A Family’s Defining Moment on a Sunday in 1971

“An Oak tree is a daily reminder that great things often have small beginnings.” 

Matshona Dhliwayo

We wouldn’t go very far. We knew from experience that travelling with the kids would inevitably be interrupted by disputes and urgent toilet issues. At the minimum, four of the kids (one is strapped in) would feel the freedom of the road and somewhat unrestrained mobility. “Just sit down and be quiet. Your father is trying to concentrate on the road.”

Living in an old house on the corner of route 53 and Caton Farm Road, just north of Crest Hill and south of Stateville Penitentiary for the past two years, I appreciated the 5-minute commute to Lewis College. Although the rent was cheap, potable drinking water wasn’t available in that house for two probable reasons: the abandoned gas station in the front of the house and the State of Illinois storage of road salt just up the hill. Carrying large containers of water from Lewis had temporarily addressed that problem.

So, we needed to buy our first house. But where and what could we afford?

Relocation might be simple and straightforward when it involves a single person, but complexity and complications occur with each additional family member. In our case, schools, jobs, extended families, and type of community were all factors. Obviously, education ranked high as a priority as Tommy (7), Jacquie (6), John (5), Bob (3), and Eric (1) would be in grade school over the next several years. 

Our leisurely drive took on a serious tone upon arrival in Wilmington where we saw an “open house” at 603 South Kankakee Street. In the front year stood the huge oak tree that I remembered from my St. Rose Grade School days. The asking price was $19,900, a bit steep for our budget but the location was perfect.

Rather than negotiate with the owners, we quickly made the decision to offer the full amount, because we knew that other people were deliberating about an offer. Our offer was accepted on May 18, 1971. On June 15^th, we closed on the deal. We had a house that we would live in for the next 15 years, a place where our family would grow to love and think of it as our first and only home.

That decision was a defining moment for 7 Kennedy family members.

I’m not sure if a house can assume a personality or that it’s the place where the Kennedy family was destined to be. I am sure, however, that it became the nesting and nurturing place that knitted us together with neighbors and a community. It did seem prearranged. (Did my ancestors’ spirits arrange for this?)

Why do I say this?

The 1922 St. Rose confirmation pictures might have been taken in that front yard. Those pictures included my father, at age 8, his sisters, and numerous blood relatives. Another picture of dad and his sisters was taken a few houses down the street.  Were the spirits of Kennedy, Klover, Ginter, and Becker ancestors wandering about the church grounds?

Or was it the lifeforce of the huge oak tree in the front yard that would shade and protect our young family, giving assurance that life can withstand storms, endure, and yield new branches and leaves? And that the family tree would continue into future generations?

We were extremely lucky on that Sunday drive to Wilmington. I would continue driving to Lewis for another seven years, then for eight years to the College of St. Francis. After Eric entered grade school, Dolores started working at Hunt’s and Doc’s pharmacy. Later, she worked in the library at Providence High School and drove the school bus from Wilmington.

The house at 603 South Kankakee Street would be the final years that the entire Kennedy family would be living together in one house. As the kids grew older – Eric, no longer a toddler but finishing his 2^nd year in high school – the house was being emptied. The house and the oak tree had accomplished their purpose and had equipped the Kennedy family with the basis for whatever would be next. 

As I write this, Eric lives in San Francisco, John in Aurora, Ohio, Bob in Centennial, Colorado, Tom in Parker, Colorado, and Jacquie in Arvada, Colorado. Tom and Dolores live in Arvada since 1986. Despite the locations in various parts of the country, the Kennedy family still considers 603 South Kankakee Street as our true home.