A Legend in My Corner

Sherlynn Reid passed away on March 10 at the age of 85. Reid was a legend as a leader in Oak Park’s efforts to become a racially diverse and integrated community. When her beloved husband, Henry, died in 1993, Reid and her daughters set up the Henry E. Reid Memorial Fund, which provides scholarships that ensure every child can fully participate in CAST.

In this post, CAST Program Director, Bill McGlynn, reflects on 25 years with Oak Park’s Sherlynn Reid.

 
 

Sherlynn Reid, the founder of the Henry Reid Scholarship at CAST, died on March 10, 2021 at the age of 85 years old. She was surrounded by her loving family, including her daughter Dorothy of CAST Council and a former D97 School Board Member, as well as grandson Ryan Reid, who played The Wiz in CASTSummer 2006.

It was clear from the first day I took over as CAST program director that I was also inheriting Sherlynn. Somehow she worked here since the very beginning even though she never had an official job. She was at my first CAST Council meeting. I thought I was a great success, but who wouldn’t be with her standing behind, looking at all those parents and saying with her eyes, ‘this is going to work.’ I had a legend in my corner, but I was too young to notice it. Since that day, I have personally witnessed the Henry Reid Scholarship Fund at CAST raise over $150,000 in scholarships and turn it all into tuitions and supplies for CAST kids.

That would be reason enough to celebrate Sherlynn, but her impact was so much more than financial. She was there with us doing the hard work of integrating an artistic, youth-focused, creative not for profit into the often bureaucratic world of education. She did this because she instinctively supported kids and artists but really because it was a chance to instill the ideals of social justice in the next generation. By sharing her own story, about the bravery of her family in desegregating housing in Oak Park and then putting her experience to work as Director of Community Relations for our village, Sherlynn was a powerful example to young people about how the arc of history can be bent toward justice by a lady who lives down the street on Ridgeland Avenue.

People have a hard time believing it, but I knew Sherlyn to be just a regular person most of the time. At countless school meetings, she dove right in debating the best recipe for the cafeteria punch bowl we just borrowed from the PTO. She could get anybody to laugh. But she was in her element leading community discussions. There is a wonderful picture of her dressed as Calpurnia from CAST’s 1998 production of To Kill a Mockingbird. She is sitting on the edge of the stage, her smile beaming, while some young actors talk with the audience about their experience of bringing that 8th-grade staple of literature to life. And then, in 1999, she met with administrators and families when we asked ourselves if Huck Finn was the right character to bring to the CAST stage. I came to recognize the look on parent’s faces time and again when they actually connected with Sherlynn the person and realized she was just a human being underneath the legend. As she walked away to the next encounter, they would grab me by the elbow and say, I can’t believe she really cares about my kids that much, she is so kind, she is a treasure. This is how you change hearts and minds.

For the record, CAST still has the best recipe for punch, and if you don’t believe it. you should join us at our next post-show event in the cafeteria and see for yourself. And Huck Finn turned out to be the right character to bring to our stage in 1998 and again in 2017. Because plays, and all the arts are not about perfect people, role models and saints, they are about human relationships. Sherlynn may well have been a perfect person, a role model and a saint, but I and the countless students of CAST and their families over the years will treasure her because of the relationship she took care to make with each and every one of us.

CAST just finished a show celebrating the unique contributions of John Lewis and Ruth Bader Ginsburg to American history. I’d argue that Sherlyn Reid’s impact was much the same as these legends, but her canvas was just Oak Park. How lucky we are to live and work here now that she made that choice. I can feel her standing behind me and looking out at the world with those eyes saying, this is going to work!

Check out the following news articles for more information about Sherlynn Reid’s amazing legacy:

 
CAST at JulianMary Hausken2021