Longtime Glenview resident joins the centenarian club
The 100-year journey started on the South side of Chicago for Glenview's newest member of the Centenarian Club, Florence Tenerowicz.
She was the third-oldest of seven children, and as son Wally explains, "Times were tough back in the Depression days. My mom never even knew her birthday till she was 16 when her mom made her a cake. They just didn't have the money to celebrate back then."
Florence's childhood went happily, and in her early teen years she helped run the old corner milk and candy store. After marrying husband Walter, she then helped run the family business, Regal Supply, a tile and carpet store started by Walter and his brother.
The Glenview part of her story begins back in 1963 when, with six kids in tow, Florence and Walter finally decided to make the move from the city to suburbs. A proposed house deal in Niles suddenly fell through, but by chance - almost immediately thereafter - someone told them about an empty lot for sale in Glenview in a new development called Tall Trees. They had never heard of this new area but thought they would give it a look.
They looked, they liked, and they bought. And that is how it all started. Their loss (sorry Niles) was certainly Glenview's great gain.
Now, 57 years later as of this past Tuesday, an exclamation mark was put on the end of this long Glenview journey with the celebration of Florence's 100th birthday. She hit the coveted triple figure mark and celebrated the landmark occasion with her family at Grandpa's Place restaurant. The gathering was large, as Florence's reach has expanded exponentially over the years with not only six children of her own, but 13 grandkids, and seven great-grandkids all coming from places as far away as Oregon and Hawaii - although not everyone could make it due to coronavirus.
I asked Florence how it felt to hit the long anticipated hundred mark: "Pretty good," she said, "otherwise I wouldn't be here."
Well, she is here and, in fact, doing pretty well. Outside of some failing eyesight, her health is good, and she was more than eager to recall some of the good memories of her hometown. "I got to watch my six kids grow up and go through the school systems at OLPH, Glenbrook South and Loyola," she explains, "and I got to watch the Tall Trees neighborhood develop from just a few houses to the large neighborhood it is now."
"When we moved here in 1963, we were one of the first lots in the open area," she continued, "and of course we saw it grow over the years. Outside of a little flooding problem, Tall Trees was a wonderful neighborhood to raise the kids."
The Tener house, as one might imagine, was mighty busy back in the day. It became a popular spot for the kids and their friends to gather. Son Wally explains the main reason why: "Oh yeah, my friends loved coming over to our house because my mom would always serve plenty of Portillo's chili dogs, Cheetos and chocolate. Not a lot of salads served at our house."
Besides watching her kids compete in sports and other school programs, Florence kept busy and enjoyed being part of the OLPH Women's Club and also was very active in bowling leagues.
"I enjoyed it all," said Florence, "but I used to hate the way the parents in sports would always be yelling and fighting with each other."
I asked her what she thought of the world today with 100 years of experience to refer back to, and she said "It reminds me of a science fiction movie. Like the old show Flash Gordon, where everything was just strange and different. That's what this virus seems like to me."
"Oh," she added, "and that (presidential) debate was disgraceful. All that yelling and interrupting was horrible to watch."
As you can see, Florence hasn't lost too many steps and is still keeping up on current events. Days that are precious, each and every one - with hopefully plenty more to come.
"I am not ready to go just yet," she tells her kids, "because there is always another book to read, another show to watch, or another conversation to be had."
Yes, there is. At least a hundred or so.