister and I just looked at each other, and we both had tears in our eyes. Mainly because I could see my dad smiling down at us for that. You know, it wasn't just for me. I felt it was for my whole family. So I was very- I don't know whose idea it was. Someone told me it was the principal at Lincoln Hall then, but God bless her. And so we had a picture taken. Our family makes homemade sausage. And I said, whoever wants to come, come and we'll take a picture by that sign. So there's a sign. There's one picture with all of us, whoever came underneath that sign. Which I think is cool. So that's how that happened. But really it's for my family, not just for me. 

Lev Kalmens  25:20  
That's really incredible that, you know, you had so many, kind of generations almost, working.

Lev Kalmens  25:25  
It is. I guess it's nepotism, I'm sorry. But I was a good worker! [laughs]

Lev Kalmens  25:25  
And what are your- tell me about, a little bit about, your kids growing up in Lincolnwood. 

Barbara Gerich-Smith  25:25  
Oh, my kids growing up in Lincolnwood. 

Lev Kalmens  25:30  
And how that was maybe a little different from yours.

Barbara Gerich-Smith  25:39  
They were lucky in this respect: we lived next to the greenhouse. And of course, the Smith family and their house and family knew each other for years. In fact, John, who was the older of the two boys. I shouldn't call them boys. They were men. Used to tell me- he was, he was four years younger than my husband. Husband was older than me. He was four years older. But he said to me one time, you know, when I get home from school, I used to like to go over to the Smith house, because I always knew Marvin was working on something. And they'd say, "He's in the basement". And he said, "He was always doing something". So I enjoyed it. You know, he'd go to the dump and he'd get, he'd get pieces of bikes and put them together to make a bike. He built a huge, huge glider. It was- I have a picture of it- the size of the door of the garage. That's how big it was. And he has his sister and another neighborhood gal- picture with it. It was amazing. He lost it over Lake Michigan. He got it up in the air, and it went over Lake Michigan. Never saw it again. Uh, Forgot what the question was. 

Lev Kalmens  26:52  
I was just- I was asking about how your children's expereince, growing up here.

Barbara Gerich-Smith  26:56  
Okay. So they were lucky, because they had the Erhausens. And they they still have that land in back, if you ever go down Hamlin. And so they played a lot with them, and so they had a little bit of room, whatever you want to call it. And they did build a fort on their land. They did do that. And when they were a little bit older, actually, there's a grassy part there. And the neighborhood kids, plus the Erhausen kids, they'd be over there after supper, and the uncle and the dad, they would- one would be the pitcher and one would be the catcher- and all the kids played baseball together on that land. So they were lucky that way. And in the winter, they could actually go inside the greenhouse, from what I understand. And there, you call those things beds. You know, this was before they grew flowers. At that time, they grew tomatoes in the wintertime. Very good tomatoes, I might add. I wish they still did it. So there wasn't- they had some room, and they played with the cars and the dirt and stuff like that. So that way they were lucky, you know. And course, they did have the school yard. But, you know, it was really funny. My friends and I, when we were there, we used that school yard. We played baseball on it, you know, and everything. The kids didn't seem to do that. That was just when the pool was coming in. And really, my kids really didn't even go to the pool much, but they weren't as happy as I was growing up, but they were fairly okay. You know, they went to Lincolnwood School and Niles West at that time. And that's about all I can say. They seemed to enjoy themselves. They had friends. 

Lev Kalmens  28:45  
Do you have grandchildren? 

Barbara Gerich-Smith  28:47  
I have- each of my sons has a son. I have step grandchildren. I even have a step great grandchild. 

Lev Kalmens  28:59  
Wow.

Barbara Gerich-Smith  29:00  
So yeah. So I only just have two boys carrying on the name. I need one for each boy. 

Lev Kalmens  29:08  
And where are they growing up? 

Barbara Gerich-Smith  29:09  
My son, my older son, lives in McHenry. He was a Skokie fireman. Became a lieutenant for 31 years. He just retired in September. He lives there. My other son, my younger son, lives in Minnesota. In a little town. It's like a blink. Don't open your eye too much, cuz you'll go through it. That's where he lives. And he fixes huge, huge copy machines. He has to get a lot of training for it. Did you ever look at, inside one of those? I don't even know what they're looking at, but that's what he does. So they're kind of each a little bit far away from me. But McHenry, at least, is maybe an hour. Depends on the traffic, 15 minutes. So. My son, very much- the older son- very much, takes after his father in that he'll build things. He's very good at what he does. I have to tell you. You know, he knows a little bit about plumbing, electricity, building. He and his wife have a shop in Lake Geneva. That's about almost two years old now. And they bought the building and he's rehabbing the two little apartments upstairs. Beautiful job. Takes after his dad that way. Sure didn't get it from me, but he got his love of history from me. I'll tell you, he did a lot for the Skokie Fire Department and the Skokie Historical Society. He had the Amish build a replica of the first hand-pushed, whatever you want to call it, fire engine. And that's at the Historical Society. And then he managed to get back an old pumper that they sold on Mount Prospect, which was rotting. And he and the other guys fixed it up, and it's in the Historical Society. Then he, before he left, he made three huge dining room tables for each of the stations with their emblems and everything on it. The guys helped, too. And they have fire hydrants for legs. He left his mark. So, anyway, kind of proud of him for that.

Lev Kalmens  31:30  
Well it sounds like you definitely, I think, you left your mark on Lincolnwood as well.

Barbara Gerich-Smith  31:33  
Eh, my family did, I don't know about me.

Lev Kalmens  31:36  
Your family did.

Barbara Gerich-Smith  31:36  
And even my father in law, believe it or not, had a little bitty, dinky, little thing where he ran for trustee of Lincolnwood. Which I get a kick out of. With Nick Huffman. 

Lev Kalmens  31:37  
Mhm.

Barbara Gerich-Smith  31:38  
They didn't win of course. Proesel had that all locked up. But yeah, Smith's been here a long time.

Lev Kalmens  31:57  
If you had to sum it up, what has been your favorite part about living in Lincolnwood, over all these years?

Barbara Gerich-Smith  32:03  
Oh, wow. How do you sum up a lifetime? I liked the fact that when I was a kid, I had all that freedom. Along with the other friends of mine, that I still have. My oldest two friends. We still get together. God bless them. And I'm still in touch with a few of the ones from where I moved, you know, to the red house. Still in touch with a few of those and some of my other friends from- we went from kindergarten up together. They have a few of those yet. The fact that it was so free, you know, you could go outside, you could play. You know, you never even thought about someone kidnapping you or anything except- except when that William Heirens supposedly kidnapped that little girl. Then it was a little scary, because he lived right on Touhy Avenue. That wasn't- was it Touhy Avenue and Kendale? Anyway, that's where he lived. So that was a little bit scary. That was pretty close to home. But other than- Oh, would you like to hear an interesting thing? 

Lev Kalmens  33:15  
I would. 

Barbara Gerich-Smith  33:15  
I think this is interesting. When I was still living on Fitch, I was about four or five years old, down on Fitch and East Prairie. At that time, there was about, oh, it was a pretty nice size lot. More than one lot I'm talking about. Next to it was my friend's house, and then next to his house was my other friend's house. Both torn down. But at that time, it was this nice, big space. And later on, we played baseball there too, at that place. But I was about five years old. It was before we moved. And I remember this, my mother would not let me go out one day because this, I'm going to call it a caravan of about three or four horse drawn trailers. I don't know what you want to call them. I wouldn't call them like, like when you cross the prairie, but they were these little things. And these, and I don't want to call them this. It sounds racist. I'm not trying to be but they were like gypsies. That's what probably my parents called them, and they camped in that area. My mother would not let me go out, because, you know these stories about them kidnapping children. She wouldn't let me go outside until- they only stayed there one night. I think the police came and told them they could only stay there and they had to move the next day, which they did. But I still remember that. That my mom wouldn't let me out because they might kidnap me. But I thought that was interesting. To think that's in 1946, you know. It's kind of crazy. 

Lev Kalmens  35:00  
Yeah. 

Barbara Gerich-Smith  35:02  
But aside from that, it was very free. So I don't know what else I can add to that. You know, it was- I enjoyed it. I know sometimes my son, you know, thinks I should move somewhere else. But I think my friends are here, you know. And he's not that far away that I can't, you know, see him. And I, you know, now, with the modern technology and everything you can keep in touch. And so it was wonderful growing up in Lincolnwood. I'd do it over and again in an instant. It was also nice going to Lincolnwood school. It was a beautiful school. And now it's Township High School. The original was also beautiful. I'm sorry they tore it down. So anyway, I don't know what else to say to you.

Lev Kalmens  35:53  
I would like to thank you for taking the time and talking to me and sharing your Lincolnwood Story with us.

Barbara Gerich-Smith  35:59  
I hope I hit everything I thought of.