Our compassion can overwhelm us when we hear of the deaths of people we knew.
We lost two of our best in recent weeks as both Suzie Brown and Jane Steinmetz left us in a two-day span in June, but the echo of their accomplishments in the life of Park Forest still resonates and the sad news can give us pause to consider their worth. Both worked together on various projects through the decades
Steinmetz
Jane Audrey Hilton came to Park Forest in August 1963 after she took a job as a school psychologist in the Chicago Heights Elementary District 170. Marriage to Jon Steinmetz, parenthood and community service for the next 42 years involved her in the weave of community life.
Her writing skills intersected with the growth of the village, from composing and editing her children’s school newsletters, to serving as editor of the League of Women Voters publications for 20 years and editing the biographies for members of the Park Forest Hall of Fame.
She was president of the village’s Non Partisan Commission, co-chaired the league’s annual house tour and was on the Non-Partisan committee, the Gavin Memorial Foundation, the League of Women Voters, the Historical Society and was director of the bell choir at Faith Church for more than 13 years.
Jane knew and felt the pulse of the village every day
In 2006, Jane and Jon moved to Hendersonville, North Carolina.
Her short obituary captures her life as “psychologist, sociologist, musicologist, Cubs fan, collector and cat lover.”
Brown
From the day in 1958 when she and her husband, James Stephen, bought a house in Park Forest, Nelda Suzanne (Suzie) Brown devoted herself to the betterment of others through education and exemplified dedication over time to the future of the village she loved.
When her two children, Lynn and Bruce, were old enough she went back to school as a part-time student for four years in order to become a reading specialist and was active in social justice causes ranging from civil rights to the environment.
She had a great curiosity about the world around her. She traveled the world over as well as the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic states in researching her family’s genealogy.
Suzie kept teaching until her retirement in 1996, and never seemed to slow down. She recorded the oral histories of the village’s residents for the Park Forest Historical Society and even crafted a school program about the village’s early history. When her health began to fail, she moved to Oregon to be near her daughter in 2015.
Intelligent, gracious, curious, sociable and enthusiastic about social justice causes best describes her.
Oops!
When last we met, we chatted about the big 75th anniversary concert “gala” to be held in Freedom Hall in mid-August. However, the date given to us (the 15th) created a conflict with the annual mid-summer corn roast picnic in Somonauk Park sponsored by the Park Forest- Chicago Heights Rotary Club.
Before you knew it, the concert by the “Better Together” jazz ensemble as well as the reception/dinner was shifted to Saturday, Sept. 28, allowing Rotary to stage its event.
It is to be noted that the club’s 5-7 p.m. picnic will cost $15 for adults and $10 for anyone 17 years or younger, and for that price one can eat lots of chicken hamburgers, hot dogs, salads and/or desserts.
The Freedom Hall affair will cost you more. How much will depend on your selection of post-concert choices and will range from $75 to $125
Net income from tickets to the event and from a glitzy ad book will benefit the village’s scholarship fund, the Veterans Closet, and the Park Forest Historical Society. In a sense all three groups benefit residents through knowledge, charity and history.
Jerry Shnay, at jerryshnay@gmail.com, is a freelance columnist for the Daily Southtown.
