Blog

By Brent Hoffmann, Class of 2005

“Years ago, on a walking tour of Auvers-sur-Oise, France, our tour guide showed us some of the places that inspired Vincent van Gogh,” said Jean Schlinkmann. “I was so impressed with her knowledge and story-telling that I thought I’d like to learn and share knowledge like that someday. As I neared retirement, my interest in architecture led me to the CAC. I took several tours and was hooked on the idea of becoming a docent.”  Which she did, in 2013.

Now — like many of us on hiatus from leading tours — Jean gets together with friends on Zoom.  “We decided to recreate famous works of art using household items,” she explained.  Her artistic recreation was van Gogh’s painting The Starry Night.  “I already had the background cloth and broken pickleballs [wiffle balls].  It was a fun project and a therapeutic way to get the creative juices flowing.”

Jean’s an expert on fun projects and creative juices.  “Before becoming a docent, I worked at the Schaumburg Park District for 32 years,” she said. “I had six different positions.”  She was director of communications and special projects and the corporate recreation manager.  Jean helped set up the district’s TV studio.  She produced, directed, and hosted talk shows and other programming on the district’s cable-access channel. “My favorite position was the manager for the park district’s first golf course.  I created the procedures, hired and trained all staff, ordered inventory, organized leagues, walked the course, and talked golf every day.”  She retired as the district’s Executive Director in 2012.

After retirement, she continued to serve as a board member of Friendship Senior Options, a non-profit, continuous-care senior living organization with communities in Schaumburg and Geneva, Illinois.

Jean’s Day

Jean grew up in Greenfield, Wisconsin, south of Milwaukee.  Post-high school, she moved south to the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where she earned an athletic scholarship as a setter on the volleyball team.  She graduated with a B.S. in fine arts, majoring in landscape architecture.  “But don’t ask me to do a planting plan,” she said, “because I’ve never done one.”  She then earned a masters degree in recreation administration at Indiana University, Bloomington, before joining the Schaumburg Park District.

In 2012, in honor of her retirement and long service with the district, the mayor of Schaumburg declared Wednesday, May 9^th, as Jean Schlinkmann Day.  “I had a wonderful career,” she continued.  “I’m proud of having led a dedicated team.  I play lots of pickleball, tennis, and golf when I’m not leading tours.  I’m still a jock at heart.”

Jean leads the Historic Skyscrapers, Historic Treasures, Frank Lloyd Wright in Oak Park, FLW by Bus and the Mart tours.  She also led the now-retired Modern Skyscrapers and Segway on the Lakefront tours.  She said, “I like to encourage my tourees to discover the beautiful building details.  On the Historic Skyscrapers tour, I ask the group to shout out every time they saw a Greek Key.  I love pointing out Meis’s grid while standing on the Federal Plaza, and seeing their faces light up when following the joint lines into each of the three buildings. On the Segway tour, I miss the wind in my hair and beautiful views of the skyline while cruising through Grant Park and the museum campus.

Jean has been a certifier and trainee coach since 2014.  She is the chair of the docent Core Values Task Force and a member of the Standards Committee. She co-chaired the Open House Docent Interpreters program, for which she won a docent service award at Docent Appreciation Night in 2015.

Jean also has been a volunteer, house and logistics captain for six of the Wright Plus Walk annual events in Oak Park.  The walk, usually scheduled for the third week in May, is sponsored by the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust.

Locked In

“On a sunny Saturday morning, I earnestly began a Treasures tour with eight tour-takers as a helicopter lowered an HVAC unit onto the Carbide and Carbon building,” she said.  “Problem was, Michigan Avenue and the surrounding streets were cordoned off for the helicopter lift.  And we were still inside Illinois Center, which was locked.  So I ran around the Center, trying all the lobby doors so we could continue the tour on the street.  With no luck, and being a weekend, there was no one to ask to open the doors.  Finally, I found an unlocked door and raced back to gather my group. We exited east and walked down to Randolph to resume the tour. It was a rough ‘off-script’ start”.

Virtual Fundraiser

The Rotary Club of Schaumburg-Hoffman Estates recently had to make a tough decision due to the outbreak of coronavirus.  Should it cancel or just postpone its 50^th anniversary fundraiser of March 14, 2020?  Jean, the event co-chair and longtime club member, agreed to reinvent it.  Instead of gathering with 350 supporters at the Chicago Marriott Schaumburg, she hosted a Facebook Live event from a makeshift TV studio at the Marriott.

As master of ceremonies, she directed the 100-plus guests streaming the broadcast to an online portal to bid on auction items. The 45-minute event showcased more than 100 silent auction items plus a $10,000 grand-prize raffle drawing, while relating the club’s 50 years of service to the community.  “We netted about $155,000,” Jean said.  “That’s probably more than our fundraiser would have earned had we done it conventionally, in person.”

The Buzz

“The best part of being a CAC volunteer is learning and sharing the great details of Chicago architecture,” she concluded.  “As a suburbanite from Elmhurst, I enjoy the energizing buzz of the city every time I come in on the train to give a tour.  My favorite compliment is when I’m asked, ‘what tour are you giving tomorrow’?”

.  “As a suburbanite from Elmhurst, I enjoy the energizing buzz of the city every time I come in on the train to give a tour.  My favorite compliment is when I’m asked, ‘what tour are you giving tomorrow’?”

 

_________________________________________________________________________________