ANN HERNANDEZ
Public safety, public welfare, and public schools were the three elements of the late Anne Hernandez’s public life.
Born in Massachusetts in 1947, the daughter of an FBI agent, her family moved to Park Forest in 1963, where she attended Mohawk Elementary School and graduated from Rich East High School. After receiving leadership training at both Governors State University and the National College of Education in Evanston, she quickly became involved in school affairs and was first elected to the School District 163 board in 1969 at the age of 22. She quickly became a voice for schools by organizing residents to help renovate Blackhawk School playground equipment and in 1972 was co-chairman and member of a citizen’s committee planning desegregation for the Illinois Office of Education.
In the fall of 1972, Ann helped organize the Park Forest-Chicago Heights “Light Brigade, which in eight weeks overcame eight years of indecision by both communities and the state, securing a traffic light at the intersection of Western Avenue and Beacon Boulevard to help facilitate the movement of school buses. Those Saturday marches in all kinds of weather may have angered motorists but led to the needed light.
An organizer and mover, in 1976, she was named the director of the Center for Economic Development Authority (CEDA) in Harvey, which serves more than 10,00 persons each year. Throughout her public life, she campaigned for safety and pollution controls on trucks that used Sauk Trail as a passage to and from the I-57 interchange and contributed numerous articles for both the Park Forest Reporter and the Park Forest Star.
Married and the mother of two children (Joseph and David), she was stricken with an intestinal inflammation and died in 2008 at the age of 61.
DR. JEROME KHARASCH
After completing his medical residency in Chicago, in 1957, Dr. Kharasch and his wife Sheila moved to Park Forest, first to a house on Waverly Street and later to a house on Monee Road. For the next 16 years, he quickly became involved with both the health aspects and civic affairs of the community. Well known as an obstetrical surgeon through his 16 years of medical practice at both St. James Hospital in Chicago Heights and Ingalls Memorial Hospital in Harvey, Dr. Kharasch was a vital force in the political life of the community.
In 1967 he led opposition to a proposed referendum to build a nine-hole golf course in Central Park, thereby preserving the space for future generations. He established "Community Now” to address issues of poverty and education among surrounding communities and was deeply committed to issues relating to both poverty and education in Park Forest and surrounding communities.
Despite being a busy physician with fellow doctor Jerome Warren, Dr. Kharasch was a committed activist for the health and well-being of the community and was dedicated to numerous liberal political projects. During the height of the Vietnam War, Dr. Kharasch co-founded an anti-war group “Democrats for Free Debate in Vietnam” which became a vehicle where he was able to run as a delegate to the 1968 Democratic Convention pledged to Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
The Kharasch family were parents of five sons; Ira, Sigmund, Morris, Isidore, and Dean. In 1974, Dr. Kharasch moved to Israel, where he did cancer research at the Weizmann Institute and later returned to general practice at Tel Aviv University. After spending the last 29 years of his life there, Dr. Kharasch died in 2003.
YUAN LIANG
The late Yuan Liang was the longest-standing cardholder in the history of the Park Forest Public Library and was a revered presenter for 18 years at the library’s Potpourri series sharing expertise on his world travels, the National Park Service, and the work of artist Norman Rockwell. He also served as an ambassador at library events. Born in Canton, China, the youngest of six children. At one time his father was the Chinese ambassador to Australia. After China was invaded by Japan, Liang was sent to Hong Kong where he completed his high school education and met his wife, Olivia. Married in 1947 they came to the United States as graduate students the following year.
At one time Liang worked in the marketing department of the Chicago Tribune, and in 1958 was named the assistant research director for the City of Chicago planning department. He started his own demographics company which was the first to compile complete demographic data for the county’s five-digit zip codes.
The Liangs joined Faith United Protestant Church in November 1957. Yuan’s influence and support were multifaceted and consistent throughout until the time of his passing. He was especially instrumental in two projects there - the Millennium Fund, a fund whose interest is used for various long-term projects, and a columbarium, where his ashes lie today.
Yuan was an active 30-year member of Rich Township AARP and delivered opening prayers for Rich Township Senior Center holiday parties and for AARP chapter meetings. In 1958, Liangs were the first family to move into the Lincolnwood subdivision. In 2004, Yuan and Olivia moved to Brookdale Senior Living in Olympia Fields, where they lived until Olivia's death in 2012. In his 90s, Yuan married Mary Chisholm in 2017. Sadly, both Yuan and Mary died within one month of each other in early 2021.
"COLONEL" MILAN PLAVSIC
Called “Colonel” due to becoming a member of the Honorary Association of Kentucky Colonels in his youth, Milan Plavsic was dedicated to protecting citizens as Public Safety Director for the growing village of Park Forest.
Under his leadership, in less than 10 years, the Park Forest Police Department more than doubled its force, growing from nine officers in 1952 to 19 in 1962. He instilled a sense of pride with new uniforms, distinctive pie-shaped badges, hats, and a patch featuring the village Clock Tower. During his 10-year tenure, Colonel Plavsic was an innovative leader in the field of law enforcement, serving as President of the Illinois Chiefs of Police Association and technical adviser for the Illinois Police Training Academy at the University of Illinois.
Plavsic was the first recipient of the Park Forest Jaycees “Citizen of the Year” award in 1961. He was instrumental in the construction of the police facility at the corner of Lakewood and Forest Boulevards on a 2 and one-half-acre site donated by American Community Builders. Under his guidance, Plavsic created the police response to the first African American families moving into the village in 1959, ensuring a peaceful integration of the village. Concerned with juvenile misbehavior, Plavsic once urged the Park Forest Village Board to hire a psychologist with a background in casework with juveniles.
After retiring in 1963, Plavsic moved to Michigan and served on numerous youth protection committees in both Michigan and Texas. From 1970 to 1978 he was a township supervisor in Clare County, Michigan. Upon hearing about the Park Forest Historical Society in the late 1990s, he sent a letter reflecting on his service, along with photos and articles.
Milan and his wife Eloise raised 7 or 8 children. Colonel Plavsic died on February 15, 1998, at the age of 91.
JOHN LOGAN SCOTT
The late John Scott was the second Village Manager of Park Forest, serving from 1953 to 1962. In his 1996 oral history interview, he said “how fortunate” he was that the caliber of both the Board of Trustees and the citizenry helped shape his tenure.
He came to Park Forest after serving as Finance Director of Winnetka. His wife Eleanor said Park Forest was his “favorite job because of the newness and spirit of the “created community.” Scott helped set the budget for the new Village government, planned and helped raise funds for the three separate buildings that would comprise the Public Safety Building, as well as helping oversee the construction of the Village Hall on Forest Boulevard.
In 1959, he was instrumental in peacefully integrating Park Forest at a time when communities around the country experienced violence. When a mob formed in the summer of 1959 at the rumor of a potential home sale to an African American family, Scott worked with Village President Robert Dinerstein and the Commission on Human Relations to draft a “Statement of Village Policy” regarding the integration of Negro families, which affirmed that Park Forest would extend equal services to the protection of the law it affords to any other resident in the village.
Scott helped negotiate the purchase of the water plant from the developers for $3 million and was instrumental in the construction of Orchard Drive through the Lincolnwood subdivision with two underpasses. John was also involved in the successful referendum campaign to build the first public library building and the Parks and Recreation center in Westwood Junior High.
Scott went on to serve in Greenwich, Connecticut, and Santa Barbara, California, before passing away in 2012.
H. THURBER STOWELL
The now 100-year-old H. Thurber Stowell’s impact on Park Forest remains undiminished some 70 years after he, his wife Gladys, and their children moved to the embryonic community of Park Forest.
Finding there was no kindergarten on the Will County end of town, along with some 12 other families, they formed a group to form one. American Community Builders provided an empty residence, the families hired a teacher, and soon some 30 children were enrolled in the facility. That experience underlined Thurb’s public life in the village; involvement in local government helps shape the community’s future. In 1954 he was appointed to the Plan Commission and soon became its chairman. Because of the village’s mushrooming growth, the Commission met two times a month where, as an architect with city planning training, he became an advocate for and advisor on the Orchard Drive railroad underpasses.
He worked with Hall of Fame members Leo Orsi, Lynn Brenne, and Blaine “Bud” Osterling in shaping the village’s future. In 1959, he was called to chair the Commission on Human Relations and played a vital part in the peaceful integration of the village at a time when communities across the country experienced unrest. In a report to the Board of Trustees, Stowell wrote that the key to peaceful integration was to uphold the law that permitted anyone to own and occupy property. Along with Village President Bob Dinerstein and Village Manager John Scott, Thurb was responsible for the now-famous letter of how Village employees should respond to the first Negro move-in. On December 24, 1959, Charles Z. Wilson and his family became the first to integrate Park Forest, accomplished peacefully due to the foresight of the Commission’s recommendations, and the actions of many Village officials and residents.
The Stowell family moved in 1962, and he pursued an illustrious career in architecture.
