Annette & Rick

Annette: I came here when I was 3. I was born in Memphis, Tennessee. Our house burned down to the ground, so we came and stayed with my uncle and his wife. Back then, it was bad times in the South. There was a lot of racial problems there, and my dad's brother decided to move here. 

My dad got a job at the smelters company [North Chicago Refiners & Smelters]. He saved his money and they bought our first little house here in Illinois. I’ve been here since then. I'm 62 now.

Rick: I was born in Waukegan. I've been here all my life. The last five years, for me, it's been awesome. We started our own little business, working with a lot of nonprofit organizations.

Annette: This year was an awesome year for us. We've been in his house for 21 years. We were able to to buy the house in June. I raised my seven kids in this house.

What was it that made you want to start a business?

Annette: We have seven kids, 19 grandkids, two great grandkids. My kids grew up on food stamps. Even though I worked a job, we couldn’t find a babysitter for seven kids. We couldn't afford any of that. So we took turns working. My husband worked for a time, and then I worked. When I didn't work, he worked– so we could stay home with our kids.

Rick: We always held jobs. We took turns working, but it didn't make ends meet. 

Annette: We freestyled on our own for many years. Moving. Painting. We had a scrap route for 30 years. We raised our kids up on that scrap route. We still scrap once a month. So now we got our own business with my LLC [limited liability company]. We do demolition, too. And clean-up jobs.

We were doing this job and I met this guy named Ike Hong that was with a nonprofit organization. He was impressed with how we did the work. He said, "You're amazing. You need to start your own business." We were having meetings every two weeks to start our business off, then he invited another businessman named Chris. We filed our LLC [business forms] and they kept giving us more jobs, more jobs, more jobs. And this is what we have now.

What my dad told us before he died– he said, “Have six or seven different things to do. If one won't, one one will.” That's how we started doing our business. The painting, the demolition, the cleanup jobs, and moving jobs, the scrap [collecting]. If one won't make us money, the next one will. Keep rotating, right? That's how we got where we're at. We didn't get a grant on this house. We paid cash, out-of-pocket on this house.

Rick: This year we even got an award for our business.

Annette: I think the nonprofit organizations have really brought North Chicago up. Like with David Weil and the ReNew homes. Taking abandoned houses and restoring them and fixing them up and letting people know they can afford to buy a house. And they’ve got food pantries in North Chicago now. Before, you had to go to Waukegan or somewhere not in North Chicago. You're able to go to Community Action (Partnership) to help with your lights and your gas now. It used to not be like that when I was coming up.

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear this statement: “This is North Chicago.”

Rick: It's a good place to live. There's a lot of good people here. And it's changed. Changed for the better. You try to change the environment of where you live. Everybody’s gotta mind their own business, but we're still a community.

I don't call the city to pick up garbage off our street. I get up on the corner, here to the next few houses down, I keep it clean around here. So when [people] come in, you know what they say? [In a low voice] "That ol' man over there... he... don't throw no paper down over here." My grandsons, they come by and we get a bag and they see us picking a paper. Helping people understand the essence– the real good essence of life. Why we need to stick together. You can't help nobody that doesn't want help, but you can always give a person a positive outlook on life. "You can do better than this." Not saying you’re doing bad, but don't get mad about it; do something about it.

Of course, some people feel empowered to “do better,” others just don’t. 

Annette: As I told you, I raised my kids up on food stamps. We have a come mighty, mighty long way.

Rick: I've never been to jail. I've never had a speeding ticket in my life. And never in front of our kids, but we had people that would come and sit in our house to smoke drugs. It didn't add up.

Annette: I wish I had known what I know now, back then. I wish that I had known if I was in a bad group, and I was the smartest one in my group, that I needed a new group. I wish I had known back then when I had my seven kids, you know, going in and out of jobs like I did– and it still isn’t bringing bread to the table like like it’s supposed to be, it still didn't bring the bills down like it should have done. Back then, when I got food stamps, when the food ran out we had to go and hustle, legally, like with the scrapping [scrap metal collecting] to get money to put more food on the table. It was a struggle. It was depression. It was stress. I don’t have any of that today. And I think the reason I don’t have any of that today; because North Chicago has changed.

That's why if you're the smartest [Rick joins, in unison] one in your group, you need a new group. When you grow up to be the smartest one, you move on and move up, because you're learning from the people you're surrounded by. You know, I learned to be more responsible by getting a new group. You know, this is not for me.

And from that, you’ve inspired six of your seven kids to attend college.

Annette: They've seen our struggles. And they wanted to do a little better than what we did. I didn't go to college. I was 18, he was 19 when we got married. We've been married 43 years. They've seen our struggles and they want to do a little better. And I wanted them to do a little bit better. 

What are your hopes for your future?

Rick: My future is to live to be 100 years old or better, and to get all of my male kids and grandkids to stick together and make this business grow. So they can they can do things in North Chicago to help people.

Annette: I’d say the same thing he did. We want to expand our business and pass it down to my son and my grandkids.

Rick: So if I do live to be 100, I can just tell them what to do– then they can take care of me! Anything you got in life, you can take it with ya. So, you live as good as you can and treat people right now. We're here to teach the next generation. 

Annette: Me, as a mother and as a grandmother, my life that I lived down the line made me the woman who I am today. I'm pushing that legacy onto my daughters and my granddaughters. You know, I'm passing it on.

You’ve mentioned that you’ve been married for 43 years. 

Annette: We had an anniversary, September 22. 

What’s your advice for an enduring partnership?

Annette:  Communication. Honesty, and–
Rick: Stay out of her way.

This conversation has been edited and condensed.