W E D N E S D A Y
June 21, 2017 Vol. 35, No. 44 ONE DOLLAR
@oakpark @wednesdayjournal
JOURNAL of Oak Park and River Forest
Pride 2017
Special pullout section
Hemingway’s first love? Oak Parker’s discovery of new letters helps plug gaps in Ernie’s biography By KEN TRAINOR Staff Writer
B
efore Agnes, Hadley, Pauline, Martha and Mary, there was Frances Coates. That is Rob Elder’s startling discovery, chronicled in last month’s Paris Review article, “To Have and Have Not.” [theparisreview. org/blog/tag/to-have-and-have-not/] This is the centennial of Ernest Hemingway’s graduation from Oak Park and River Forest High School, and though much is known about one of the world’s towering literary figures, few knew that in 1917 when he
graduated, Ernie was in love — or at least infatuation. “It changes a couple of fundamental assumptions about him,” said Elder, a 10-year resident of Oak Park, who co-authored the 2016 book Hidden Hemingway: Inside the Ernest Hemingway Archives of Oak Park with Mark Cirino and Aaron Vetch. “It is biography-changing in that most of his high school classmates said he was uninterested in women. He was more interested in fishing and hunting.” One of his buddies, in fact, said that if Ernie ever took a woman to a dance, he didn’t know who that person was. “So he was known to be either not interested or unlucky,” said Elder, noting that he fell backwards into “this Hemingway detective work” while doing research on the book. As he was See FRANCES COATES on page 13
Minimum wage debate lives and dies on social media Agenda item pulled from Oak Park board agenda after local outcry By TIMOTHY INKLEBARGER Staff Reporter
Courtesy of Betsy Fermano
JUST FRIENDS?: Frances Coates in her 20s, during her career as an opera singer. Classmates at OPRF High School (she was a year older), they were close friends and stayed in touch for some years during and after World War I. She lived a long, interesting life and died at the age of 89.
Less than a week after it was announced on Facebook that the Oak Park Board of Trustees would discuss opting out of Cook County’s minimum wage ordinance, the item was pulled from consideration.
This follows a few days of discussion primarily on the Facebook profile pages of Oak Park trustees Deno Andrews and Dan Moroney. The county ordinance requires the minimum wage to increase from $8.25 to $10 an hour beginning in July and rise one dollar per year until it reaches $13 in 2020. Employers also would have to pay sick leave for minimumwage employees who would earn one hour of leave for every 40 worked. Andrews, who owns Felony Franks See MINIMUM WAGE on page 14
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