Mary Eleanor Wall turns 90
By Dee Longfellow
The Independent was invited to Park Place on the afternoon of Thursday, Feb. 6 to join the celebration, as Mary Eleanor Wall reached her 90th birthday.
Besides her husband, Jim, their son, Robert, and his wife, Renae, attended along with Dave McGowan and Michael Sitrick from the DuPage Community Foundation, which was founded by Mrs. Wall.
Rosie, the Walls’ assistant at Park Place, was also at the table as the group enjoyed gluten-free carrot cake with thick white icing – Mrs. Wall’s favorite!
The Walls are longtime residents of Elmhurst, where they raised their three sons:
Richard, Robert and David. Their civic, political and community contributions are too numerous to mention. (See related story about Mary Eleanor in this issue.)
The highlight of the day was when McGowan and Sitrick presented Mrs. Wall with a book that was made especially for her, showcasing her years with the Foundation from its inception when she was at the helm. Needless to say, she was delighted.
The book served to inspire memories in Mrs. Wall, as she told stories about the people who were pictured inside. She told stories about many of those who helped her launch the foundation and of course, keep it going after she retired.
Among those pictured in the book were co-founders of the DuPage Foundation, Jerry Bradshaw and Brooks McCormick. Mary Eleanor mentioned these men were both “well-moneyed,” as she put it, and good people who gave back to the community throughout DuPage County, just as she did.
It should be noted that throughout the entire afternoon, both Jim and Mary Eleanor raved about how nice it was to live at Park Place, saying they were lucky it had been built just at the time they needed it.
The story of Mary Eleanor Wall
One of the ‘First Ladies of Elmhurst’
By Genie Urick
[Reprinted with permission from The First Ladies of Elmhurst: Prominent Women of the Twentieth Century, the Independent has obtained permission from the Elmhurst History Museum to print stories from the book, published in 2001, recalling the outstanding women who have helped form our community. This week, we bring you Mary Eleanor Wall, who just celebrated her 90th birthday. Some portions have been edited.]
In 1966 Mary Eleanor Wall was the most dedicated and admired President of the Elmhurst Branch of the American Association of University Women. It was quite clear from the beginning that she would go on to great achievements within the organization. She served on several steering committees and chaired councils and commissions not only in Elmhurst but at the state level and nationally. Mary Eleanor Wall became the Illinois State President in 1979. Under her expert and thoughtful leadership, issues like ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, child care, job sharing and equal education for girls were studied. Strategies and action also were initiated. On May 10, 1980 the National March for Equality was held in Chicago. Mary Eleanor recalls, “Chicago was so windy that I had trouble carrying the huge Illinois AAUW banner for the whole distance… We were all dressed in white with our purple sashes diagonally across our chests. I stood a very long time holding the banner in the wind. At the end of the ceremonies, I found my way to the Essex Hotel on Michigan Avenue in search of a ladies room. When I got there and looked in the mirror, I saw the dirtiest face I had never seen since I was a child! The blowing dirt had attached itself to my sweaty face. I was a sight to behold and will never forget it. This was my humbling conclusion to a very exciting experience.”
As a representative of the Illinois AAUW, Mary Eleanor even traveled to Washington, DC to meet with legislators and to participate in discussions on the SALT II Treaty. In 1998 she again was elected Co-President of the Elmhurst Branch.
Genie Urick offers first impressions
“When I first met Mary Eleanor in 1966 it was obvious that she was passionate about AAUW,” author Genie Urick wrote. “At the time I was newly married, had just moved to Elmhurst, and knew no one other than co-workers at Conrad Fischer School where I taught first grade. As a friendly gesture to a prospective new member, Mary Eleanor invited my husband and me to the association’s annual Holiday Dinner. She and her husband personally picked us up at our apartment and were our escorts for the evening.
“With Mary Eleanor as my mentor, I joined the Elmhurst Branch and have been a member ever since. Mary Eleanor has said, ‘My AAUW experience of the past 40 years has been very significant in nurturing my interests and development in my adult years, with the opportunity to establish lifelong friendships and work with outstanding women of all ages and many experiences.’ But it’s not only because of Mary Eleanor’s distinguished AAUW accomplishments that she will be remembered, but because of her many political endeavors as well.”
Her background
Mary Eleanor was born in Monroe, Michigan, in 1930 to Ralph Wyman Kidder and Neva Springer Kidder. She attended public schools in Florida where her father was a researcher in cattle breeding and nutrition on a research station in the Florida Ever-glades. As a child she remembers belonging to the youth groups at the Methodist church. She played the piano and organ for Sunday school, and in high school played the piano for Rotary and Lions clubs, “where I heard politicians and community leaders speak every week.”
Her father was a community leader and her mother and two aunts provided leadership for the church women’s group and the Woman’s Club.
Mary Eleanor received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Florida Southern College and a Master of Religious Education degree at Emory University. While at Emory she met her future husband, James McKendree Wall. In 1951, she was the Director of Chris-tian Education, first a College Heights Methodist Church in Lakeland, Fla., and then at the First United Methodist Church In Decatur, Georgia.
Marriage and settling in Elmhurst
In 1953 Mary Eleanor Kidder married James Wall in Belle Grade, Florida. They moved to Illinois in 1957, when Jim was a graduate student at the University of Chicago Divinity School. In 1959, they moved to Elmhurst with their two young sons, David McKendree (born 3/19/1955) and Robert Kidder (born 5/6/57). Their third son Richard James was born on July 30, 1960. Mary Eleanor’s husband, James, became editor of The Christian Advocate and then editor and publisher of The Christian Century magazine for 27 years. He retired in 1999.
Throughout their lives, Reverend James and Mary Eleanor Wall were to share some very exciting times. For many years while her children were growing up, Mary Eleanor was an active volunteer in the community. She served on the steering committee for School District 205 Citizens Task Force, Elmhurst College Challenge, College of DuPage Century III Project, and the League of Women Voters of Illinois Juvenile Court Watching Project. She was on the Elmhurst YMCA Board of Directors and Elmhurst Human Relations Council (1965-1970). Mary Eleanor was a consultant on Public Policy for the Chicago Lung Association and served on their Clean Air Committee (1969-1982). She still found time to be a Director of the United Methodist Foundation, University of Chicago (1966-75) and on the Administrative Board (1967) at the Elmhurst First United Methodist Church, where she sang in the Chancel Choir.
A famous visitor comes to Elmhurst
In 1971, Mary Eleanor founded and chaired the DuPage County Democratic Women’s Caucus. She was elected in 1974 to the DuPage County Board as one of the first Democratic women ever to be seated on the board. That same year her husband ran for Democratic state central committeeman in the same primary and won.
“Jim and I were active in the Jimmy Carter Presidential Campaigns in 1975/76 and 1980,” Mary Eleanor said. “Jim was Illinois Chairman for the Carter Campaign in the Primary 1976 and 1980. We had many experiences with Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter.”
Mary Eleanor and Jim Wall were friends with the Carters and shared common interests. Jimmy Carter was elected President of the United States of America in 1976. In 1977, Vice President Walter Mondale personally phoned Mary Eleanor in Elmhurst to tell her that President Carter had appointed her to serve on a nine-member Presidential Commission to select a new Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
“It was the most exciting thing!” Mary Eleanor said. “While Carter was President he spent the night at our home on May 25, 1978, after speaking at a Democratic Cook County/City of Chicago dinner. Carter flew to Springfield the next day to address the Illinois legislature. In the fall of 1979, the two of us spent the night with the Carters at the White House and went to the opera with them to see Salome. We slept in the Lincoln bedroom.”
While Mary Eleanor was in Washington she took the opportunity, as president of the American Association of University Women-Illinois, to meet with President Carter’s senior advisor on women’s affairs to discuss the prospect of her home state ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment. And it was quite an extraordinary and unforgettable community event in 1978 when the President of the United States of America slept at the Walls’ resident (451 So. Kenilworth) right here in Elmhurst! In fact it was one of the city highlights of the decade, especially for the Elmhurst Police Department. Elmhurst officers proudly and efficiently assisted the U.S. Secret Service in providing security and crowd control for the approximate 5,000 Elmhurst residents who greeted President Carter. In 1980 Mary Eleanor Wall once again was appointed by President Carter as one of three public members on a 26-member Federal Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations.
More hard work and accomplishments
While serving as a DuPage County Board member, Mary Eleanor was a Forest Preserve Commissioner (1974-78). She also was a DuPage County Regional Planning Commissioner (1975-2000) and served as chairperson for 16 years (1980-96). In 1989, Elmhurst Mayor Charles Garrigues appointed Mary Eleanor to the Mayor’s Task Force on Senior Housing. Both the city and the county faced many issues concerning senior citizens. As a direct result of Mary Eleanor’s enterprising efforts with numerous people and organizations, the DuPage Senior Citizens Council was established in 1975. Eventually a new not-for-profit group called Senior Home Sharing, Inc., was started in 1981. After serving on the Board, Mary Eleanor became the Executive Director in 1983 and continued in that position until she retired in May 2000. She also assisted in forming the Illinois Shared Housing Network in 1993 with support from the Illinois Department on Aging.
In 1996, Genie Urick produced a local television program on location featuring the residents and staff of the Elmhurst-based Senior Home called Van Buren Place. Mary Eleanor was a special guest on the show and it was evident to the entire crew that she was an eloquent and sincere spokesperson for seniors. She has been graciously referred to as the “Godmother” of DuPage senior citizens.
The DuPage Foundation is formed
In addition to consulting and serving on many councils, committees and commissions, Mary Eleanor was the founding force behind the DuPage Community Foundation in 1987. This nonprofit organization accepts bequests and donations and in return, awards monetary grants to deserving arts, civic, and social service groups in the county.
Honors and recognition
Mary Eleanor Wall was formally recognized by the Elmhurst Branch of the American Association of University Women as an AAUW Educational Foundation Named Grant Honoree. In 1988 she was honored with the YWCA DuPage Outstanding Woman Leader Professional in Community Work Award. Senior Home Sharing Inc. presented her with the 2000 Merritt H. Grim Award for her able leadership and many years of advocacy and outstanding service on behalf of older persons. In appreciation of her extraordinary efforts, she was given the 2000 Gold L.E.A.F. Award (Leadership and Excellence in Advocating For Families) by Metropolitan Family Services-DuPage. Today Mary Eleanor continued to facilitate organizational development through volunteer work with not-for-profit and public policy work. She was elected Co-President of the National Shared Housing Resource Center Conference. She enjoyed archaeological study tours in the Near East and the Mediterranean, choral singing, opera and reading related to Biblical and classical archaeology. And of course, she was always there for her family, which now includes four grandchildren.
Her own thoughts
Mary Eleanor Wall says this about herself:
“I am loyal persistent, unpredictable, interested in history, prehistoric early human-kind… I am also keenly interested in current events as contemporary history un-folds. The foundation of this interest comes from being a liberal Protestant Christian woman which brings me to being a feminist and a Democrat concerned about human rights and justice for all people and especially for the most vulnerable persons, often girls and older women… I am always thinking, processing information and experience, making connections to solve problems… All of these experiences are now somehow integrated and connected in who I am at the present moment, still forming, processing and learning.”
