Wilmette Public Library Local History Digital Collection

Mary Mathie oral history

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Transcription: Judith McBrian 0:00 Oh, here we go. Today is Friday, April 29, 2022 at 2:30 pm and this is the start of the interview with Mary Mathie at her home at 680 Green Bay Road in Winnetka, Illinois. My name is Judith McBrian, and I'll be the interviewer. Mary and I are longtime friends and members of the Cinechicks, a group of women that has been gathering for many years to see and discuss movies. We will be discussing Mary Mathie's experiences in Wilmette. Welcome, Mary. Could we begin by you giving me a little background about your family and where you were born and grew up? Mary Mathie 1:00 Thank you, Judith. I'd be happy to. Thanks for doing this. I was born in Jackson Park Hospital in sharp Chicago on the south side. That would be around 85th and East End for those who aren't familiar with Chicago. I rode the streetcars and buses as a young girl to Rainbow Beach, the Public Library, to the Museum of Science and Industry, and Kunis's Candy on 79th Street. And I had a wonderful experience growing up in the city. I loved my neighborhood. I loved just being in the city and moving around in the city first on streetcars and then on buses and then driving. And we moved from one location to another when I was about nine. And I still loved that neighborhood and had so many friends and so many great experiences. So I have good memories of Chicago. Judith McBrian 2:01 I do have a... Can you tell me just a little bit about your family as a small family, large family. Mary Mathie 2:09 We were six, there were four children. And I'm the baby. And I have had an older sister. She was 13 years old or so. She had a lot of care of me. My next sister was 10 years older. She was handicapped. She had cerebral palsy. So she of course took a lot of care and a lot of attention and a lot of love from our family. My brother's five years older, he's still alive. So I'm happy to say that, that I still have somebody from my family of origin. So my mother was a homemaker and my dad worked in the building trades. And at one point when I was born, he was a Chicago fireman. And then when I came along, my mother was very nervous about him being out on call. So he left that behind and went into the building trades. And unfortunately, he worked around asbestos. Yeah, that's a terrible history for anybody who's familiar with lots of the fallout from asbestos. So we owned a bungalow in Avalon Park, and playground was right across the street. And that's where I ice skated and played on the tilt- a-whirl and did all sorts of fun things. Judith McBrian 3:40 Hey, thank you. So you were out there you were in Chicago, loving the city. What brought you to Wilmette? Mary Mathie 3:49 Well, I, we left, I left the city reluctantly. I didn't want to leave. But our first child was born, Megan. And rents were a little out of our budget at that time where we wanted to live, which is now the Lincoln Park area. And it was gentrifying and rents were going up. We lived in a darling little coach house on Mohawk. And so we just realized our little baby girl needed a room. So we moved to another cute coach house in Evanston on Oak. And we had our second daughter there. That was Maura. And then when John came along, we decided we had to get his crib out of the dining room and into a bedroom of his own. So that brought us to, again, had to go farther north. But I went as far as I was going, that's the dividing line. Evanston, we lived on Isabella street dividing line between Wilmette and Evanston. And we bought that house in 1974, moved in in October, and we lived there for 45 years. Judith McBrian 5:10 So what kind of ...Where did your kids go to school? What was it like raising your children in Wilmette? What was the neighborhood like for them? Mary Mathie 5:25 So in the beginning, you know it was preschool. And then all three of my children went to St. Joseph's. And then about seventh, sixth grade, seventh grade, actually, we switched our oldest daughter to the junior high. And then the following year, our next daughter- our middle daughter-went, and John transferred to McKenzie. So we left the, you know, the religious school and went to the public schools. Everybody had a pretty good experience. It's always difficult to leave behind your friends and make a change. But they did very well. Raising them here, hmm. Wonderful. It was wonderful for us, I think. So much of their, so many of their experiences were top notch. I mean, we have a fabulous Park District. There, they played sports, and they learned about good sportsmanship. They learned about disappointments. They learned about wins. And they participated in softball, soccer, basketball. So they were very active in sports. Ice skating, our daughters were in the ice skating shows. I thought that raising them here was just fabulous. It was privileged. I thought that was my summation of it, because there were there was so..., it was so rewarding for them. The public and private schools were all top notch. I covered the sports. They learned good life lessons, in my opinion, in being in sports. You learn sportsmanship, and you learn respect for others, and the importance of working together. It's group dynamics at a certain level. So I think the fact that they could, you know, get on a bike and go to the library, or cross the railroad tracks and go into town was really very wonderful. But the sense of neighborhood is what I loved. Small city, small village. Not as big as Evanston, not as small as some of the other North Shore communities along the lakefront, but it just was perfect for us. Judith McBrian 8:10 Did they have friends in the neighborhood? Or were they longer they get in their bike and go to friends? How do they make their friends? What was that like for you as a mother? Arranging playdates if you did that, Mary Mathie 8:21 That's a very good question, Judith because we lived at the south and midsection of Wilmette. Their school was north of us, middle, you know, Lake and Ridge. So we had to import friends, because so many of the kids around us went to the public schools. So we had to import our friends from St. Joe's. So it was a lot of driving. Then when they got bigger, they would ride their bikes. It was all progressive, you know, you had to be capable and be very careful. So just one or two friends lived in our neighborhood. Most of the friends were up in Kenilworth Gardens. Not so many east of the tracks, because that was a different school. That was St. Francis. So most of the kids were up around that Lake and Ridge area. And so eventually getting back and forth proved just fine on their bikes until they were driving. So that worked well. And they made good friends. And some of that changed when they changed schools. That was very interesting. Some of the kids they didn't see ever again. And then they made new friends and they're still in their life. So you know, it worked well. Judith McBrian 9:47 And did they go to New Trier then after or, or somewhere else? Mary Mathie 9:52 Yeah, well, that's a good question. Again, our oldest daughter went to Regina. It was smaller. It was all girls in that she was most comfortable in that environment. And we dialogued about that for a long time. But she stuck to her guns. And I felt that, you know, teenagers have enough things going on in their life not to add to a burden of being in a school you hate. So she went to Regina, and she just, just shined. It was the right choice. She knew innately, her own wisdom that that was for her. Then our daughter, Maura middleist, she went to New Trier. She was a little actress. And that, you know, of course, presented a lot of opportunities for her. And John was a musician. So New Trier was definitely on his radar. Even though he looked at Loyola it just it didn't have the same opportunities for him. So yeah, so two in and one not. And they're such different schools. Very, yeah, very different. Yeah. And of course, now, Loyola is coed. So it was very different back then. So, yeah, very different. Judith McBrian 11:08 What kind of... you were a full time mom, I'm assuming and what were you did you continue to be a full time mom as your children grew up and went off to school? or were there other activities that you were interested in or work that you were interested in doing in the Wilmette area? Mary Mathie 11:26 Well, I was a full time mom until they, let's see...So it would have been my daughter going off to college, that I went back to school to finish my degree. And then went off to the work world when our youngest got into college, no, high school. So I in the meantime, I was just consumed with volunteer work. I volunteered at St. Joe's, the PTA, the the... before St. Joe's, oh, I should say I started out before we got the first one into St. Joe's, I worked on the Wilmette Community Fair I was in charge of ...I was the chairperson for auditioning, hiring, scheduling, facilitating entertainment for day-long event with the fair and that attracted about 1,000 people so it was kind of a big job and it was so much fun. I loved it. Judith McBrian 12:30 Is the community fair something... tell me more about that-- what it is and what time of year it's held. Mary Mathie 12:36 It was in the summer. It was right in downtown Wilmette. So they would block off the streets, set up a stage though all the stores were open to the public to come in and make purchases or they had little stands outside where they were selling their wares. People could just kind of glide around, go in and out. The entertainment was right in front of Village Hall. And we usually had about four acts, one was always an orchestra or band. And then I would get individual talent and most funnier I ever had was when the.. I found the Irish Cloggers right here in Wilmette. And I had never seen them dance before. And they were just.. I mean they were just a rousing addition to the fair. People loved it. And they used to rehearse in a little house. It's still on.. it's still right near St. Francis Church, Linden still on Linden Avenue. And I remember going to see them to, to audition them. And they were dancing with their clogging shoes on on a wood floor and I was sure they were gonna go right through to the basement. It was loud and it was a lot of I think there were six or seven dancers. So it was a lot of sound. And then, then I went into the St. Joe's School of volunteers. That started out with my being, I was a preschool chairperson. I recruited volunteers to help me update marketing. To telemarket. Do direct mail. I developed a new direction for programs. I hired speakers and created and wrote publicity. And the program attendance went up. We,I was very proud of it. And then I was a chairperson for, it was a 30 member team. We worked to bring about a three part event which was part of Family Church liturgy, and then a dinner in the school and then a raffle to raise badly needed monies for school enrichment. My job was, initially I was running the raffle. And with my husband, we were able to get people to donate pretty big deal things in those days. That was the first video game that was raffled off. We had roller skates, we had various prizes that made people buy tickets, and that was what we wanted. And then I moved from that into overseeing the chicken dinner. And that was for 400 people. That's huge. Judith McBrian 12:39 It was hugh. Mary Mathie 13:08 And it was just great. By the second year, I had it all down. And that too, attracted more people because everybody had so much fun at it, it was really a lot of fun. I had to go around and pick out the, the place that would give us the chicken, that would provide the chicken, we paid for it but I had to give him a rather large order. And that was fun to figure out the most healthful, it wasn't organic time but we wanted healthy recipes at this dinner. And that was one of my focuses. And it worked. People love the chicken and a lot of people volunteered to help salads and side dishes and that kind of thing. And that was pretty darn good at, I thought, bringing the community together, even though it was a school event we put it out to the whole parish. We wanted everybody to be, to feel included. And then my next biggest job at St. Joe's was to, we were all concerned about salaries for our teachers. They were all so wonderful and so qualified and making a lot less than any position in a public school, whether it be the City of Chicago or local environment. And so I just had this drive to do something about it. And I researched and developed and I managed a fundraising lottery which took two years to launch and gained parish-wide support that made me really feel good. This was directed at the whole community, not the school people who were always being called upon to donate and give. This time the whole parish joined in. We earned the first year $17,000. Judith McBrian 17:34 Wow. Mary Mathie 17:34 And it, I have to give credit to the group of volunteers that helped me. I recruited them as well, I was looking for people who are wanting to give up their time and were cooperative, wanted to work together. So we were careful about who was in on that. And they they all proved to be absolutely wonderful. Judith McBrian 18:00 So how did you structure the lottery? What a good idea. Mary Mathie 18:06 So a lot of years, but we had raffle books printed, which listed, you know price per ticket, what the prizes were. I'm sorry, I don't have a sample for you. So then we would make public announcements in church every Sunday, leading up to the day of the raffle. We would print out announcements in the bulletin, the church bulletin. So that reached a lot of people. And I believe messages were sent home from school with the kids kind of too. So there was a really good participation. And I am not sure if it still is in effect but I know that 10 years ago, it was still going. It was called the Lucky Louis Lottery. And that was the name was given by my friend Maureen and she wrote all the publicity for it, came up with the name Lucky Louis. And it was, it was great fun. It really brought a lot of people together. Judith McBrian 19:20 Did you find that working on these projects introduced you to a lot of people who became your friends they become... Mary Mathie 19:26 Yeah, very much so. You know, it introduced me to a lot of very talented smart people who knew how to do things that made me look good. So I was very happy to meet so many great, wonderful people. Some of those people I still know today. But you know, as you move on through life, some people kind of are not around anymore. So that's kind of sad. Judith McBrian 19:56 Did you then... that's amazing all the work that you did for the school. How lucky they were to have you. Mary Mathie 20:01 It was for my children too. Yes, I really, you know, I wanted the best for them. And the school was a wonderful school, but anything I could do to make it better, as we all felt as parents, it was really, they were the, the incentives, you know, it was kind of fun to be around school, see what they were doing out there on the playground. Fly on the wall. Yeah. But yeah, that was fun. Judith McBrian 20:28 And then did you continue doing that as they got older when they went to different schools, or were you on to something else or some other interests of yours that Wilmette may have missed you too. Mary Mathie 20:40 So I did. I did do work at New Trier. I did for, I did some, again, oh, it was for the jazz band. Every year New Trier sponsors a fabulous jazz band, sort of, I guess I would call it a recital. It's a big deal. Jazz bands come from all over Illinois, and play there. And then they would invite in a professional, famous person to play at some point. And I was working at the time at Northwestern. But I managed to stay in that as where I could. So I, I did a, I was in charge of the lunchroom that fed all these people that were coming there for the day-long event. And we did things like chili and sandwiches and had to get volunteers to help in the kitchen. And I never did find my way around New Trier very efficiently. But I knew where the kitchen was. And again, lots of great people that worked on behalf of the school as volunteers, really a great group of people. And I decided to return to school myself. And.... Judith McBrian 22:10 What did you study? And where did you go? Mary Mathie 22:12 Well, I went a lot of places. I went to Barat. And then I ended up at National Louis because I figured that was a much easier way to go 12 months and get it over with. And so I became a student there. And I, it was just a marvelous program in that it was it was studying applied behavioral science in a business situation, which when I went to Northwestern to work, it could have not fit better. It just prepared me for the next step. And I was working in an educational institution, working with study cases, and professors handing out all these things that I had read in some of my textbooks. So it was it was very reaffirming, great atmosphere to be in. But so I did my work and finally finished off that degree after a long time. Judith McBrian 23:15 How did you come to work at Northwestern? How did that come about? And why there? Mary Mathie 23:23 Well, it was the school of my dreams. I always wanted to graduate from there. So I did go to their night classes, but I never went full time there. So I had started working for a library service. And it was owned by a friend of mine. And it was part-time and that took me into the city, which I loved. And I was working in pretty fancy libraries for law firms and accounting firms. A friend of mine called me and said we should get together. We got together. And she said, you know, Mary, your name came up the other day to a friend who works at Northwestern. And I think they have a job opening. So I promoted you, for you to go and talk to them. And I was like, thank you. So I went and was interviewed. And this would be working with seven women who were then called coordinators, program coordinators, and they approved me and I was so honored to be hired. And so I worked there for six years. It was a fantastic place to be the Allen Center is executive education under the Kellogg umbrella. And that's where they would send companies would send their executives for continuing education, noncredit, for a lot of money. And so it was a fabulous, fabulous experience. And then I left there and went to work for a financial firm. And then I left there and dialed down to Dinner At Eight right in the center of Wilmette. I did retail there and I loved retail. I like selling. It was fun. Judith McBrian 25:03 Why did you leave Northwestern and go to a financial firm? Mary Mathie 25:07 I just thought it was a good time for me to make a change. You know, full, it was full time, full time. And I was looking for fewer hours. And I really really missed my job, I must say, but it was it was the right time in my life. Judith McBrian 25:29 And what was, tell me a little bit about Dinner At Eight and what that was like and, and perhaps some things you saw while you were there. Mary Mathie 25:37 Well, some of those things are in my kitchen. Well, Dinner At Eight, started out, they called it Domestic Arts but somebody else had the name so they had to change it to Dinner At Eight. It's where the current fish restaurant is.... Judith McBrian 25:55 Pescador. Mary Mathie 25:57 And Dinner At Eight was really quite fascinating. They had a kitchen in the back where they gave cooking lessons. That was a lot of fun to meet the chefs and see how they put together their meals. And the owner sold countertop counter products, kitchen products. And tabletop is what I meant Tabletop, yeah, things like beautiful linens, glassware. Juliska china. You could go in there and register for your daughter's wedding. And it was small but packed, packed with lots of products. And what I loved was, all these years I've worked away from my community. Now I was in the middle of my community meeting people I hadn't seen in years. It was so much fun. And I loved learning about the products and how to differentiate what was suitable for what somebody was looking for, and answer questions as I gained knowledge and that takes a while, takes a while to learn the products and their services. And it was really a great experience. I I enjoyed retail very much. So. Judith McBrian 27:25 Was there anything happening around you when you were working? Like across the street when you were working at Dinner At Eight? Like someone who had a fight with somebody at that restaurant across the street? Mary Mathie 27:41 Well, it was, it was really more dramatic and more serious than a fight. I happened to be in Dinner At Eight when on this very sunny, beautiful day when everybody was getting ready for graduations and you know, people were up strolling, and the weather was perfect. And it was such a happy day when I heard this very loud explosion. And I remember running up to the front window and saying to the store owner, that wasn't a backfire of a tire. And I looked out down towards at the time Scandia Catering was there and I thought maybe an oven blew up or something. But then something caught my eye and I looked out the front window and right before me was a man getting out of car and putting a shotgun on the car roof. And he fired two more shots. When this turned out to be the killing of the waitress. Her name was Candace and she worked at the restaurant and was taking a lunch break and sitting with her two little daughters at the table. And this fellow killed her. She probably died with the first shot was explained to me by a doctor who was in the emergency room where she was brought. Anyway they, you know, there was just pandemonium and police and fire engines and suddenly reporters and people crying and running in all directions. It was, it was pretty dramatic. So that was probably, you know, a huge trauma for myself to witness. And I did call 911. People asked me, were you afraid for your own safety and I never was because he was so directed at her. He wasn't going to just spray shooting, shoot around the area. And there were a lot of people sitting out at tables. It was very specifically targeting. Judith McBrian 30:14 And it's difficult to even think about. Mary Mathie 30:16 Yeah. Judith McBrian 30:17 And talk about. Mary Mathie 30:18 Yeah. Judith McBrian 30:18 I understand. Mary Mathie 30:19 So. But later my husband met the police chief and police chief said that I was the only witness who saw him get out of the car and saw that it was a shotgun. And I remember when I called 911, they said, Well, how do you know it was a shotgun? And I said, Well, I saw it, you know, and I heard it, it doesn't sound like a rifle. It's really quite a large boom. And I will take that back. I think there was later another witness down on Wilmette Avenue who might have also seen him get out of the car. I think his name was Fritz. And he saw him too. But all the other witnesses were so taken aback by what was before them they weren't looking at the shooter. They were looking at her and her little children. One of the little girls was hit with a spray of shrapnel. And so it's pretty awful. They fortunately survived. And he later took his life. Judith McBrian 31:21 It was one of the most traumatic events in recent Wilmette history. Mary Mathie 31:26 It really was. Yeah, it's very true. You know, I was looking back at some of our history, and I know we had bank robberies. And I know we had other things that happened in communities, not in, not proportionately large, but just you know, enough to remind you that you live in a populated area. But that was just tragic and unforgettable. Judith McBrian 31:53 So what is when you think about some of the institutions in Wilmette? Like the library? You mentioned the park district, the churches? What are, what do you find? What do you like about them? How did you use them yourself? How did they appeal to you? Centennial perhaps? Mary Mathie 32:17 Oh, my goodness, yeah, you've just named the litany of all the things that were important in our life. You know, we could walk to Millens Hardware from where we lived. The Wilmette Library was walking distance, the Metra train station for my husband's daily trek to work. We could cross over the tracks, whether it was in the car or on a bike or walking, we'd go to Bob's on Fridays for hot chocolate in the winter. Chase Bank was right there. The proximity to the village was so amazingly wonderful. I had no idea when I moved here, how wonderful it would be. And of course, the Centennial Park with ice skating, indoor ice skating for our daughters. Tennis, the pool, every summer our kids went to the pool. Honestly, so many enriching things available to my family. To me, it was just a dream place to raise a family and, and be safe. You know, I always felt like this was a very safe community and people really cared so deeply about it, then that was very comforting to me. I loved that we have the beautiful sandy beach and the park with you know, the green grass that we hope to keep green and that we had a Coast Guard station right in our front yard. Post Office was walking distance. And I also love that they actually preserved the little train depot and moved it over onto Wilmette Avenue and now it's a restaurant. I just I loved the preservation of many of the older things in Wilmette. I loved it the marina, people had boats and they could sail in and motor in and out onto Lake Michigan. I mean really, it's, it's almost it's like something you'd read about and here we were living right in the middle of it. Excuse me. It was just that you know, the beauty of the, of the trees for instance. I believe one year and maybe more than one year. I remember when we first moved in, I had the forester come and look at our oak trees, because we had four of them. And Don, his name was and he was so, he was such a cheerleader about our trees and how we were taking good care of them. And we had one that was very near, near death's door. And he told me what to do with it. And I did it. And it's still living today. And I think that the village was cited on a national level for being the Tree City. Judith McBrian 35:35 I think so too. Mary Mathie 35:35 Yeah, I'm not sure what year it was. Or if it was several, maybe I think it was actually several years. And so you know, that kind of brings us around to Save the Trees in Gilson. So, I'm a big proponent of that. Yeah, I love the physical beauty, the and then of course, you have the, the train tracks running right along Green Bay Road. So you do have a physical division. The east side is different than the west side. And I treasured both of those sides. And in the fact that there were businesses on the east side of the tracks on Green Bay Road, and then you have the little downtown swarm, and then you had Plaza del Lago. I mean, honestly, for all these little coves where you could go to to do your shopping and ride your bike to or walk. Judith McBrian 36:32 So um are there, are there, do you have any suggestions on how the village might improve? Are there any things that you would think it could do to make the village even better? Or is it doing a pretty good job on its own at this point? Mary Mathie 36:51 Well you know, in the 45 years, we've seen a lot of growth and development. I mean, I remember when the tea room was there, that's gone. But look at all the restaurants we now have. The downtown landscaping that was hardscaping landscaping that was done is a wonderful improvement. I would ask the Park District to be a little bit more forthcoming with the residents in terms of perhaps talking to them about what it is they want in their community, as opposed to drawing up plans and presenting what they think they should have. That would be one thing I would like to see changed. But I think our fire department, our police department, our village managers, and all of the staff. We really have a great deal to be thankful for here. Yeah, it's, it's a very responsive community when you had problems. We've had police and fire at our door so I know how quickly they come and help. Caring and wonderful they are. I remember, I had to have a little ER run and the firemen in the truck were, we were tradiing recipes. So you know, really great guys and gals that do their job. Really, I feel very secure with them. I know we don't live in the village now. But we're in the village all the time. And I just feel, I feel very proud of it. I'm very proud of Wilmette and what it's become. Judith McBrian 38:37 Is there anything I haven't asked you that you want to cover in terms of dealing, remembering your experiences in Wilmette and maybe how it's changed or not changed over the years? Mary Mathie 38:50 I think the only question I probably would have liked you to ask is if we had to do over again would we do it the same way. Judith McBrian 39:01 If we had to if you had to do over again would you do it the same way? Mary Mathie 39:04 In a heartbeat. In a heartbeat. Yeah. It's been wonderful, great experience. I, I miss living there but I love being next to it. Judith McBrian 39:18 Thank you very much. Thank you so much Mary for your time this afternoon. I really appreciate it. Mary Mathie 39:24 Oh Judith, you did such a wonderful job and you made it so pleasant for me. Thank you for your guidance. You should get a promotion Oh my goodness. I'm sorry. I got so nervous with the....
Creators: Mathie, Mary, Interviewee; McBrien, Judith
, Interviewer
Media Type: Audio; Text
Item Type: Sound recordings
Description: Interview with Mary Mathie by Judith McBrien in Winnetka, Illinois, on April 29, 2022. Mary, a longtime resident of Wilmette, shares fond memories of her childhood experiences in Chicago and her move to Wilmette after starting a family. She discusses her involvement in the community, particularly her volunteer work at St. Joseph's School, where she engaged in various activities, including organizing events, fundraising, and addressing concerns about teacher salaries. Mary also worked at Northwestern University and later transitioned to retail at Dinner At Eight in Wilmette.
Place of Publication: Winnetka, Illinois
Date of Original: 29 Apr 2022
Playing Time: 39:40
Subject(s): Oral histories
Wilmette (Ill.)--History
Wilmette (Ill.) -- Residents
Personal Name(s): Mathie, Mary ; McBrien, Judith
Language of Item: English
Copyright Statement: Protected by copyright: Uses other than research or private study require the permission of the rightsholder(s). Responsibility for obtaining permissions and for any use rests exclusively with the user.
Copyright Date: 2022
Copyright Holder: Wilmette Historical Society and Wilmette Public Library
Contact: Wilmette Public Library
Email:refdesk@wilmettelibrary.info
Website:
https://www.wilmettelibrary.info/

Agency street/mail address:
1242 Wilmette Avenue
Wilmette, IL
60091-2558
U.S.A. Phone: 847-256-6930

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