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Cummings still loves Clarendon Hills
Jan Cummings is one of the founding members of Citizens for Clarendon Hills.
Updated: December 30, 2012 6:15AM
CLARENDON HILLS — But for a stint in Washington, D.C. after her marriage, Jan Cummings has lived in Clarendon Hills since 1969. She has been librarian at Notre Dame School for 26 years, and wrote a Clarendon Hills community column for The Doings from 1988-2004. She is one of the founders of Citizens for Clarendon Hills, formed to oppose a 2012 village referendum seeking home rule.
Q. After being gone for 10 years in Washington, D.C., why did you choose to again live in Clarendon Hills when you came back to the area?
A. We didn’t want to look anywhere else. My husband missed Clarendon Hills so much. We missed that small-town feeling.
Q. Did you find Clarendon Hills to be much different when you returned after living elsewhere for 10 years?
A. It really wasn’t different. The people haven’t changed, even now. Some of the businesses that were here before are gone, but the community itself hasn’t changed much at all from when we first moved here to now.
Q. Do you miss writing your column for The Doings?
A. I miss it every day. I miss it because everyone has a story. I guess being interested in that is my nature because I still automatically listen for that when I talk to people.
Q. What do you enjoy most about your job as the librarian at Notre Dame?
A. My biggest job is to encourage reading, and I enjoy doing that with the kids. I also enjoy getting to read all the time. We have something we call DEAR — Drop Everything And Read — it’s where everyone in the school reads for 20 minutes every day after lunch.
Q. Why did you get involved in the group that formed Citizens for Clarendon Hills?
A. A former Clarendon Hills resident called me to ask about home rule because of the referendum the village was planning. A group of us got together to talk about it, and we continued to meet on Saturday mornings. Really, the idea was to educate residents about home rule and the referendum.
Q. If Citizens for Clarendon Hills was formed to educate residents about home rule and the referendum, why did the group take a stand against the referendum?
A. You can only go so far with education before you take a stand on something. We are continuing with our group as an educational tool for the community, and with some things it won’t necessarily be about us taking any stand.
