Bringing the past to life

For one afternoon, Mark Willhite and his wife, Megan, will not be themselves.

The Grayslake residents will bring to life two individuals who made an impact on the village years ago and now are buried there.

Mark will become Bert Johnson. It was a person Johnson knew that makes him notable. A carpenter, Bert worked for McFarland, a big developer who would be responsible for changing Taylor's Lake to Highland Lake.

Megan will play Eunice Fenlon Wisner. Born in 1850 in Sand Lake, between Lake Villa and Lindenhurst, she is notable as her daughter Ethel married Robert Churchill, who owned Grayslake's first law office.

"It's a character that actually existed. It's not a fictional character someone made up," she said. "You want to give justice to this person who lived and made a difference in Grayslake."

The Willhites are among re-enactors who will present the 10th annual living history tour of the Grayslake Cemetery Sunday.

The couple credits Charlotte Renehan, president of the Grayslake Historical Society, who has researched these individuals, to provide details, particularly dates.

"It is fun, but also challenging, to memorize the lines and get all the history correct," Mark said.

Renehan will lead the tour at 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. at the cemetery, which is a half block north of the intersection of Lake Street and Route 120. Admission is free.

In case of rain, the event will be at State Bank of the Lakes community room, 50 Commerce Drive, Grayslake.

Renehan said the tour is a fun way to tell people about others who make up the area's history.

"It's their past that molds our future," she said.

Ten years ago, Renehan began to research about 500 individuals who are buried at Grayslake Cemetery.

"I like genealogy, whether it's mine or someone else's," she said.

Renehan said many of the people buried in the cemetery were not famous inventors or entrepreneurs. But the program reflects how these people or those they knew affected the community.

"They were people like you and me, farmers and businessmen. They were people from the community who stayed in the community," she said.

Also among the individuals to be featured Sunday will be Mary VanDuzen Kapple. The pipe that carried water from Wakesha, Wis., to the Colombian Exposition in Chicago ran through her family's farm, located near what is now the county fairgrounds on routes 45 and 120 in Grayslake.

Then there is Joe Schlosser. For 40 years, he operated a newspaper, separate editions distributed across the country for men and women who sought a companion.

"He kept the post office in business during the Depression," she said.

But his newspaper had a dark side. In 1916, a convicted murderer in Michigan was discovered to find his female victims in this newspaper.

Also featured will be Rene Vantwoud, whose father had a summer hotel at Druce Lake, and Jane Wilson Hart, whose husband participated in the Gold Rush.