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By Brent Hoffmann, 2005

“I worked in the Loop for 18 years,” said Quentin Kossnar.  “I saw many new buildings go up, such as 333 W. Wacker Drive and 225 W. Wacker along the river.  I enjoyed seeing the changes.  I often gave impromptu tours of the Art Institute, Millennium Park, downtown public art, and Hyde Park to visiting family, friends, and to my daughter’s and son’s friends when they visited the city.  I also like learning about the history of where I live now, in Park Ridge.  So, it was natural that when the opportunities arose to apply to be an exhibit host in 2018 and a docent a year later, I took them.”

Quentin leads the Historic Treasures, Elevated Downtown tours, the new Loop as Lab tour, and is learning the Devil in the White City Bus tour and the revived Churches by Bus tour.  “I like the craziness of the elevated train schedule and having to think on my toes,” he continued.  “I also enjoy relating the history of the ‘L’ and of Charles Tyson Yerkes. And the view of the buildings from 20 feet above street level provides a unique perspective in which to discuss and show off Chicago’s architecture.”

He serves on the tour committee, was a member of the volunteer connections committee and the docent experience task force, and was a mentor for the docent class of 2024.  He also helped plan and moderate a recent zoom meeting of the docent reading club.

Air Force

He was born in Chicago and grew up in Knox, Ind.  In the early 1970s Quentin served in the U.S. Air Force for three and a half years with his final assignment at San Vito Air Station in southern Italy.  He said, “In addition to my admin. duties as a sergeant, during my off-duty I travelled to Greece, throughout most of Italy, to Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. I learned to play volleyball, which took me back to Athens for an inter-base tournament.”  After leaving the service, he trained as a runner and completed Chicago Marathons in 2008, 2009, and 2010.  “I also took up baking after the Air Force and have treated many of my 2019 classmates to my breads.”

Instructor at Dominican 

He earned his B.A at Indiana University in Bloomington, followed by a master’s degree in liberal arts, with a focus on literature and philosophy, at the University of Chicago. He also studied classical Greek at the U-Chicago continuing education program.  “My first job in Chicago,” he continued, “was as an accounting supervisor at Illinois Bell.  Then I was a methods analyst working with programmers.  As a manager in Bell’s regulatory department, I served as an expert witness on a major rate case.  I completed my career at SBC Communications in Hoffman Estates, where I developed budgets and service metrics for the engineering and construction department.  In 2004, I retired to spend more time with my daughter and son before they went off to college and beyond.

“Then I used my educational credentials to sign on as an adjunct instructor at Dominican University in River Forest for six years,” Quentin continued.  He taught liberal arts and political science seminars, developing five courses at the junior and senior undergraduate level.   As well as attending adult education courses at the University of Chicago, Quentin learned to play guitar at the Old Town School of Folk Music.  “Now I lead monthly sing-a-longs at my condo complex in Park Ridge.”

Antipholus the Docent

“I’m a James Joyce nerd, having reread Ulysses for well over ten times.  I’ve read all of Shakespeare’s works (many multiple times) and have seen most of his plays.  And I found an apt quote from the Bard’s ‘Comedy of Errors’ which relates, somewhat, to architecture: Antipholus of Syracuse said to his servant: ‘Within this hour, it will be dinnertime.  Till that, I’ll view the manners of the town, peruse the traders, gaze upon the buildings…’.

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