During a second conversation with Lee Daniels, I asked him about growing up in Elmhurst.

“My grandfather, Lee E. Daniels, bought a Dutch colonial on the west side of Addison Avenue in 1929,” he began. “After a while, he moved to 366 Elm Ave., which had a cottage in back. He was an outgoing man who played quarterback on the football team while at Loyola and was a Big Ten and pro football referee for 13 years and friends with Red Grange and George Halas. He and my grandmother had only one child, my father, Bert Daniels. My dad fell in love with my mother while they were in high school. They got married, and my dad went to Michigan State College. When World War II began, my dad was off to war, and my mother returned to Elmhurst with her then three kids. I was one of them, and we all lived in the little cottage behind my grandfather’s house.”

Bert Daniels returned from the service, worked days as an insurance adjuster and went to law school at night. He then began a law practice and built a house for his growing family at 369 Walnut St.

“Walnut was just a small street back then,” Daniels said. “There was a cornfield where Emery Manor is now, and we used to fish for crayfish in the creek near there.”

The Daniels family continued to grow in size, and the kids went to Roosevelt School, now Marjorie Davis Park.

“I remember riding my tricycle down Grantley,” Daniels said. “It tipped over, and my older brother, John, who was right behind me, rode over my arm and broke it.”

There were other accidents that must have caused his mother, Evelyn, some tense moments, such as when John fell through a basement window at Roosevelt School. However, with a family that eventually expanded to seven boys and one girl, she developed great coping skills because I have heard from more than one source that Mrs. Daniels was “a rock” as well as wonderful mother and wife.

In 1954, the family bought the huge house at 280 Cottage Hill Ave. from the Lee Sturgis estate.

“It needed a lot of work, but it was roomy,” Daniels said. “Back then, Cottage Hill was called Cathedral Street because of all the elms that arched over it. It was a blessing to see it.”

Daniels’ parents wanted him to take piano and voice lessons because his aunt was a voice soloist who lived on nearby Highland Avenue.

“I didn’t care that much for piano, but I liked to sing, and since my aunt and parents were friends with Dr. Evanson, an Elmhurst physician whose son was in the Apollo Boys Choir, I auditioned and was later asked to join. The choir was headquartered in Florida, so my parents felt it would interfere with my education and growing up. Instead, I was referred to Bessie Ryan, who lived on Austin Boulevard in Chicago, and ended up taking voice lessons with her for many years. I sang at the Congregational Church, was a member of the York High School Senior Choir and placed first in a statewide competition two years in a row. I even sang at Elmhurst College and Orchestra Hall. It was an enjoyable experience, and it gave my life balance.”

He went on to say he quit singing after his first year in college.

Daniels loved playing football as a kid at the Elmhurst College mall or Wilder Park and was a gymnast in high school. His teenage years sound like something from “Happy Days.” He said the Sky Hi Drive In, located where Oakbrook Center is now, was a magnet for teens. The A & W Drive In at North Addison and Armitage avenues (before Interstate 290 went through) was the big hangout.

“Next door to the A & W was Van’s Auto,” he said. “I bought a used Ford, and Gary, the owner’s son, helped me soup it up.”

There were other hangouts, too.

“The Cloverleaf was where Deborah Day Spa is now,” he said, “and there was the Village Lantern across from where Francesca’s Amici is and the Elm Snack Shop, now Jamba Juice.”

There were jobs, too, to earn money for those drive-in movies and ice cream sodas. Daniels pumped gas at Egans Standard Station, now the Marathon at York Street and Palmer Drive. He worked at McCormick Place, cut grass at Mount Emblem Cemetery and did maintenance work on the Illinois tollway. He sold men’s clothes for $80 a week at the Elm Department Store on East First Street, then worked for his dad as a law clerk for four years while attending law school at night. In 1967, he set up his own law practice in Elmhurst with his father before joining the firm of Bell Boyd & Lloyd in Chicago. In 1974, he was elected to the Illinois House and served as speaker from 1995 to 1996. He retired from Springfield in 2007.

When I commented he made growing up in Elmhurst sound idyllic, he said, “It was, but what is important is to appreciate the good things and welcome challenges. At the end of the day, it’s what you make of the life and cards you’re dealt.”

Send ideas and comments to elmhurstovereasy@comcast.net.