Today marks our first completed week of our adventure. During this week, we had some obligations as well as some fine tuning of some logistics. We spent Thursday and Friday in Ottawa, Il.
The main reason to visit Ottawa, IL was to deliver my mother’s ashes to be buried next to my father in Oakwood Memorial Park. It was sad, but we felt good having completed my mother’s wishes.
Also while in Ottawa, we toured the town and I gave Carol a history lesson of the good and the bad. So many of the places I loved as a child, were now gone, replaced with chain restaurants and stores. There was a pool hall that I would ride my bike to, they had a magazine area with Alfred Hitchcock magazines and a bar that had sodas; Gone. There were 2 drive-ins that had Midwest Tenderloin sandwiches; Gone. The house I lived in; Gone. My grandparent’s house; Gone. But one thing remains, the story of the Radium Girls.
During the 1920’s a company came to town and was hiring high school girls to paint clock dials and later airplane dials with radium paint. My mother and her twin sister worked in this job while in high school…they only worked for about a week because when my grandmother heard that girls were putting the glow in the dark paint on their teeth and finger nails, she made the girls quit stating, “that is not right and it can’t be good for you”! Many, many girls continued doing this work for years! Well, my grandmother was right, radium is not good for you….so many of the girls died and the hazards were exposed. It turns out that the company buried radioactive waste all over the town and many of the sites were declared “SuperFund sites”.
For years, my mother, although she only worked there for a week had the opportunity to go to Chicago, all expenses paid for medical evaluations. Below is a video about Ottawa, Radium City.
Above picture is a memorial to the “Radium Girls”.
This is an amazing story – yet very sad results . Thankful your grandmother was smart and knew the outcome could be dangerous ..
I remember you telling us about the Radium Girls, interesting and sad. Sorry so many of your childhood favs are gone, progress, right?? Still chuckling over the drone situation. The way you told it was almost as good as being there. Glad it had a happy ending!
It is funny now, but it was high anxiety for some hours!
Glad you were able to get back there. The story is very interesting. Thank you for sharing!!
Glad you both finally relaxed. I know it had to be emotional being there and leaving Maxine there to rest. However I remember how she loved her home and she’s now with her twin sister and your Dad and parents! She was certainly a character and you did so much for her in her late years! She was lucky to have you!
So your adventure from there on sounds like it will be great! Keep the stories and pics coming!
Glad you have completed the sad albeit important part of your journey. It’s kind of like they can’t be fully at peace until they are together again . . . so neither can you. We just went through it about a year ago. And having your old house changed is one thing, but completely gone is another! Glad Ottawa was not a separate journey and was but one part of a spectacular journey – onward!
So true Terry!