After twenty-eight years at the Rogers Park West Ridge Historical Society, Mary Jo Doyle, a founding member and Executive Director of the organization, keeps going because of her love of the community. During a December 2003 interview with Eve Brownstone, she said:

"I can tell you many stories about Rogers Park and West Ridge. This is a personal story of my family, and one as far back as the Chicago Fire. It was 1871 and my great-grandfather Sampson and his family lived on Chestnut Street on the Near North Side and the fire was getting close. His brother, Robert Rumsey Sampson, lived in a house on Rogers Avenue west of Clark. Their neighbor had a coal wagon, but no place to go, so the two families got together to escape the path of the blaze. Upon their arrival in Rogers Park, members of the family thought that some African Americans were arriving at their home when it fact both families were covered with coal dust." Mary Jo's face lights up with a smile.

Mary Jo is feeling under the weather with a cold that is hard to shake. I interviewed her in her living room, which is full of photos, articles and mementos from her sixty-four years of living in the neighborhood. Tonight with runny nose and all, she is putting the Society newsletter to bed, something she has done for the past seventeen years.

"I could tell you hundreds of stories because all of these people have told me their personal recollections over the years and I have a pretty good memory. Most of them are still in my head and I have got to get them out to the computer. Right now I am looking for a writer to record the oral history of Margaret Breit whose family has lived in the West Ridge area for more than 150 years. Today is her eighty-first birthday. The only sad thing about being part of the Historical Society is that I go to so many wakes, funerals and memorials. In the last year, four of my closest friends have died. They were like my family as well as long time members of the Society. I keep going. I still have a lot to do.

The Society needs to move from our facility at 6424 N. Western where we have been located for the last twelve years. We have nine months to find a new home. We recently sold our building, but continue to rent our space. I have been eyeing the old firehouse on Greenleaf. There are thousands of photographs and memorabilia to archive, stories to record, volunteers to coordinate and new board members to recruit. We are currently looking for a president, treasurer, resource development director and one or two at-large directors. I work eighty hours a week. It is what I love to do, but we could surely need more help. We could never exist without our volunteers. If, by chance, you would like to learn more about the volunteer opportunities at the Society, please email me.

I go to many neighborhood events. I am also a member of the Rotary of Chicago-Rogers Park, the Rogers Park Lions Club and the Far North Side Women's Network. This group of local women business owners gathers on the third Thursday of every month to eat, schmooze, network and share ideas. I am currently serving as an advisor for the Boone Elementary School 75th Reunion coming in May of 2004. When anyone asks me do I know this or that person in the area, I say, there are over one-hundred and thirty thousand people who live in Rogers Park and West Ridge and I probably only know ten thousand. Each one of them probably has a great story to tell.

In October of 2000 Mary Jo and three co-authors wrote a historical book published by the Society. Chicago's Far North Side: An Illustrated History of Rogers Park and West Ridge sold out its first printing of 3,000 soft cover books in four months. The total sold now stands at 5,300+ copies and another 1,000 copies of the third printing just arrived. In March 2002 the Society published their second book. Neighborhoods Within Neighborhoods: Twentieth Century Life on Chicago's Far North Side has sold more than 3,000 copies. The two books are available at the Society office.