Longtime Community Leader Jody Wallace Passes Away at 89

Joan Louise Hillmer Wallace, a longtime community leader, village clerk, realtor and resident of La Grange for more than 50 years, died Sunday at in La Grange Park. She was 89.

Known to all as Jody, Wallace was a high-spirited and active member of the community in politics and public service—whether as the LaGrange village clerk, running the PTA book fair at Goodman School, serving on the board of the League of Women Voters, or marching with the Camp Fire Girls in the Memorial Day parade in red, 3-inch spike heels.

Wallace belonged to a leadership council of schools, youth organizations, churches and others that met regularly to discuss how the community might better reach out to its underserved populations.

In the La Grange Area League of Women Voters, she spent many years organizing events and marshalling the talents and connections of everyone she knew.

"Jody provided the leadership to bring 'hot button' issues to the local community," said Mary Klonowski, former league president and longtime friend.  "Jody had an unfailing insight into what would capture the public’s interest. We will miss her vision, imagination and dynamism."

Wallace always said she horrified her parents in 1944 by voting for FDR, but his New Deal and his interest in serving the underserved had a lifelong influence on her.  She was part of a group that held candlelight vigils outside the La Grange Post Office during the Vietnam War and she marched with Martin Luther King Jr.

As a realtor, she most liked helping young couples with few resources find a first home that they could afford. In the late 1980s, she ran for and was elected to the position of village clerk in La Grange. At Plymouth Place, she fought for better accommodations for the residents, from the layout of the parking garage to the introduction of lazy susans on the large dining tables to make it easier for people to reach the salt and pepper.

Jody Wallace was born June 1, 1923 in Anderson, IN, to Max L. Hillmer and Hazel Weaver Hillmer. Max’s work for General Motors took them all over the Midwest, and she ultimately graduated from high school in Detroit. From there she went to Northwestern University, where she earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Speech and Drama in 1944, and where she met her future husband, David Wallace.

They married in November 1944 and lived in Ohio and England before finally settling on Sunset Avenue in La Grange in 1955. She lived there until moving to Plymouth Place in 2008, and it was at that house that she welcomed her large and loving family, which grew to include nieces, grandchildren and innumerable friends.

Wallace worked in radio at WBEZ and then at Marshall Fields in Chicago. She told her family she never thought of herself as well educated or smart. But, as an avid reader and with her endless curiosity, she well versed in literature, politics, history and every character actor to ever grace an American screen.

Wallace was preceded in death by her parents, Max and Hazel, her husband David, and her brother Max Jr. She is survived by her daughter, Judith Crossett; her son David Wallace (Fran); her grandchildren Laura Crossett, Matt Wallace (Annie), and Anne Wallace; her great-grandsons Peter Crossett and Benjamin Wallace; her sisters-in-law Patricia Hillmer and Elisabeth Simons; nieces Felicity and Jennifer Hillmer, and Ann Serafin; nephew Jesse Inskeep; great-nephews Mitchell and Matthew Serafin; cousin Giles Auchmuty; and innumerable friends.

The family suggests memorials in Jody Wallace's name to the La Grange Area League of Women Voters or WBEZ-Radio.

A memorial service for Jody Wallace is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 22 at 2 p.m., at Dole Hall in , 315 N. La Grange Rd. in La Grange Park.

- This obituary was provied by the family of Jody Wallace.