Subject: Re: RESOURCE INFORMATION Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 16:03:04 -0800 From: Rich Guske

Mr. Thurston,

You asked me if I still lived in Chicago. No. I moved out of the City in 1957, when the Navy sent me to Davisville, R.I.

If my dad was correct, when he was alive, he used to say that we lived in the "Projects" from 1935 through 1952. It seems, that many parents like mine started to make more than the permitted salary, and, therefore, were not allowed to stay there. We moved during the summer of 1952.

My memories of the "Projects" are all very good. We, the kids, never felt like we were missing the so called space that sociologists were talking about relative to our counterparts of the suburbs. In fact, we felt the opposite, more space than they could ever have. I was moved by the pictures you have on the Internet. They were taken when I lived there. I bet the projects don't look like that today.

My wife, whose social background was very different than mine, can't understand how I can speak so fondly of the my life there. She new that my family and the others were all poor, but we lived in a world of pride and joy.

I went back to Chicago in 1987 for a visit with my kids grandparents, and they would not take me to my youth. In other words, I can't go home. It is a "battle zone". President Roosevelt did a service to my "generation" in the "Projects". I owe him a stable childhood, surrounded by the most honest and proud Americans that ever lived. I shall thank him someday, since the time ahead of me is less than the time behind me.

My goal is to put on paper for my children and grandchildren, what life was like in Chicago during my youth. I am, also, trying to find some information on the Chicago Tribune Charities and an amusement park in Chicago during that time called Rvierview Park. Between both of these operations, I spent more time being entertained during the summers that I never, never, was bored. I would be willing to bet that there isn't a program like these anymore in the USA. I do believe that the Tribune Charities was an extension of Roosevelt's Social program.

I took a class at the University of Santa Barbara, back in 1978; and, shocked my classmates in a discussion of how life was in public housing. They never heard anything like I painted for them. Public housing today doesn't seem to work.

Enough, thanks for your time.

Rich