Born and raised in Chicago, Ormond said she felt right at home in Aurora the first time she drove down Lake Street in 1975.
Mary Clark Ormond of the Aurora Historical Society stands with Edward Schleining of the Wurst Kitchen Sausage Co. during the Roots Aurora festival in 2018. Ormond has announced she is retiring Wednesday as president of the Aurora Historical Society board.
Which is why he described her retirement on Wednesday as the “end of an era,” and reluctantly acknowledged, “It will definitely be harder without her.”That’s because over the years Ormond “had much to do with so many aspects of our operation,” Jaros said, adding that there would be no way to quantify the hours Mary put in because so much of it was done from her home and never recorded.
The Titanic anniversary was an event that came to mind when I asked Jaros about her work. Whether she was planning receptions or fundraisers or handling publicity or scheduling volunteers or serving as the “main key holder and head docent” at the Tanner House, “Mary always took it up a notch,” he said.
Guests also kicked up their heels at the Immigrant Kitchen fundraiser, which featured homemade food from various ethnic groups. Also among her proudest achievements are the removal and replacement of failing trees at the Tanner House, and her monthly contributions to the Kane County newsletter’s history feature, where she could educate and amuse readers about such topics as downtown Aurora’s “for-men-only” Christmas shopping days and how the city became the Corset Capital of the World.
This passion for museums and historic preservation began at age 15 when her father took her to Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. She not only fell in love with the Victorian Era but soon realized “every subject has a history to it” and that “every day it seems as if there is another way to explore” that history.
Mary Clark Ormond, 76, decided to step away from the historical society this year not because she’s run out of ideas. In fact, one concern she has about retirement is dealing with all the possibilities that she knows will continue to pop into her head.
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