Charles “Corky” Leighton was a strapping lad while growing up in Toledo, Ohio. He had reached the height of six feet before the end of seventh grade, a veritable Gulliver…
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No One-Hit Wonder
Glen Roberts sits inside a Starbucks in his hometown of Barrington. It’s mid-afternoon. Earlier, in Rosemont, the former AbbVie director of international distribution had practiced with members of his senior…
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Profusion of Inclusion
Three-year-old Chloe Stolman asked the question in the presence of her siblings, 9-year-old Ari and 6-year-old Brooke. “Why can’t Uncle Ira talk?” Chloe queried. The older children each jumped at…
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Lost Then Found- 107 Years Later
A young Annie Aggens probably had a hard time falling asleep whenever her father, former geology teacher Lorenz, read aloud from a certain book at bedtime. But not because the…
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Mr. Wilmette
Did you hear the one about the Civil War veteran from Wilmette who headed to work one day, lunch pail in hand, and went missing for more than 20 years?…
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Simply Watkins
Julia Watkins was hungry, circa 2000. A Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa at the time, she couldn’t exactly order an entrée at a steakhouse or motor to a drive-thru…
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Gorton’s Go-To
Garrison Keillor got lost in Lake Forest in February 2020. The author, singer, humorist, radio personality, and engaging storyteller couldn’t find his way—on foot—from the Deer Path Inn to the…
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Beaming With Pride
Avid fisherman Eudell Watts IV has quite a tale for you—but it’s a true one. And it has nothing to do with the length and weight of a largemouth bass….
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Upscale Rummage
Renee Baldwin sits in a squishy, comfortable couch at Libertyville-based Upscale Rummage, the nonprofit re-sale shop she launched at the Montessori School of Lake Forest in 1999. The white couch…
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Rockin’ and Givin’
Lifelong Highland Park resident Jeff Gerchenson was 9 years old and the thrilled owner of an acoustic guitar—given to him by his mother, Bernice—when the thought of practicing the instrument…
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