Dolores Haugh, 95, made Mount Prospect a better community, mourners say
Dolores Haugh's life touched virtually every institution in Mount Prospect.
She was the village's first public information officer, served as executive director of the Mount Prospect Chamber of Commerce and was president of the Mount Prospect Historical Society.
Many of the events enjoyed by residents today, such as the farmers market and the Teddy Bear Walk, were started by her.
"She was on the ground floor of a lot organizations in the community," said her daughter, Cheryl Haugh.
Haugh died Thursday at the age of 95 after a life that in many ways epitomized the growth and development of the village she loved.
In an oral history interview given in 1991, Haugh recalled that she came to Mount Prospect in 1952, moving in to a house at 7 S. Edward St.
"It was a very small-town atmosphere, very tight. In fact, it was where town and country meet," she said. "That was our motto."
That soon changed, and Haugh was on the cutting edge. She and her husband, Robert, were involved in the building of the St. Mark Lutheran Church sanctuary and the design of its educational center. They also were instrumental in starting a new church, Grace Lutheran, where Dolores acted as school superintendent.
"She was just a really community-spirited person," Cheryl Haugh said.
When the village formed a comprehensive plan committee in 1974 to try to keep its downtown alive, Dolores Haugh served on the committee.
"She was one of those people that was always on the go," said former Mount Prospect Mayor Gerald "Skip" Farley. "She did as many things as she could handle at one time, and that was quite a few. She was one of the first organizers of the chamber of commerce and headed that up.
"She was interested in the community and kept working to enhance it and to improve it and to make it a better community."
Mount Prospect Trustee Paul Hoefert remembered raking leaves in his front yard 35 years ago when then-Mayor Carolyn Krause drove up and advised him to get involved with the historical society and that Haugh would be calling him.
"That's all it took," Hoefert said. "One call from Dolores Haugh. That's all it ever took. No one could say 'no' to Dolores Haugh. She would not let you say 'no,'" he said.
About the time of the village's 50th anniversary in 1967, she joined a group of women who decided to start a local historical society. The group rented the vacated St. John Lutheran School building and opened a museum there in 1976, in time for the nation's bicentennial celebration.
Dolores Haugh worked as a journalist during the 1970s, becoming editor of the Prospect Day, a local newspaper owned by the Chicago Sun-Times and eventually sold to Paddock Publications.
Later, when she was the village's public information officer, her hobby of collecting teddy bears led to her starting the Christmas Teddy Bear Walk, a tradition currently carried on by the Mount Prospect Public Library.
In the late 1980s, hearing that the 1906 Dietrich Friedrichs house, at 101 S. Maple St., was up for sale and the bank across the street planned to purchase it and level it to make way for parking, she and other citizens went door-to-door to collect money to save the building, now the permanent home of the Mount Prospect Historical Museum.
"Bottom line, we would not have our downtown museum today if it were not for the efforts of Dolores Haugh. That is an absolute fact," Hoefert said.
Later, she led the group that restored and furnished the home. She also oversaw the design and construction of an adjacent education center, which was named after her as part of the village's centennial activities in 2017.
After she retired to the Moorings in Arlington Heights, she wrote a book devoted to Riverview Park in Chicago.
"When it came out, I think for the first two years, it was (the publisher's) best-selling book. Even now, she is getting royalties," Cheryl Haugh said.
The family invites donations in Haugh's name to The South Church, 501 S. Emerson St. Mount Prospect, IL 60056. A memorial service is pending.