by Hank Brockett
6/29/01
For 37 years, he delivered mail by foot to his friends and neighbors on the South Side of Chicago.
And Thursday, 16 years after he retired and 51 miles away from the hubbub of city life, he was outside again and loving every sight and smell of it."I'm gonna get my lungs full of air and breathe it out on somebody in the city," said the 74-year-old, before checking on how his chicken wings were doing on the grill.
They were doing quite well, as was Green.
The chicken, ribs and hot dogs helped satiate the senior services group Seniors Against Crime, arriving by bus from Chicago.
They soaked up the hot fun in the summertime at the Illinois & Michigan Canal, the third time they have visited for fishing and fresh air in as many years.
While Green manned the grills, his brother and brother-in-law went about their fishing business.
Calmly yet intently, they cast and cast again, looking like old pros and not showing an ounce of city in them.
"This is a lovely place. You really can come out here and enjoy the day," Green said.
While some napped in the shade and others took tours of the canal and learned its history, Green said the 70 seniors who came to Channahon this year relish the chance to get out of the house and be active.
There are the trips to Comiskey Park to see the Sox, multiple trips to the cultural center, senior walks on the lakefront, museum tours and so on, all contributing to a schedule that the most active of nonseniors would like to match.
Linda Creighton, a senior citizen police officer, organized the event.
The group assists those 60 years and older who have been the victim of financial exploitation. So in between the park trips, the seniors listen to guest speakers discuss sound banking and other ways of keeping their money safe.
"This is an annual thing now," she said as she cast an unsuccessful lure into the water. "They love it, and I love it. It's all about love. You've got to love what you're doing. ... And everyone's going to be a senior someday."
Earlier this year, the group went down to Springfield, lobbying politicians to consider senior issues.
They asked to stop the practice of forcing seniors into nursing homes.
And by the looks of these seniors, they wouldn't stay indoors anywhere for too long.
Green, a widowed father of two who doesn't need to cook much anymore, took to the barbecue like he was riding a bicycle.
And even as the temperatures soared into the low 90s and the grills made sweating an inevitable reality, there was no place he'd rather be.
"A lot of these people wouldn't have gotten out to the park today," Green said. "They wouldn't have gone to any park today. This is a great thing."
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