W E D N E S D A Y
May 8, 2019 Vol. 39, No. 40 ONE DOLLAR @oakpark @wednesdayjournal
JOURNAL of Oak Park and River Forest
Fair housing pioneer Bobbie Raymond dies at 80 Page 12
Oak Park mourns OPRF senior
Thomas Hunt, 18, died in a May 4 car crash in Oak Park By TIM INKLEBARGER Staff Reporter
ALEXA ROGALS/Staff Photographer
A THOUSAND SEEDLINGS: Lissa Dysart tends to tomato plants in the backyard of her home in Oak Park.
Oak Park’s ‘Tomato Lady’ Lissa Dysart’s passion has turned into a cottage industry
By MICHELLE DYBAL Contributing Reporter
They range from half-inch gems to voluptuous 3-pounders; palest of yellows and reds so dark, they’re called black; striped and mottled; pink and orange; round, oblong, heart- and pear-shaped beauties. All future promises from 4- to 8-inch stalks reaching for the sky at pop-
up greenhouses in a modest backyard in southeast Oak Park. The 90 varieties of tomato seedlings, along with a selection of vegetable plants are up for sale out of the home of Lissa Dysart this Saturday. Dysart’s craving for quality, homegrown tomatoes comes from a childhood experience. Growing up in Crystal Lake, she said there was a farm nearby with community garden plots. Her fam-
ily would garden there and “have tons of tomatoes and eat them at every meal throughout the summer.” By the time she moved out, “horrible hydroponic tomatoes came into being,” she said. To counter tasteless grocery-store tomatoes, Dysart had a 5-gallon bucket with a tomato plant on a fire escape while livSee TOMATO LADY on page 15
Thomas Hunt, an 18-year-old Oak Park River Forest High School senior, has died after being involved in a multiple-vehicle car crash that took place on May 4, at about 10 a.m. at the intersection Oak Park Avenue and Adams Street. Police are still investigating the crash, but they say Hunt was traveling southbound on Oak Park Avenue, attempted to pass a vehicle and collided head-on with another vehicle headed northbound. The vehicle headed northbound also collided with a parked car and the vehicle Hunt attempted to pass, according to police. Neither of those motorists were injured. Hunt was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood for treatment and was pronounced dead at 5 p.m. on the day of the accident. Police report that the crash resulted in the closure of Oak Park Avenue between Jackson Boulevard and Adams Street for nearly five hours, while police investigated the scene. Lynda J. Parker, OPRF assistant principal for student services, said in a letter to parents See OPRF SENIOR on page 15