Author, 85, credits Daily Herald with giving her a push to start her writing career
Her tenure at the Daily Herald was only two years in the early 1970s.
But 85-year-old Frances Altman of Baltimore, Maryland, still points to that time in the Arlington Heights office as the key to launching her writing career - one that had its share of ups and downs.
Working on special sections content for the advertising department at the Daily Herald represented Altman's starting gate as a writer. It built the longtime confidence needed to do her "side job" as an author.
In what she considers her most cherished work, Altman is looking forward to the April release of "Destiny's Daughter," a biography of Mary Edwards Walker she has worked on for several years. Walker was a source of inspiration to Altman as the only woman to receive the Medal of Honor for her work as a doctor treating the wounded during the Civil War and surviving a Confederate prison camp.
However, the book's release online, at Barnes and Noble stores, and through Amazon in April brings about a dose of newspaper nostalgia for Altman.
Altman came to the Daily Herald as part of a buyout when the newspaper acquired the Field Enterprises' Arlington Day weekly paper in 1970 as part of an overall acquisition of numerous Field suburban paper properties.
As she began working for the ad department, Altman made it known to anyone who would listen that she wanted to be a reporter and feature writer for the paper.
"But the Herald had strict standards for hiring writers for the editorial department," Altman said. "You had to have a degree, and (owners) Stuart and Robert Paddock would tell me to go get my degree and then come back to work for them."
She took the advice to heart and attended Roosevelt University in Chicago, earning a degree that was aided because her stories from the Herald were accepted as work experience needed for that degree.
The college education didn't help Altman get back on board at the Daily Herald, mainly because she made "my worst decision" when jumping at an offer to be the managing editor for a new Field Enterprises publication, Suburban Week.
She would never return to the Daily Herald with her degree and expanded knowledge. Instead, she was derailed by the decision because the Suburban Week concept struggled, and she was there only 14 months before leaving.
Turning to corporate communications, she worked for Teepak in Oak Brook for 25 years before facing another downsizing at the company.
Later, she and her family moved to the east coast, and she took various public relations jobs for long periods before undergoing two more downsizings and landing a PR role at Virginia Commonwealth Business School.
When retiring in 2012, Altman moved to Baltimore to be closer to a daughter. All the while, she kept writing, finishing 10 books, three of them with CreateSpace for middle schoolchildren - "Spirit Dog," "Mister Umbrella Man & 13 Inventions," and "Escape to Freedom."
"As you know, writers never stop writing," she said. As such, she had been researching Mary Edwards Walker for years and spent the COVID lockdown years finishing "Destiny's Daughter" and submitting it to Apprentice House Press.
"I admired Walker as a maverick suffragist and for her perseverance, as I was one of those people who kept getting downsized and then moving on, making perseverance one of the key drivers of 'Destiny's Daughter,'" Altman noted.
She insisted that it would only happen with the two years at the Daily Herald. Altman said that encouragement from Herald management to pursue a degree and continue writing was life-changing.
"I have always felt gratitude toward the Daily Herald and have always considered myself an alumnus of the newspaper," Altman said. "It was my key learning point in real serious writing, and I consider this upcoming book as a bonus to a satisfying career."
Nice, but we already knew
When a statewide or national poll determines some aspects of the Tri-Cities area stand out, our general reaction has been that they finally figured out something we've known all along.
It was not surprising that WorldAtlas recently proclaimed Geneva and "its sister city of St. Charles" as being among the 15 "most beautiful towns across America."
First, let's explain who and what WorldAtlas is. Yes, the same WorldAtlas made the bound-volume maps of the U.S. and other countries that you may or may not have had in your car when making trips to other states.
As part of its mission of giving a complete view of a continent or country, it also delivers history and science pieces and compiles various lists, such as the "most beautiful towns."
In giving the Tri-Cities area some impressive recognition, WorldAtlas also mentioned that Batavia, to the south of Geneva, was part of this overall beauty and quality of life. So, nobody around here needs to feel left out.
In addition to the Fox River and its amenities, WorldAtlas singled out the vintage hotels, quaint downtowns, interesting shops and restaurants, great walking and biking trails and dog-friendly parks as key factors behind their recognition of the Tri-Cities.
I'm not entirely sure what this means because I haven't heard this word in some time, but WorldAtlas mentioned that the residents around here are "chipper."
Not to be outdone, around the same time, the Niche restaurant at 14 S. Third St. earned its own lofty status. The website onlyinyourstate.com declared the restaurant "One of the Nicest Restaurants in America Hiding in Small-Town Illinois."
The website went on to call Niche "one of the best restaurants in Illinois - if not in the entire country."
Whether you want to give this particular website a ton of weight and credibility for these things is up to you. It has been around since 2015 and features a team of travel writers who have written more than 100,000 articles about places they visit and restaurants they try.
Regardless, we certainly don't mind hearing our area offers some of the best things in the country.
Sam's found a purpose
The Sam's Club building in Batavia closed five years ago in January of 2018, but it's been serving as a center of sorts for different events and activities.
While the city waits for another potential suitor at the large building along Randall Road, the former Sam's site has been a COVID vaccination center for Kane County and a pickup location for a prom dress giveaway, among other things. In addition, its parking lot served as a holding area for school buses because of work being done at the bus barn in St. Charles.
Most recently, the inside of the building has been converted into a soap box derby racetrack for the Greater Chicago Soap Box Derby organization.
Those interested in this activity can see races in the mornings and afternoons of Feb. 18 and 19 and March 18 and 19. The first races start at 9 a.m.
The organization moves the soap box races to an outdoor track near the intersection of Frontenac and Diehl roads in Naperville for April and June, then again in September and October.
Dresses back at the library
The CHIP IN organization will be back on familiar ground when it holds its ninth Prom Dress Giveaway event from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 18, at the Batavia Public Library. The COVID lockdown canceled all things prom two years ago, and last year the free dress giveaway was held at the empty Sam's Club building on Randall Road in Batavia because of construction work at the library.
Even though CHIP IN mainly focuses on assisting low-income and homeless Batavia families, the popular prom dress giveaway has been open to any student from any school district, regardless of need.
The Batavia Library, at 10 S. Batavia Ave., will be the dress collection and giveaway location. Organizers note that clean dresses in good to excellent condition, along with shoes, purses and accessories, can be dropped off at the library checkout desk from now through Friday. March 17. Money donations are accepted and would be used to help pay for tuxedo rentals and prom tickets for Batavia students. Tax donation letters are available at the library, which is open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Last year, the organization donated more than 300 dresses to students in the Tri-Cities area and as far away as Chicago.
Viking lands in Geneva
The Geneva History Museum is bringing even more "Viking" into town, showcasing a restored dragon head and tail of a replica Viking ship displayed at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. The restored 9-foot-tall dragon head was part of a replica ancient Viking ship called Gokstad, a ship built in Norway in 1892 that sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to Chicago for the fair.
The museum will host "Viking's Voyage: A 19th Century ship's journey from Norway to Illinois" from Saturday, Feb. 4 through Dec. 22. Museum hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
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