Park Ridge rally for native daughter Clinton turns to gloom
At 7 p.m., balloons and banners were put up, champagne was put out and dozens of backers of Park Ridge's native daughter Hillary Clinton settled in for a rally meant to honor her election as the nation's first female president.
Hours later, the champagne remained unopened and the "Hillary 2016" cake uncut. With the race still too close to call, the crowd rooting for its hometown heroine Tuesday had packed up and gone home. Many of the election watchers said they lost their appetites for pizza and snacks, as Republican Donald J. Trump won in important battlegrounds of Florida, North Carolina and Ohio.
The mood, festive at first, sank throughout the evening.
"We need a rain delay," shouted one Clinton fan, who remembered how the Chicago Cubs pulled off a rally to win the World Series after the delay gave them a chance to rebound from a blown lead. Another suggested prayer.
"Take a bow for Park Ridge's role in raising HRC, hometown heroine!" read the invitation to the nonpartisan rally at a park district activity room in the city of Park Ridge. The event was organized by Mary Wynn Ryan, a former park district president and city alderman who now is executive director of the Park Ridge Civic Orchestra and a director with the Chamber of Commerce, and Suzanne Henn, who described herself as a housewife and mother of three with a sense of history.
Regardless of the outcome, the historic night once seemed beyond the imagination of even Clinton, who, as a student in the 1960s at Maine East and Maine South high schools wore a "Goldwater Girl" sash while campaigning for the Republican presidential candidate. From that environment grew the Democratic former first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of state who was hoping to shatter the ultimate glass ceiling for women.
"It's our churches, our schools, our parks," said Ryan, explaining the influence Park Ridge had on Clinton, who grew up in the suburb.
Retired PE techer Mickey Gaza, who turns 84 on Monday, taught Clinton in 7th and 8th grades and was a guest at the first lady's 50th birthday party. Gaza said Clinton was a popular and admired leader and outstanding student.
The outcome, Gaza said, was far more important for our nation than the history that would be made by having a woman president.
"That's not a big thing to me," Gaza said. "I'm just so goldarn proud of her as a human being. Hillary is Hillary."