‘Ulysses achieved his greatest accomplishments after the age of 50,” explains Patricia Koko of the Oak Park Senior Citizen Center. “We like that role model, so we created our annual Ulyssean Award to honor two area individuals who are at least 50 and who have consistently exhibited high levels of excellence and achievements.”
This year, the Oak Park Senior Center is bestowing the honor to lifelong residents, Chatka Ruggiero of River Forest and Lee Brooke of Oak Park during a special dinner and award ceremony on Friday, Sept. 8 at the Carleton Hotel.
“We are especially proud of our Ulyssean winners this year,” says Koko. “They both have touched the lives of so many people in many similar and also very different ways.”
Chatka Ruggiero is a local real estate owner whose, perhaps, best known property is the classic Greek Revival Oak Park Arts Center at 200 N. Oak Park Ave. which houses the Hemingway Museum.
“Chatka is a real estate owner, but she is better known as a true philanthropist-she has given so much to Oak Park and River Forest from helping to create committees to safely safeguard and steer the future of this area to establishing local businesses such as Community Bank,” Koko noted.
“Lee is just a fascinating person and has captured and preserved so much of area history that would be lost if he had not taken an interest,” Koko said, noting that Brooke became interested in researching local history after a neighbor asked him at a block party to do a special project on the history of their neighborhood. From that very personal and local start, Brooke embarked on a literary career that has included over a dozen books and video and special reports, several of which have won recognition.
Ruggiero has lived in Oak Park her whole life. “I love my community-I would never leave here,” she says. When she met her husband, Tony, who was from Bridgeport, Ruggiero says there was no thought as to where they would live.
“No way was I leaving my home; it was clear he would have to move here with me!” she recalled. The Ruggieros had a business partnership in the early days of rock ‘n’ roll. “Tony was a popular area DJ, and he would host concerts and shows with successful rock ‘n’ roll groups like The Buckinghams and The Cryin’ Shames,” she said. “I had a company under my own name that did the marketing and the publicity.” Ruggiero left the business to pursue her interest in real estate ownership and management, but her husband stayed committed to his love of music.
“Finally, I was so busy that I told him he had to help me, so we started working together again, but this time in real estate.”
At one time, the Ruggieros were among the largest individual multifamily building and commercial property owners in Oak Park and River Forest.
“We have sold most of it off,” says Ruggiero. “We own a mall in Schaumburg and, of course, the Arts Center, but, really, there isn’t much.” Ruggiero attributes the liquidation to “a change in the market.” She is very optimistic about the future of Oak Park, however. “Stay commercial-successful,” she says as a key to continued prosperity. Of the popular trend of converting buidings to condominiums, she has nothing but praise. “We had buildings that were bought from us and developed and they were just beautiful,” she says. “Condominium owners, unlike renters, are really showing an investment in the community.”
“Renters are flighty and will move if something isn’t right-if they can’t park in front of their building for example. People who buy condominiums are showing they are here to stay.” Of the many changes to downtown Oak Park and the fear of a pervading “big-box” mentality, Ruggiero says, “Oak Park has retained its personality and distinctive character; we still have thriving ‘mom and pop,’ family-owned businesses-just look at Lake Street and Oak Park Avenue.”
“Chatka helped to create several important real estate boards that protected the community and promoted diversity,” observes Koko. And Ruggiero was one of the first to invest on the Oak Park side of Austin Boulevard.
“When I first started becoming interested in the area, I remember some buildings had large yard signs up saying things like ‘Guard Dogs On Premises’-I mean, what does that say about how welcoming and family-oriented a neighborhood it is?” Ruggiero took the signs down and went to work to clean up the neighborhood and make it more attractive. And her involvement moved beyond real estate.
“I am really proud of my work on the development of Community Bank of Oak Park and River Forest,” she says. “When all the banks were closing or merging, it was impossible to get personal service-why shouldn’t this area have their own financial institution?”
Ruggiero lives in River Forest, with her husband. Her three sons are grown, and she enjoys spending time with her grandchildren. She has turned much of her attention to her lifelong passion, her cats. “We deliberately chose this house because of the large acreage which would be perfect for the cats to play,” she says. “But it’s really not safe for them to journey outside, so here we are with all this room and our cats inside.”
Her love and devotion to the well-being of pets in general has led to her current position as president of The Animal Care League in Oak Park. “I’ve been involved with many causes, but I am especially proud of the Animal Care League,” she says. “Pets are such wonderful creatures that offer us so much.”
Ruggiero is looking forward to Oak Park and River Forest becoming more pet-friendly and animal-sensitive. “I’d like to see more things such as dog parks where people can interact with their pets and with other pet owners,” she says. “Every time I drive by the Forest Park dog park on my way to the Animal Care League, it is always busy, and I think that is just so great.”
“I was nominated last year for the award and didn’t get it, so I was blown away-just speechless-when I learned I was receiving the honor this year,” laughs Lee Brooke good-humoredly. “When you consider that there are 65,000 people in Oak Park and River Forest, and I was one of two people chosen-well, that only happens once in a lifetime.”
Brooke enrolled in and attended Senior Citizens’ Center classes for writers from 1995 through 1998. “My first book was in 1984 and focused on Oak Park’s Avenue Lake Plaza, the historic village shopping district that no longer exists,” says Brooke. “There was a lot of interest in it, so I self-published it and all the rest.” Brooke followed up in 1985 with “Let’s Eat Out… (in Oak Park and River Forest) and continued with subjects ranging from profiles of local people of note-fellow author, Harriet Robinet; Elsie Lund Jacobsen; and his own father, Wilfred “Bill” Lee Brooke-to a chonicle of all the houses that have been moved in the two villages. Brooke also recorded the history of the Oak Park/River Forest Citizens Committee for Human Rights and Desegregation. And he focused on local historical buildings, manuscripts and local churches. Brooke’s books are available at local bookstores and online through amazon.com.
In 2001, Brooke began co-authoring publications with his life partner, Marcy Kubat.
“Marcy is just wonderful, and I wouldn’t have received this award without her,” says Brooke. “This award is all about her and her work too.”
Brooke is especially delighted that David Kettlestrings, descendent of the Kettlestrings founding family and still a resident of Oak Park, is going to attend the award presentation.
“I’ve interviewed David and written about the Kettlestrings family-it is great that he will be there to share in the honor and be recognized as a living reminder of Oak Park’s past,” notes Brooke.
“I had a very long career as a medical librarian and didn’t begin writing until after my professional retirement. I worked in advertising sales for the Wednesday Journal for two years and then worked at The Printing Store for two years,” he says of his own Ulyssean journey toward becoming the writer, which netted him this award.