Memory loss among older Americans is a significant issue. According to a recent report released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2022 about 13 percent of those 85 and older in the country suffered from dementia, along with four percent of those 65 and older. About 6.5 million Americans today are afflicted with Alzheimer's Disease, the most common form of dementia.

To help improve the quality of life for those afflicted and to ease the burden on caregivers, Dickinson Hall and the Lake Forest Library have united to unveil a Memory Café this year. For 90 minutes on the third Tuesday of each month at Dickinson Hall in Lake Forest, attendees in the early stages of memory loss can talk about the past and connect with each other in a welcoming environment at no charge.

"We have been talking about introducing it here for quite a while," said Tricia Schwall, senior resources manager at Dickinson Hall.

So had Krista Kosar, adult services librarian at Lake Forest Library.

"As the population ages, it's become more of an interest," Kosar said. Given that part of the library's new strategic plan was to collaborate with other organizations in the community, she reached out to partner with Schwall on the initiative.

Introduced by a Dutch psychiatrist in 1997, Memory Cafés are global now. According to memorycafedirectory.com, they were created as "a way to break through the stigma associated with various forms of dementia. It simply wasn't discussed and those living with the disease – and their caregivers – were suffering as a result."

At the first session in Lake Forest this summer, the session started with people chatting over snacks and coffee. Schwall and Kosar – who are dementia friendly certified, along with their staffs -- explained what a Memory Café is and asked participants what they'd be interested in during future events. That yielded the idea of bringing in old newspaper headlines and articles to the October session.

"I got the impression they enjoyed the first session and that they'll be back," Kosar said. "The bigger it gets, the more exciting it will be. We're flexible on topics and letting the conversation flow." Future sessions will also include mindful yoga, music, creative storytelling and more.

Membership at Dickinson Hall or the library is not required – the only requirement is to register in advance (see registration information below). Caregivers must accompany attendees. Schwall pointed out the experience is important to them.

"It's really a time to give caregivers a respite, and it's a great opportunity to meet individuals in the same situation,” she said. “We're hoping they get to know each other and have camaraderie."

Schwall added that for those with memory loss, holding the event at the same time and place every month (the third Tuesday at Dickinson Hall) is comforting.

"Consistency is one of the key things they need," she said.

To register for the Memory Café, please call Dickinson Hall at 847-234-2209 or email dickinsonhall@cityoflakeforest.com

There is new life for a distinctive part of the Lake Forest Library with the restoration of eight murals dominating the building's rotunda.

Last month, crews finished a months-long refurbishment of the murals painted by Russian-born artist Nicolai Remisoff. Dedicated in 1932, the paintings are depictions of poets and prose writers, including Homer, Virgil, Cicero, Aristotle and Socrates.

"They are the great thinkers of the world from the antiquity," noted Friends of the Lake Forest Library board member Jan Gibson.

Remisoff's murals were installed shortly after the library's opening in 1931. However, when cracks in the building's dome appeared, the murals suffered suffered water damage.

In 2023, a repair to the dome was completed and library officials then moved to breathe fresh life into the murals. In December, board members approved a contract to repair the paintings using funds donated by the Friends of the Lake Forest Library.

Crews cleaned, repainted, varnished and sealed the eight murals over several months, exciting the staff and patrons.

"After the restoration, we rediscovered several unique features in these murals that had been obscured over the passage of time," Library executive director Ishwar Laxminarayan wrote in an email. "The Lake Forest Library is a beloved community institution and visitors now experience a greater sense of awe and grandeur as they gaze up at the amous Greek and Roman authors and poets who are depicted in the restored murals.

"We are the cornerstone of literacy in our community and believe that these restored murals will continue to inspire generations of avid readers readers to pursue a lifelong love for reading and learning," he said.

Upon the completion of the project, Gibson offered a fresh look at the life of Remisoff.

Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, his art career started as a political cartoonist.

"He was a master at drawing faces," Gibson said.

He and his wife fled Russia after the start of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, with initial stops in Paris and then New York, before arriving in Chicago in 1925.

He taught for a short time at the Art Institute, but his true love was in design, Gibson noted. In one prominent example, he was the project manager for the Sears pavilion displayed at the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago.

While teaching at the Art Institute of Chicago, Remisoff became friends with Lake Forest Library board president Alfred E. Hamill, who eventually eventually invited him to stay at his home.

"People were enamored with Russians at the time," Gibson said. "They knew his talent."

Remisoff painted a series of murals at the Hamill house and shortly after the library opened in 1931, he was commissioned to do another set of paintings in the rotunda.

Gibson marveled that Remisoff completed the work over several months without assistance.

"He was very good at what he did." she said.

Remisoff dedicated the eight main panels that are in the classical Greek style featuring colorful, rounded faces. Gibson added the depictions are of poets and prose writers of the antiquity, because of their importance in history and literature, with Homer being the most important.

"All of the other poets treated Homer as their mentor, and he inspired them to write," she said.

A few years after the completion of the murals, Remisoff moved to Hollywood, working in design in both movies and television before his death in 1975.

His imprint on Lake Forest continues, and is now refreshed with the murals getting their first major restoration in almost 30 years.

"The library building and the murals are a treasure of a gift bestowed upon Lake Forest and its citizens," Friends president Liz Jacob wrote. "The Friends, as community members and stewards who support and advocate for the library and its mission, take pride in having a share in ownership of this treasure.

"We take pride in maintaining and restoring the murals for future generations to cherish," she said.

Last year during the association visit to Chicago, there was time on Saturday morning and afternoon when Chris and I could drive north to Wisconsin to visit the Livingston family.

We were joined by Sam Babcock and headed up the highway towards the Badger State. Along the way, I was able to take care of one of my bucket list items that I wished to check off.

Since discovering the death of Carl Thorne-Thomsen and the event's leading up to the man who replaced me in Vietnam, I've always wanted to visit his hometown in Illinois to learn more of his history growing up in Lake Forest.

It was a Saturday, and the Lake Forest/Lake Bluff History Center was closed. There is a highly regarded Research Center in that establishment, and I planned on mining that source for whatever I could learn about Thomsen. It wasn’t to be, but luckily, nearby was the Lake Forest Main Library.

We dropped in and I introduced us to the lead Librarian and shared that we were interested in researching any data that the library may have on our fallen brother from A/2/12. She passed us off to the Adult Service Librarian, Krista Kosar. She told us that the library held no specific information on Carl-Thorne Thomsen, but there were archived yearbooks from when he attended Lake Forest High School.
She brought us to a rear room which contained a locked cabinet which contained decades of "FOREST TRAILS" (their title) yearbooks to peruse through.

Knowing the year that he graduated (1964), I reached for that year's yearbook and learned a lot more about the man who left Harvard in 1966 with idealistic beliefs about the men who were then fighting in Vietnam. He felt that the war was inordinately being fought by men who were not as fortunate or connected as he and his Harvard classmates were.

I was able to take quite a few related pictures from that yearbook and I will sprinkle them into the story I prepared for this newsletter.

With its historic dome now repaired, the Lake Forest Library has undertaken a restoration program for its 1932 hand-painted murals that adorn the main rotunda area. The paintings were partially damaged by water seepage because of leaking from the dome and the restoration is expected to take four to six weeks.

The murals are a series of large-scale paintings depicting the ancient Greeks. The artist, Nikolai Remisoff, was commissioned for the work by Arthur E. Hamill, a Lake Forest resident and the library’s president, in 1931. Remisoff had previously completed paintings and murals in the Hamill home, who also served as the artist’s patron.

The Friends of the Lake Forest Library supplied the funding for the project, not to exceed $250,000. They also provided a $16,000 contingency funding grant. The Berwyn-based firm of PARMA Conservation, an art restoration service, was awarded the job order.

“We arrived on Feb. 5 to begin restoring the murals, and we’ll be here for up to six weeks,” said John Salhus, of PARMA. “We use hydraulic lifts to get to the upper parts.”

The mural panels are in keeping with the overall Byzantine design and exterior of the library. The panels depict Homer, Sappho, Virgil, Cicero, Diogenes, Pythagoras in the rotunda, and four smaller landscape designs painted directly onto the plaster above the doorway accesses.

Buckling and water discoloration damage was discovered on one of the canvas paintings, which led to discovering a leak in the dome. It was covered in a heavy plastic in 2017, which was later replaced after being shredded by exposure to the elements. The original 1931 dome was itself replaced in 1980, with a support frame and copper material.

“I came in May of 2023, and work had already started on the dome and was completed in August and completely replaced,” said Ishwar Laxminarayan, the library’s executive director. “In 2017, we started visible signs of moisture on the canvas murals that line the rotunda. Further investigation traced it back to the dome. At that time, there was talk of a broader project, as this building is from 1931.”

He also said there were building additions over the years, to its present footing. A capital improvement plan to look at the building, the access, the elevators, and other items were scrapped when the water damage was discovered. The murals became the high priority item in saving them from further deterioration.

“The murals are almost as old as the library, done in 1932, by Remisoff, a Russian émigré,” said Laxminarayan. “He later went on to Hollywood and did set designs for films. The Friends of Lake Forest Library were instrumental, and we received four bids. PARMA said their work would not exceed $266,000. They did not know the damage extent. The Friends stepped up, and the process was started.”

The work-in-progress can viewed as the mural restoration takes place. The artists also answer questions from patrons visiting the library, while they paint. Their efforts already have shown a dramatic effect with the revived colors, since the murals were treated to a cleaning more than two decades ago.

“Many things are being considered, and the conservators want to invite groups to view them, such as community groups, schools,” said Laxminarayan. “I announced it at the village board meeting, so we’re getting the word out to come see this, as it is being done. They’ve only been here since the start of the month, and they’re happy to answer questions.”

LAKE FOREST, IL — Every time Ishwar Laxminarayan walks through the doors of the Lake Forest Public Library, he can’t help but be in awe of the artistic images that greet visitors upon their arrival.

For Laxminarayan , the library’s executive director, the set of 12 nearly 92-year-old murals that grace the library’s walls and rotunda not only speaks to the love of the fine arts that has long been part of the Lake Forest community but also the uniqueness of the murals and the library space itself.

But ever since water damage began to compromise the murals in recent years, library officials have worked toward restoring the works of art —eight of which are on canvases and the remaining four which are painted directly on the walls. But after the Library Board of Trustees voted last month to spend up to $266,000 to restore and repair the murals, work will soon begin to bring them back to their original glory.

The Lake Forest Public Library Board recently approved devoting up to $266,000 to repair and restore 12 murals that are nearly 92 years old inside the library. (Photo courtesy of Lake Forest Public Library)
A total of $233,000 will be used for repairs while another $30,000 will set aside for contingencies that may come up. The repairs will be done at no cost to local taxpayers but will be covered by The Friends of the Lake Forest Library.

The process will take between 6-8 weeks, Laxminarayan said, and will not only repair the damage created by water in recent years but will help to ensure damage that may not be seen by the naked eye from getting worse.
The most recent repairs were made to the murals in 1997. But around 2017, library officials began to notice damage to the murals, mostly caused by water. Workers found that the damage had been created after the library’s dome had leaked, causing water to seep into the murals themselves, doing damage to a collection of art that has become a treasured part of the library by visitors and Lake Forest art lovers alike.

“Over time (the collection) has become a source of great pride and love,”Laxminarayan told Patch this week. "So I would say there is a great interest in these pieces of art."

Four bids were submitted for the work and the board voted to go with the lowest qualified bid, which came from Parma Conservation, a Chicago-based art restoration company that trustees said showed the most promise in properly repairing the murals.

The work is expected to begin in February, the library’s executive director said, when restoration will begin to preserve the murals for generations to come.

Laxminarayan said that once the work is completed, the visual impact will be dramatic. In addition to repairing the water damage, the murals will be cleaned, removing dirt, dust, and grime that has built up over time. Once the restoration, repairs, and cleaning are complete, Laxminarayan said that visitors will see a dramatic improvement in the beloved artwork.

The murals were created by Russian artist Nicolai Remisoff and have been part of the library’s ambiance since 1932. The murals, entitled “Poets and Artists of Antiquity” represent artistic homages to Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, and Homer.

Laxminarayan said that the works of art are unique from what one might typically expect to find inside a public library. But the love of them among residents represents a passion for artistic creation, making the collection even more special, he said.

Because of the amount of time that the murals have been on display, former residents who return to Lake Forest after years away will make their way back to the library to again see the artistic impressions that help make the library what it is.

Many of the visitors not only return but bring back their children and other families who may have never seen the murals that are painted in areas around the library — including the building’s rotunda and dome.

Laxminarayan said that the library may install a web camera in the library to allow community members to track the mural restoration project in real-time. The library is also considering using the restoration project as an educational opportunity in which students can come in while the repairs are being made to learn more about the murals and the meaning depicted in each of the 12 works of art.

And as long as Laxminarayan has been affiliated with the library, even he can’t get over how the works of art change the surroundings of an already unique public setting.

“It’s like walking into this hallowed space, this sanctified space that you immediately respect” Laxminarayan told Patch this week. “You say, ‘Wow, what a privilege it is to even to be working here’ and you realize what a great community asset this is for a young child who walks through those doors.

“It’s that feeling of awe and wonder as they walk through, they realize they are entering this (space) that has so much history, so much art that this community has worked to preserve for the past 90 years and that they intend to preserve for the next 100 years.”