"Exploring Orland Park's History" Featured at Mayor McLaughlin's Autumn Senior Coffee

Orland Park Mayor Dan McLaughlin will host his annual Autumn Senior Coffee on Tuesday, October 29 from 10am to noon at the Orland Park Civic Center.

The mayor invites area seniors each spring and autumn to enjoy coffee and refreshments and hear speakers present topics of interest.

Margie Owens-Klotz, a longtime village employee and Orland Park resident, will present “Exploring Orland Park’s History.”

“The village does a lot to preserve the community’s history,” McLaughlin said. “And, because of her love for history and having grown up here, Margie has become one of the village’s resident historians,” the mayor said.

Owens-Klotz moved to Orland Park in 1972, the summer before she began fifth grade at Orland Park School. Her husband, a third generation Orland firefighter, has lived in Orland Park his entire life. His parents moved to the area as babies in the 1930s.

“I’ve been lucky to have known some of Orland Park’s best historians,” Owens-Klotz said. “When Village Treasurer Franklin Loebe was alive, he’d tell great stories about growing up in Orland Park. And, one of the best Old Orland tours my Girl Scouts enjoyed in the 1990s was with the late Joyce Lahti, one of the founders of the Orland Historical Society,” she said.

“Mayor Doogan was in office when I joined the village as a summer employee and I would love to listen to the stories shared by the late Harley Uthe and Owen Nicolai when they both worked for the village,” Owens-Klotz said.

One of three daughters of the late Mayor Fred Owens and his wife, Sally, Owens-Klotz has been responsible for village communications since the mid-1980s. She holds a Master of Arts Degree from Governors State University and served as an adjunct professor at St. Xavier University.  She and her husband have both been involved in local youth sports and scouts for many years.

“My love for history is hereditary,” Owens-Klotz said. “My dad was a Chicago high school history teacher who was an authority on Chicago history. He loved to lead Chicago tours for the Orland Historical Society, taking groups down to Pullman, the Florence Hotel, Graceland Cemetery and other cool places in the city,” she said.

“This should be a fun morning, helping those who are new to Orland Park learn more about the village’s history and inviting longtime senior residents to do some reminiscing,” the mayor said. 

The Orland Park Civic Center is located at 14750 South Ravinia Avenue. Admission and parking for the senior coffee are free. For more information, call 708/403-6150.