'Retired' Arlington Hts. woman worked 20 years at newsstand
Alice Freier worked for more than 20 years at the Westgate Book Store & Newspaper shop in Arlington Heights, dispensing a cheerful smile and witty advice to the hundreds of racing fans and lottery customers who came through its doors.
She died Monday at the Lutheran Home in Arlington Heights, where she had lived the last five years. She was 101.
"Deep into her 80s, she worked full shifts," says Jim O'Donnell of Arlington Heights, who formerly covered racing for the Chicago Sun-Times. "She was renowned for both her unfailing friendliness and as a quiet crossroads of chat and gossip about all things Arlington Heights."
Freier and her husband, Arthur, moved to Arlington Heights in 1956 and within a few years she found employment at the Andes Candies shop in Arlington Market.
The store sold "preferred candies" as well as its crème de menthe thins and was located next to another iconic store, Kresge's.
Freier eventually managed the store and from her perch behind the counter, she greeted customers from all walks of life and watched the suburb expand.
"Her recall of the town and its expanding mores from that era would have survived the rooted scrutiny of author Alex Haley," O'Donnell adds. "So many of her memories came candy-wrapped."
Freier eventually left the shop and found full-time work at Unigard Insurance, where she worked until her mandatory retirement, which ultimately led to her role at the newsstand.
"Hundreds of people would go in and out of there each day," says Freier's youngest son, Jon. "The rail birds came in to pick up racing forms and lots of people bought lottery tickets there. Jockeys came in there, too. It was nonstop people."
Her son credits Freier's long life, in part to her hearty Norwegian genes. Both her parents were from Norway, and for many years, Freier and her husband were active members of the former Skjold Lodge, Sons of Norway in Arlington Heights.
"Mostly, it was her attitude," says Jon Freier, a reader's advisory assistant at the Arlington Heights Memorial Library. "She loved life and she loved being around people."
Around 1995, when the newsstand changed ownership, Freier left and turned to another role that drew on her cheerful disposition: volunteering at the Lutheran Home in Arlington Heights. She moved there in 2009.
"From start to finish, Mrs. Freier hit so many hearts during her long and positive life," O'Donnell says. "She was a reminder that an extremely understated suburban mother and wife could turn simplicity into charm, common sense into precious shared treasure. Encouragement was her calling card."
Freier was preceded in death by her husband, Arthur. Besides her son, she is survived by her children Jeffrey (Penny) Freier and Alice (Robert) Woertendyke, as well as two grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
Visitation from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday will be followed by the memorial service, all at the St. John Chapel of the Lutheran Home, 800 W. Oakton St. in Arlington Heights.