All Canada: ‘Trip-A-Day’ Giveaway « CBS Chicago

All Canada: ‘Trip-A-Day’ Giveaway « CBS Chicago

Winter solstice, historic recipes, giveaway

Winter solstice, historic recipes, giveaway

Maggie Daley Park Skating Ribbon Opens On Saturday « CBS Chicago

Maggie Daley Park Skating Ribbon Opens On Saturday « CBS Chicago

Letter from Santa

Letter from Santa

PHOTOS: Thanksgiving parade draws thousands to Loop

PHOTOS: Thanksgiving parade draws thousands to Loop

Areas Affected by Arctic Snow Storm in US | Winter Snow Storm Map and Live Updates | World News

Areas Affected by Arctic Snow Storm in US | Winter Snow Storm Map and Live Updates | World News

City of Chicago :: 2014 Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony

City of Chicago :: 2014 Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony

Lighting the Village of Addison Christmas tree | mySuburbanLife.com

Lighting the Village of Addison Christmas tree | mySuburbanLife.com

Essay: Grandmother Irene’s Tailor Company in Kingston, Jamaica by Gardenia c. Hung on ScribeSlice

Essay: Grandmother Irene’s Tailor Company in Kingston, Jamaica by Gardenia c. Hung on ScribeSlice

My Grandmother Irene was a Certified Tailor in the world of Men’s Fashion when fine clothing and “haute couture” made trends during the 1930s and 1940s, at a time when Coco Chanel featured tailored clothing for men and women.  In fact, Grandmother Irene met Coco Chanel, the French fashion designer in person for tailoring business referrals and fashion shows at the time.  Grandmother Irene became the manager and owner of a Kingston Tailor Manufacturing Company in Jamaica, Cuba, USA, London, England, France, Italy, and Spain in Europe.  Thanks to my Grandmother Irene and her sewing mistresses friends, I have always had fine fashion garments to wear.  My parents always ordered custom-made dresses designed, embroidered, and sewn by private seamstresses for special occasions.  One of the seamstresses who sewed for our family was named Ana Dela, the mother of Ana Maria, wife of Marcelino Simons, who was related to my Aunt Silvia Simons, daughter of the Engineer Dennis Simons from Kingston, Jamaica. During the summers, Grandmother Irene offered to teach me how to sew in her antique Singer foot-pedaling sewing machine for fashion, as the French would say “haute couture”, custom-designed, tailored clothing, “sanforized”.  Grandmother Irene showed me her vintage sewing templates for custom-tailored fashion clothing from Europe, and taught me how to use the fashion sewing templates to cut tailored clothing for ready-wear.  I still have a sample garment which Grandmother Irene sewed to show me how to use Sanforization for men’s shorts. Sanforization is a process of treatment used for cotton fabrics mainly and most textiles made from natural or chemical fibres, patented by Sanford Lockwood Cluett (1874–1968) in 1930.[1] It is a method of stretching, shrinking and fixing the woven cloth in both length and width before cutting and producing, to reduce the shrinkage which would otherwise occur after washing. The cloth is continually fed into the sanforizing machine and therein moistened with either water or steam. A rotating cylinder presses a rubber sleeve against another, heated, rotating cylinder. Thereby the sleeve briefly gets compressed and laterally expanded, afterwards relaxing to its normal thickness. The cloth to be treated is transported between rubber sleeve and heated cylinder and is forced to follow this brief compression and lateral expansion, and relaxation. It thus gets shrunk. The greater the pressure applied to the rubber sleeve, the less the shrinking afterwards. The process may be repeated. The aim of the process is a cloth which does not shrink significantly during clothes production by cutting, ironing, sewing or, especially, by wearing and washing the finished clothes. Cloth and articles made from it may be labelled to have a specific shrink-proof value (if pre-shrunk), e.g., of under 1%.
Aunt Silvia Simons has an English name because her Father Denis Simons was from Kingston, Jamaica; however, Aunt Silvia Hung-Simons lived in Santiago de Cuba on Santo Tomás Street, near José Martí Avenue where my Grandfather Santiago owned a Café Bar Restaurant while her husband Miguel Hung worked with my Father Roberto Hung during the time that he was studying for Law School at the University.  Silvia speaks English as a native language like all her family.  She also taught English as a Second Language following her training at the Teachers’ College in Santiago de Cuba, Normal School for Teachers in Cuba, where she met my Mother who was also a teacher after she lived in Kingston, Jamaica.  In addition, her oldest brother Marcelino Simons was married to Ana Maria whose mother Ana Dela was a professional seamstress and embroidery craftsman in Santiago de Cuba.  Silvia’s oldest sister Peggy Simons lived in Kingston, Jamaica with the family estate.  There is also another brother named “Chino” who moved to Caracas, Venezuela with all his family from Santiago de Cuba.  While the youngest brother named Sam Simons lived in Santiago de Cuba. My Father Roberto Hung was a good family friend and brother-in-law to Silvia and her husband Miguel Hung, his oldest brother.  When my Father became seventeen years old, Silvia gave birth to her first baby girl whose name is Olivia Hung-Simons, born on June 7th, the same date as my Father’s birthday.  So, Roberto Hung became the Godfather of Silvia’s first daughter with Miguel Hung, his oldest brother. Silvia Simons’ family name has a British origin from South England and the eastern coast of the United States, in the area of Raleigh, North Carolina and Virginia. Thirty-one (31) years ago, in 1982, Aunt Silvia, my Uncle Miguel Hung and family invited me to visit them in South Miami, Kendall County, Florida during the summer to go with them on a Walt Disney World vacation for the 10th Anniversary of the amusement park and the grand opening of the Epcot Center in Orlando, Florida.  Silvia drove her car with her two youngest sons, Santiago and Ray Hung-Simons, and made reservations for the Best Western Hotel at Disney World for everyone—four people.  Since then, Silvia Simons has been a member of the Walt Disney Vacation Club around the world whenever she travels with friends and family on vacation during the year. For the last thirty-one years, Aunt Silvia has become older while she has been a working senior widowed after my Uncle Miguel Hung died in South Miami, Kendall County, Florida. Since 1982, I have not seen Aunt Silvia or her family.  Four years ago, in 2009, Silvia’s daughter Olivia and her second granddaughter Michelle Leaver, were visiting Chicago and Oak Park, Illinois when they called me to arranged a meeting during on August 16, 2009, while Michelle was attending  Columbia College Downtown.  Olivia gave me Silvia’s home telephone and I called her during 2009 and 2010.   Three years have passed now in 2013.  Aunt Silvia does not live at the same Miami address nor does she have the same home telephone number in Florida after she moved near her daughter Olivia and family.   Aunt Silvia may have changed her name over the last thirty-one years and remarried after my Uncle Miguel Hung died. While Silvia Simons has become older woman and travels in the Chicagoland area and the Midwestern states of Indiana, and surrounding areas during the summer, she has never tried to contact me by telephone nor meet me in person.  Even when she has a mobile telephone available, Silvia Simons never calls me nor does she arrange to meet me when she visits Downtown Chicago or Oak Park, Illinois.  When Silvia travels with her Venezuelan family relatives, she does not want to meet the family of Roberto Hung in Illinois, USA. When my Father Roberto Hung died on June 18, 1998 and he had his funeral at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Lombard, on June 25, 1998, Silvia Simons did not call nor did she send any sympathy card on behalf of the Simons Family. Even when Silvia and her daughter Olivia Hung-Simons visit Illinois with her granddaughter Michelle and great grandson Joseph, she does not arrange to meet the surviving family of Roberto Hung or her niece and nephew who have been troubled by the crimes committed by Silvia Hung-Simons’ friends and family relatives from Venezuela in South America and the Caribbean. Aunt Silvia Simons and the Hung-Simons family do not meet me when they visit Illinois in the Midwest, even when her son Miguel Hung-Simons and his family have visited the Chicagoland area.
My Father was Mr. Roberto Hung Juris Doctor in Law and Business Management and my Mother is Gardenia Fong Ramos Ph.D. in Education.  Both of my parents worked for the University of Oriente in Santiago de Cuba after I was born.  Since they were both very busy during their professional work and lifestyle in 1960, they hired Anita, a Cuban Black woman who lived near the mountains of the Sierra Maestra, Palma Soriano, as a Nanny and household staff to help me and take care of me while they were both at work during the day, afternoon, and sometimes in the evenings in Santiago de Cuba.  Anita, the Nanny, helped me as a 2-year-old toddler and fed me using a glass milk bottle with a rubber nib. Anita gave me the milk bottle, while she took care of household chores, laundry, shopping, and other housekeeping tasks for my parents when they lived in Santiago de Cuba. Anita, the Nanny, was a Black Jamaican descendant who lived in Santiago de Cuba, commuted to and from our home which was located at the corner of Avenida José Martí and Desiderio Fajardo No. 5 a street which was also known as San Fermín, to her own living quarters near Los Hoyos, a low-income neighborhood where the Cuban Blacks lived at that time.  My Mother was helping Anita who was a young Black woman trying to work and get a high school education, literacy and support while working as a Nanny and household staff for my Father, also. While Anita the Nanny was working for my parents during the decade of the 1960’s, I was given a milk bottle which was not washed properly and contained milk bacteria around the rubber rim of the nib which caused me to become seriously ill with “pertussis”, also known as “whooping cough”, bronchitis, and a severe respiratory infection which hospitalized me for several weeks at the Los Angeles Clinic in Santiago de Cuba.  Due to this severe respiratory infection, I had to stay in the Children’s Ward with an oxygen mask in isolation while I was a 2-year-old toddler. Since Anita the Nanny was blamed for negligence in giving me the dirty milk bottle with bacteria, she was dismissed from her household duties by my parents who had to stay home afterwards and take care of my health themselves.  Anita the Cuban Nanny had a Black boyfriend who wanted to get married.  So, after Anita the Nanny was dismissed, she left to get married and did not return to take care of me ever again, since she caused my respiratory infection as a child. Afterwards, my parents were always taking care of me because I developed all the childhood illnesses while I was growing up around them.
My Mother's youngest sister is Xiomara Fong Ramos, the wife of Pedro Zayas, who has travelled in the Cuba, the Bahamas, the Caribbean, Miami, Florida, and in the Chicagoland area in the USA, and in London, England, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Germany, and the Central European States. Now Aunt Xiomara who is a senior retired urban planner lives in Santiago de Cuba with her husband Pedro Zayas and her Grandchildren who visit her during the summer in Cuba.  Aunt Xiomara only has one son whose name is Pedro also, married to Xiomara with two children Eliannie and Rafael Alejandro Zayas.  My Mother is the God-mother of Xiomara’s son Pedro. My Mother’s third sister Xiomara was born on July 28, 1948, ten years after her oldest sister and middle sister Dulce María, all legitimate daughters of the Chinese national Alberto Fong and Cuban Irene Ramos Mejías, who managed the business of the Tailoring Garment Factory and Dry Cleaners, Downtown in Kingston, Jamaica.  My Grandmother Irene’s oldest son José also known as “Pepín” was the first child from her first marriage.  Then my Mother was born in 1938 as the first daughter of her second marriage to Alberto Fong in Santiago de Cuba. Her second broher José Alberto was born before the middle daughter Dulce María, Xiomara was afterwards, and the youngest son Miguel was born the last of six children begotten by Irene Ramos Mejías during her lifetime between Santiago de Cuba and Kingston, Jamaica. During 1994, Aunt Xiomara visited Miami, Florida, and the Village of Lombard in York Township, DuPage County, Illinois USA.  My Mother and youngest brother invited Aunt Xiomara to visit us, after our family purchased two (2) Lombard homes in the state of Illinois, United States of America.  Aunt Xiomara travelled by herself to North America.  When Aunt Xiomara arrived to O’Hare Airport, we went to pick her up for her holiday visit to Chicago and the Village of Lombard where she stayed with my Mother and youngest brother at 342 West Harrison Street near Main Street and Lilacia Park.  That same year, other house guests were invited to our Lombard homes.   Reverend Melvin A. Wittler and Mrs. Nancy Wittler (Patriquin) my in-laws and parents of my husband Nathan Scott Wittler, were driving across North America from South Vermont in New England during the Spring of 1994 and coincided with my Aunt Xiomara during our family reunion.  My Father, Mr. Roberto Hung invited all of us to breakfast, lunch, and dinner at his expense as a welcoming host in our Lombard home at 502 S. Wesmtmore-Meyers Road and Washington Boulevard in District 5, York Township, DuPage County, Illinois USA. While Aunt Xiomara was visiting us in the Village of Lombard, I used to pick her up in my sportscar Nissan 200SX and driver her to go shopping at the Oakbrook Center to purchase fashion clothes at Lord & Taylor, Marshall Field’s and other stores in DuPage County, Illinois.  I bought Aunt Xiomara fashion garments as gifts to take back with her upon returning to Santiago de Cuba. In the past, Uncle Pedro Zayas, Aunt Xiomara and her son Pedro lived in Europe and travelled through London, England, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Germany and the Central European States. When Aunt Xiomara was a young girl, she used to help my Mother while she was studying to be a teacher at the Normal School for Teachers and the University of Oriente in Santiago de Cuba.  Aunt Xiomara used to keep my Mother company as a youngest sister, closest friend, and chaperone when the latter met my Father, Roberto Hung when they were introduced at a social event in Santiago de Cuba, before my parents were married on March 23, 1957. Aunt Xiomara is ten (10) years older than I am.  Last July 28th, she celebrated her 64th birthday  anniversary in Santiago de Cuba where she lives with her family, grandchildren, friends, and co-workers. The family of my Aunt Xiomara and Uncle Pedro Zayas, they also have other relatives who live in state of New Jersey and across the United States of America and around the world.

Essay: A Lilac Town Homeowner's View by Gardenia c. Hung on ScribeSlice

Essay: A Lilac Town Homeowner's View by Gardenia c. Hung on ScribeSlice

“Roberto Hung’s Vacation To Miami, Florida, and Queens/Flushing, New York in the USA”

In 1993, after Mr. Roberto Hung J.D. purchased Lombard real estate property and moved to the Village of Lombard on September 2, 1993, he developed a thumb infection from a steel metal splinter acquired at work during the 3^rd shift for Felt-Products After Market Auto Parts Division.  Consequently, Roberto Hung developed a fever and a swollen thumb which was festering and required medical attention; then he was hospitalized with a swollen thumb infection at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, Illinois USA.  I remember driving to visit my Father, Roberto Hung, who was hospitalized as an in-patient at St. Francis Hospital from Lombard in DuPage County to Evanston on the North  Shore by Lake Michigan.  Since there was no hospital or medical health center in the Village of Lombard, Roberto Hung retained his health care plan at work from the Felt-Products Corporation in Skokie and kept his medical insurance group on the North Shore Clinic near Rogers Park and St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, Illinois USA.

City of Evanston, North Shore by Lake Michigan, Illinois USA

After Roberto Hung’s medical leave and recovery from hospitalization, he went back to work at Felt-Pro in Skokie, Illinois, driving every night from Lombard in DuPage County after midnight and around 2:00 o’clock in the morning twilight to his new Lombard Brick Bungalow Home in District 5, near St. Pius X Catholic Church and School in York Township. 

The following year in 1994, during the Spring, my Mother’s youngest sister Xiomara Fong Ramos de Zayas from Santiago de Cuba was invited to visit her and my youngest brother at 342 Harrison near Sunset Knolls Park and Main Street where the Lilac Parade takes place.  I picked up my Aunt Xiomara at O’Hare Airport because my youngest brother was working all day at Allstate Insurance Company  in Northbrook, Illinois.  This family reunion took 23 years to become a special event for all of  us and included more relatives who were planning to meet and gather in our new Lombard Historic Brick Bungalow at 502 S. Westmore-Meyers Road and Washington Boulevard.  Aunt Xiomara has a lot of pictures, memorabilia, and photographs of her visit in Lombard during Lilac Time—more than enough good memories to return again during Spring 1998, four years later—(after my Father, Roberto Hung was bedridden, disabled, and unemployed following a home invasion and assault which caused a Traumatic Brain Injury and Aneurysm on December 21-22, 1996). 

Later in Spring 1994, Nathan S. Wittler’s parents Reverend Melvin A. Wittler and Mrs. Nancy Wittler Patriquin announced their home visit to the Village of Lombard since they were driving from West Dummerston, Brattleboro in Vermont across the USA on holiday vacation to Hartington, Nebraska to visit Grandmother Wittler and Duane Wittler his brother who lived on the family farm near Lincoln, Nebraska with his sister Virginia and husband George Fox.

When Nathan S. Wittler went on vacation to West Dummerston, Bratteboro in New England to visit the Wittlers at the farm by the West River in South Vermont, I stayed at our Lombard home while I was working in DuPage County and the Chicagoland area in Illinois USA.

Six years before, the Wittlers had met my Father and Uncle Filiberto Hung and his wife Mireya Hung and daughter Ana Mireya Hung Lee during the 1988 wedding at Olive Park by Navy Pier and remembered the Wedding Reception aboard the Star of Chicago along Lake Michigan which was well attended by Nathan S. Wittler’s family including his Grandmother and Uncle Duane Wittler, his Aunt Virginia and husband George Fox, and his brothers Bryan, Kent, youngest sister Heather and her fiancé John Eruren at that time.  In addition, Reverend Melvin A. Wittler and Mrs. Nancy Wittler had invited her brother Dr. David Patriquin and Mrs. Cynthia Patriquin and more friends to attend the Wedding Reception and Dinner aboard the Star of Chicago by Lake Michigan during Father’s Day weekend on June 18, 1988.  My Mother did not attend my wedding day and refused to be involved in the wedding plans and festivities while she lived with my youngest brother during 1988.

From 1988 through 1996,  I was working and lived as a Lombard resident homeowner in DuPage County, Illinois, I was at staying at the Lombard Brick Bungalow while my Father, Roberto Hung was on vacation visiting his family and relatives in Miami, Florida and Flushing, New York.

Afterwards, my Father went on Vacations To Visit His Family Relatives, His Brothers, His Sisters, Nephews and Nieces in Florida and New York.  I drove my Father, Roberto Hung to the O’Hare Airport to catch his flights to Miami, Florida, to visit his oldest brother Miguel Hung, his son Miguel Hung-Simons and wife Pamela Hung Maggiano, Daughter Brittany and son Mike Hung with all the family; also travelled to New York La Guardia Airport near Queens, Flushing where my Uncle Filiberto and Aunt Mireya lived with his family, Ana Mireya, Ileana, Santiago and Grandson Rafael Hung.  Roberto Hung also visited his youngest sister Caridad “Cei-Chieng” Fong and brother-in-law Joaquin Fong and children, Joaquin Jr. and daughter Teresa Tan with her family.

During his travel vacations, my Father, Roberto Hung, also visited his oldest sister Luz “Leing” Mock and her son Guillermo Mock, his wife Millie and other family relatives.

As Dwindling Monarch Butterflies Make Their Migration, Feds Try to Save Them

As Dwindling Monarch Butterflies Make Their Migration, Feds Try to Save Them

Marie Palmer With Roberto Hung & Family Photo by Gardenia Hung -- National Geographic Your Shot

Marie Palmer With Roberto Hung & Family Photo by Gardenia Hung -- National Geographic Your Shot

Derbi - Home

Derbi - Home

gardeniahung's blog

gardeniahung's blog

Since September 1977, thirty-seven (37) years ago, I was involved in the French Club at Northeastern Illinois University, assisting and helping the Moderator Professor Dorette Klein when Bruno was the President of the French Club, and I was the Vice-President. 

One year after, I became the President of the French Club at Northeastern Illinois University in 1980-81.  The French Club at NEIU was very active in the campus community and Dorette Klein enjoyed hosting the International Food Festival, French concerts, Dance, and French Language Travel Immersion experiences to Oregon, Illinois, Montréal and Ville de Québec in Canada, for French Club members--when I was a college student at Northeastern Illinois University from 1977 through 1982, during five (5) years.  In addition, I was nominated for membership in the French National Honor Society at Northeastern Illinois University.

After years helping Dorette Klein, she recommended me for international language work in French, Spanish, and English at the Belgian corporate company called Groupe Européen S.A., also known as GESA Assistance, upon request from respiratory and pulmonary specialist physician Dr. Ben Carasso M.D. and his wife Dina Carasso who were involved with the Director José Poquet and the Executive Assistant Secretary Huguette Callaway from Glen Ellyn, Illinois USA.  While I worked for GESA Assistance, I helped to arrange corporate services for customers, clients, and the GESA staff events.  On several occasions, I was involved with the GESA Assistance staff arranging and planning holiday events at The Signature Room on the 95^th Floor of the John Hancock.

Figure 1 The Signature Room on the 95th Floor of the John
Hancock Center in Chicago

The Signature Room  on the 95^th Floor of the John Hancock Center is on top of the world,
overlooking the Gold Coast and the lakefront skyscrapers and high-rise residential buildings.
Located atop the John Hancock Center, The Signature Room  at the 95th® offers diners exquisite food, superb service, and a dazzling skyline view. The elegant wood designs and art deco interior create an inviting and intimate atmosphere, while the floor-to-ceiling windows exhibit the
stunning Chicago skyline and 360 degree views of the entire city.

Thirty-three (33) years ago, I began to work for Berlitz  Schools in Chicago, teaching English As A Second Language, Spanish, and French at 2 North La Salle Street. 

Berlitz is still a language teaching institution locally and globally—in Chicago, some people say “glocally”. 

Berlitz  is a global leadership training and education company with a comprehensive portfolio for building communications skills development, global leadership training and customized dynamic solutions for cultural competency, available via multiple delivery platforms. 

Berlitz Corporation is a global leadership training and language education company with headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey. The company was founded in 1878 by Maximilian D. Berlitz in Providence, Rhode Island. Berlitz Corporation is a member of the Benesse Group, with more than 550 company-owned and franchised locations in more than 70 countries.

I worked for the Berlitz Schools of Languages in Chicago, Hinsdale, Oak Brook, and Schaumburg, as a Consultant for the Berlitz Schools 1981 – 1995 (14 years).

I worked as a Certified Teacher in Illinois. Professional Legal Interpreter and Translator in English, Spanish, French, etc. I worked at Berlitz, 2 North LaSalle Street with English as A Second Language corporate clients, when June was the Receptionist and Josefa was working there.  Milanka trained Berlitz Language Consultants how to teach foreign languages using the Berlitz method of questions and answers by inference, deduction, and logic.  Also taught for Berlitz at the Water Tower Place and also in Hinsdale, Oak Brook when Beth was the Director and Sally were working there and
the Berlitz Junior Program was used for the Brook Forest Elementary School Foreign Language program and for Butler Middle School. Taught for Berlitz in Schaumburg when Steve was the Director there.

Figure 2 Water Tower Place on Michigan Avenue and Pearson
Street in Chicago, Illinois USA

I also worked teaching languages as a Certified Elementary School Teacher for the Berlitz Junior Program at the Brook Forest Elementary School, in Oak Brook, Illinois USA.  From September 1989 – December 1990 (1 year 4 months), I was teaching at the Brook Forest Elementary School on 31st Street and Summit, Oak Brook, Illinois US.  I worked as a Certified Elementary School Teacher for the Berlitz  Junior Program at Brook Forest Elementary School, teaching English, French, and Spanish by assignment for Berlitz  Director Beth, Assistant Sally, Receptionist, June, Steve, and other Berlitz staff in Hinsdale, Oak Brook, Schaumburg, Chicago, Illinois USA.

When I used to work for Berlitz at the Water Tower Place, across from the John Hancock Center, I used to park my car across the street.

Figure 3 John Hancock Center Parking in Chicago

When Mirtha Quintana told me one day that she had decided to plan her wedding reception at The Signature Room on the 95^th Floor of the John Hancock Center, I mentioned that I had dined at The Signature Room several times for the holidays and with my family.  So, I offered to help her make arrangements for her wedding reception at The Signature Room on the 95^th Floor of the John Hancock Center.  Afterwards, I had to visit The Signature Room to pick up the wedding reception menu prepared by the Belgian Chef who worked there, so that Mirtha Quintana, her Mother Josefa  and her fiancée Christopher Toomey with his family could look at the menu and decide which were the best wedding dinner menu choices available for their special wedding day.

In addition, Christopher Toomey wanted to lease a Rolls Royce for the wedding day at the Lakeview Presbyterian Church.  Since Christopher Toomey was from St. Louis, Missouri, he was not familiar with the corporate services available in the Chicago area.  Mirtha Quintana and Christopher Toomey asked me for assistance to help them arrange their wedding day reception and transportation leasing of a Rolls Royce for the wedding party.  I also helped Mirtha Quintana find her Wedding Dress and drove her in my Nissan 200SX Sports Car to pick up the Wedding Dress at David’s Bridal in Norridge, a western suburb near the Harlem and Irving Plaza.  Then drove Mirtha
Quintana back to her Chicago home on Richmond Street near Grace Avenue.

Pieceful Heart Is On Benedictine Drive in Lisle, Du Page County, Illinois USA

Harrison is A Small Town in New Jersey and

Pieceful Heart is on Benedictine Drive in Lisle, DuPage County, Illinois

By Gardenia C. Hung-Wittler

During my Sophomore year at Madonna High School Catholic School, my parents were getting a divorce due to irreconcilable differences after nineteen (19) years of marriage given to stress at work in different part-time jobs and evening work, my Mother’s Graduate Studies for a Master’s Degree in Spanish Literature at Loyola University Lewis Tower Campus downtown in Chicago, marital arguments, etc. 

By 1976, my parents were already separated and I lived with my Mother renting a second floor apartment owned by Bruno Schlizner at 3116 West Waveland St. near Addison and North Kedzie, on the Northwest side of Chicago, Illinois.  The Hispanic tenants downstairs spoke Spanish and had two young sons, Martin and Craig Torres who lived with Mrs. Torres and husband, their parents. 

In the middle of my second year of a private Catholic high school, my Mother decided to move to Harrison, New Jersey, near her Cuban sister-in-law Mirta García and her son José Alberto and the father of her second son David.  My Mother used all the savings she had to move with a truck from Chicago, Illinois to Harrison, New Jersey—plus she charged additional expenses to credit cards with my Father’s name which billed later under his name.  Mirta García and her family found an apartment for my Mother and two children in Harrison, New Jersey where I was transferred to attend Harrison High School with my Cousin José Alberto.

While my Mother lived in Harrison, New Jersey, she was referred for Bilingual Teaching for Public Schools in Union City, New Jersey.

The move to Harrison, New Jersey did not take long for my Mother who decided to move back to Illinois a few months afterwards.

Fortunately, Harrison High School provided transfer student records for me to return to Madonna High School and finish my sophomore year with the rest of the Catholic High School curriculum until senior year graduation in May 1977 with a high school diploma from Madonna High School.

Thirty-one (31) years later, after I moved to the Village of Lombard, the Lombard Police and Fire Department allowed strangers to take my 1977 High School Diploma and Yearbook from Madonna High School on October 5, 2008, along with my 1973 Elementary School Diploma from Avondale Grammar School in Chicago, and other personal documents, my Red Dragon Journal, legal case files, expensive books that I have purchased with receipts and reported as expenses in my Lombard taxpayer’s IRS income tax filings as a DuPage resident homeowner in the State of Illinois, USA.

While the Lombard Police and Fire Department have had unauthorized access entry to my private Lombard home, I have also lost many expensive Sewing Embroidery Cone Threads, Tools, Templates, Sewing Machines, including a LillianVernon miniature sewing machine from China which I used at Pieceful Heart in Lisle to quilt Illinois Star square patches during the Quilting Session with Mrs. Egan in DuPage County, Illinois USA.  I used to order by mail from Lillian Vernon based Virginia and I ordered two (2) miniature sewing machines, one for my Mother as a gift to her, and one for me.  Both of the Lillian Vernon miniature sewing machines made in China have been stolen since I was living in the Village of Lombard, York Township, DuPage County, Illinois 60148-3028 USA.

In addition, there are many other Lombard household belongings personal clothing, fashion garments, Silver Fox Furs, leather gloves, hats, books, business resources, (2) Craftsman Power Drills from Sears in Oak Brook, Illinois; many kitchen electronics in boxes, Kitchen Aid Accessories to make Italian Pasta, Baking Molds, Fine Linen Table Clothes, Olympus Camera, and a lot of expensive household items that the Village of Lombard and thieves have not compensated nor restituted to the daughter of Mr. Roberto Hung and his surviving family in the State of Illinois, USA.

Keith Steiskal, George Seagraves, Ray Byrne, Laura Fitzpatrick, Diane Arturi and other town officials in the Village of Lombard, York Township, DuPage County, Illinois have been witnesses of the crimes and accomplices in the removal of personal belongings, documents, books, and household items which were taken without consent and authorization from the Lombard resident homeowner Gardenia C. Hung-Wittler while she has lived at 502 S. Westmore-Meyers Road and Washington Boulevard in District 5, Village of Lombard, Illinois  60148-3028.

 

 

 

McCormick Day to be Held on July 30 at Cantigny Park - Around Town - Wheaton, IL Patch

McCormick Day to be Held on July 30 at Cantigny Park - Around Town - Wheaton, IL Patch



Cantigny Park will celebrate the birthday of its benefactor, Colonel Robert R. McCormick, on Wednesday, July 30. 

Activities and demonstrations for visitors of all ages are planned throughout the park from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. 

McCormick, former editor and publisher of the Chicago Tribune, was born on July 30, 1880.  He lived on the 500-acre country estate from 1920 until his passing in 1955. His will designated Cantigny as a gift to the community.

Parking will be FREE on McCormick Day.  Activities, also complimentary, will include:

• McCormick Museum open house (10 am to 1 pm)
• Amy McCormick performance by Ellie Carlson (McCormick Museum, 11 am)
• Splash artillery target practice (First Division Museum, 10 am to 2 pm)
• Birthday cake cutting (Visitors Center, noon). Cupcakes and ice cream for visitors while supplies last!
• Wreath-laying ceremony honoring Robert R. McCormick (Exedra, 3 pm)

Throughout the day, vintage games for children will be available on the Parade Field in addition to crafts. Cantigny’s giant mural will be available for painting starting at 1 pm.  Kids also are invited to make newspaper hats and birthday cards on the McCormick Museum’s south porch. 

The McCormick family loved dogs, and bulldogs were a particular favorite. On McCormick Day, adoptaBull English Bulldog Rescue will be on site to share their animals with visitors and promote the organization’s mission.

Also visiting will be Save-A-Vet.org, a nonprofit that rescues military and law enforcement working dogs when they are no longer able to serve.

McCormick Day will conclude at 3 pm with a wreath laying at the Exedra, the final resting place of Colonel McCormick and his first wife Amy.  Cantigny Post 556 of the American Legion will conduct the brief ceremony.

The First Division Museum and Robert R. McCormick Museum will be open on McCormick Day from 10 am to 5 pm.  Admission to both museums is free throughout the year.

Visitors may also wish to stroll through Cantigny’s 30 acres of colorful gardens, including the spectacular Rose Garden and inspiring Idea Garden. 

Inside the Cantigny Visitors Center, Le Jardin will serve lunch from 11 am to 2 pm, and Bertie’s (for ice cream, snacks and coffee drinks) will operate from 9 am to 4:30 pm.

Also on McCormick Day, the Cantigny Shop will be open from 9 am to 5:30 pm.

Cantigny Park is open every day during summer from 7 am to dusk.  A complete schedule of concerts, workshops and special events is posted online at Cantigny.org.

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Catholic Charities Relocated Cuban Refugees To Chicago, Illinois USA | GHung's Blog

Catholic Charities Relocated Cuban Refugees To Chicago, Illinois USA | GHung's Blog

                            “Choose Between Chicago, Illinois or Hartford, Connecticut?”

Forty-three (43) years ago, Cuban political refuge Mr. Roberto Hung Juris Doctor and his wife with two children travelled on United Airlines from Miami International Airport for a stop-over in Atlanta, Georgia to pick up more passengers, then continued air travel to O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois.  During July 1971, Catholic Charities in Miami, Florida provided Welcome! To the Cuban Refugees arriving on the Freedom Flights from Cuba.  The Cuban political refugees were relocated by a representative from Catholic Charities of America who provided a choice of relocation to Chicago or Hartford, Connecticut where they would be helped to find a place to live in the community.  Roberto Hung and his wife decided to relocate to Chicago with their two children because they had friends and family relatives residing and living in Illinois, USA.  Catholic Charities of Chicago referred Roberto Hung and his family for lodging at The Montfield Hotel in the Belmont-Sheffield Trust & Savings Bank Building, in the Lakeview neighborhood by the Belmont CTA Train Station in Chicago.

After Roberto Hung and his family arrived in Miami, they spent three (3) days with family relatives of his oldest brother Miguel Hung, his wife, and children who lived in Florida. 

The family relatives were happy to be together again after several years. 

During the 3-day visit, Roberto Hung also visited his Aunt Consuelo who was married to Guillermo Fonseca and had two children, Rosita and Angel Fonseca.  Also, other family relatives of Anita Dieguez and Jorge Loo with their children Ana Cari, Georgina and Jorgito the youngest son visited Roberto Hung and his family while they were staying in Miami, Florida.

Miguel Hung and his wife Silvia Simons with their four children had left Cuba years before via flight to Mexico City, then later travelled to Miami, Florida to meet her sister Peggy and her family there.

The United States of America Sponsored The Cuban Freedom Flights With Catholic Charities

The Freedom Flights For Cuban Political Refugees Were Sponsored By Catholic Charities USA

By Gardenia C. Hung

On July 19, 1971, Mr. Roberto Hung Juris Doctor, his wife Gardenia Fong Ramos, his daughter and son, arrived at Miami International Airport on Cubana Airlines where his eldest brother Miguel Hung, his wife Silvia Simons and family were expecting this Cuban family arriving with the Freedom Flights from La Habana, Cuba.  Miguel Hung, his wife Silvia, and his four children Olivia, Miguel, Santiago, and Raimundo Hung-Simons were all Miami residents living in Florida.  After Roberto Hung and his family visited his Florida relatives, he decided to be relocated by Catholic Charities to the City of Chicago by Lake Michigan in the State of Illinois, by the Great Lakes area in the Midwest of the United States of America.

The third week in July 1971, on July 22, 1971, Mr. Roberto Hung Juris Doctor, his wife, his daughter and son arrived at O’Hare Airport in Chicago from Miami, Florida sponsored by Catholic Charities USA which relocated this Cuban family to The Montfield Hotel for lodging upon referral by Catholic Charities of Chicago.   Once in the Windy City, they were welcomed as Cuban political refugees from the Freedom Flights designed to bring Cuban exiles to the United States of America.  The Montfield Hotel was the first place of residence in July 1971 for Mr. Roberto Hung, his wife, his daughter and son in the Lakeview neighborhood of the City of Chicago, in the State of Illinois USA.

The Freedom Flights represent the largest and longest resettlement program of political refugees ever sponsored by the U.S. government, offering an escape from Fidel Castro's Cuba to 265,000 people. This is an effort for people who were on the Freedom Flights to find their names, as well as their families, complete their records, and reconnect over the memory. This is the only public record of the Freedom Flights at this time.

Read more here:   Miami Herald

Roberto Hung’s Cousin “Hortensia” Niebocki  who was married to Gary Niebocki from New Jersey, had filed U.S. Immigration forms as a relative to bring his family to the United States America.  The name “Hortensia” in Spanish is the eponym for the flower Hydrangea in English.  Hortensia was the eldest daughter of Antonia Mustelier Baró, who was a registered nurse married to Dr. Gary Niebocki, M.D.  Hortensia’s mother was the eldest sister of Gertrudis Salustiana Mustelier Baró, Roberto Hung’s mother.  Dr. Gary Niebocki, M.D. was a medical officer in the U.S. Navy who married Hortensia as a registered nurse practitioner while she worked at the Guantánamo Naval Base near Santiago de Cuba in the Caribbean country of Cuba.

Figure 1 The Flower Hydrangea is translated in Spanish as Hortensia.

The Montfield Hotel was included as a National Historic Landmark in the building located at the corner of Belmont and Sheffield  Avenues for the Lakeview neighborhood, Chicago, Illinois USA. 

This former multi-use commercial block was constructed by the Belmont-Sheffield Trust and Savings Bank, founded in 1927 by a group of prominent Swedish businessmen to serve the needs of Lakeview's numerous Swedish residents. An outstanding feature is the monumental arched entrance on Belmont Avenue, designed in the Classical Revival-style, while simpler Art Deco-style ornamentation is visible at the upper floors. Walls are clad with limestone on the first four stories. Buff colored brick and light-gray ornamental terra-cotta are used on the remaining two stories. In addition to the bank, the building was originally designed to house multiple uses, including rental offices, a hotel, and street-level storefronts. The Belmont-Sheffield Trust and Savings Bank thrived from 1929 to 1932, but was forced to close on July 6, 1933, during the Depression.

Figure 2 Belmont-Sheffield Trust and Savings Bank (Former) located at 1001 West Belmont Avenue and Sheffield, in the Lakeview neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois USA

Address: 1001 W. Belmont Avenue Year Built: 1929 Architect: John A. Nyden Date Designated a Chicago Landmark: July 9, 2009

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 3 Detail of Medusa Medallion at the Belmont-Sheffield Trust and Savings Bank in Lakeview, Chicago Illinois USA

The National Register of Historic Places has recorded and registered the Belmont-Sheffield Bank Building as a national landmark in the City of Chicago, Illinois USA.

The Belmont-Sheffield Bank Building, which once contained a bank, a residential hotel, offices and stores, stands six stories at the southwest corner of the Belmont and Sheffield Avenues.  The freestanding building is “U” shaped in the upper  stories around a two-story central atrium with a light court of approximately 1500 square feet in the center rear beginning above the second floor of the building—which allowed the light to reach the bank lobby—the glass atrium has since been roofed over.

The fourth floor, where the hotel section of the building begins, has terracotta medallions of Medusa on the piers separating the five window bays on Sheffield and end bays on Belmont and is topped by geometric moldings and a second slightly deeper cornice.  The top two floors have simply-ornamented limestone spandrels:   A parapet of brick is capped by a projecting acanthus ornament.

The Sheffield House Hotel is a historic hotel in the heart of Wrigleyville, built in the 1920s.  The Cubs baseball team used the Sheffield House Hotel for their players in the 1930s.

Stylistically, this building combines Classical influences typically found in both downtown and neighborhood banking institutions, with elements of the Art Deco style popular in the late twenties.

The Bank’s monumental  arched entry located on Belmont is its most conspicuous Classical feature.  Reminiscent of the Renaissance work of Alberti  (especially the Church of St. Andrea at Mantua).  The three-story arch springs from strong Ionic columns.  Once inside this impressive archway, the scale changes to one more human.  A recessed post and lintel doorway painted blue green is embellished with more intricate Classical details deluding rosettes, lintils, quivers and acanthus patterns.  Hanging from the center of the shallow vaulted entrance is a wrought iron bronze lantern.  The hotel-office entrance on Sheffield is also ornamented with Classical detailing.

This building combines the Art Deco style with Classicism, thus making it more the legacy of its own time conventions. 

The office spaces can be accessed from the bank vestibule, but the main office and hotel entrance is on Sheffield, the elevator lobby to the upper staircase has a strapwork ceiling with marble flooring in the same pattern as the banking room.

The entire building combines Classicism and Art Deco, monumentality and intimate scale in a manner that suits the bank’s need to impress with the more personal needs of the customer.

The Belmont-Sheffield Trust and Savings Bank is primarily significant as the only remaining bank building built in Lakeview before the Depression which retains its architectural integrity; all others have been demolished or extensively altered.  Its stylistic characteristics, reflecting a combination of Neo-Classicism typical of bank design and Art Deco refinements typical of the period, have not been lost.  In addition, this building is important as an early multi-use structure.  The prominently-located six story corner building was unusual if not unique under a single-roof.  It was always a hotel.  Reference to The Montfield Hotel is found in the 1930 telephone directory.  The Bank which occupied the bulding between November 1, 1929 and July 6. 1933 is a typical Chicago community bank, but it is historically important to Lakeview as the Swedish institution in a neighborhood that was strongly Swedish.  The bank’s financial support, its Board of Directors and its architects were all Swedish…

The Montfield Hotel which used to be located at 3146 North Sheffield on floors four through six struggled with vacancy until 1984, when a developer received a federal loan to convert the Montfield Hotel into 54 apartments, maintaining stores on the ground floor.  The building was sold again to another developer and the upper floors were converted into loft condos in 2005, which are now listed at the address 3150 North Sheffield.  In 2008, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks designated this building as a landmark along with 15 other neighborhood bank buildings.

This is a reference to the article about the Belmont-Sheffield Trust and Savings Bank Building from Wikipedia.