Schaumburg fondly remembers one of its first residents
p class="News">Back in 1985, Walter and Helen Slingerland joined Schaumburg Mayor, Robert O. Atcher and his wife, Maggie, in headlining the groundbreaking ceremony for the Prairie Arts Center.
The Atchers represented the village, while the Slingerlands represented the original family that had donated the land to the village, some 160 acres which now includes the municipal complex and the Prairie Center.
As a young man in his twenties in the late 1940s, Mr. Slingerland moved with his family from Chicago to rural Schaumburg. At the time, his parents purchased the former Westmore Country Club and turned it into a working farm.
His father, Walter Slingerland, Sr., served as one of Schaumburg's first trustees, and he also served as the village's first building inspector.
"What stature it must have been, to have a Slingerland involved with the start of the village," says Schaumburg Mayor Al Larson. "Maggie Atcher often said it was the village's good fortune to draw such far-reaching individuals, these people who had such vision, all gathered in one space."
Mr. Slingerland passed away March 23 from Alzheimer's Disease. The former 43-year Schaumburg resident, most recently of Chapel Hill, NC, was 80.
"He is the last of that generation, of a family whose impact on Schaumburg was great," says his wife, Helen.
Throughout his life, Mr. Slingerland's name was synonymous with the famous percussion maker, the Slingerland Drum Co., which his father and uncle started in 1914.
What began with banjos, ukeleles and guitars switched to percussion instruments in the mid-1930s, when they began supplying universities, drum and bugle corps and dance bands with their drum sets.
Mr. Slingerland himself did not play an active role with the company, but as a youngster he often accompanied his father to the drum factory, and he soon developed into an accomplished drummer.
He played with two different drum corps, and one of his cherished memories was sitting in with the Gene Krupa Orchestra at the Panther Room in Chicago, family members say
In 1951, he married his wife, Helen, and the couple lived in a house they had built on the family farm property, along Schaumburg Road. At the time, they were among 178 voters in Schaumburg township, Helen Slingerland recalls.
The couple had two daughters and as their children grew, they became involved with establishing Schaumburg High School. They served as the first presidents of the school's parents' group, the VIP Club.
"It was so exciting to be in on all of that from the beginning," Helen Slingerland adds, "to see Schaumburg grow from nothing, to what it is today."
One of their projects was to raise $40,000 to sod the high school's athletic fields, before drawing on a labor force of athletes and coaches to install them.
"At the time, everyone wanted to be in the VIP Club," Helen Slingerland recalls. "We were so thrilled to have our own high school."
When the couple retired, they sold their home to the village of Schaumburg's health department and its nursing division. However, they remained in contact with village leaders, including Larson, who will speak at Mr. Slingerland's funeral.
Besides his wife, Mr. Slingerland is survived by his daughters, Mary Helen (Robert) Owens of Mebane, N.C. and Lisa Slingerland (Mark) Wallis of Hong Kong; and three grandchildren.
A memorial service will take place at 2 p.m. Sunday at St. Peter Lutheran Church, 208 E. Schaumburg Road in Schaumburg.