In Memory

George Hildreth

George Hildreth



 
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04/02/14 05:42 PM #1    

John Rosenau

George and I go back to the 1950's- he grew up down the street from my Aunt and Uncle-

He was almost too good looking- always got away with things - carried over to the Plant Room and

Preston Cook(He'll tell you about It!!)    John Rosenau


04/03/14 07:34 AM #2    

Richard Darling

I think this is what happened to George, if I recall correctly:

February 15, 1968 issue Evanston Review.
Three Evanston men and one from Chicago were arrested in a narcotics raid here last year were arrested by Chicago police Sunday and charged with burglary of a north side Chicago pharmacy: Alex Hamilton, Ronald French, James Dorner, all of Evanston; and George Hildreth.

I have been looking for the article but no success to date, regarding a shooting around the Evanston Inn on Main Street that may have involved George.


04/03/14 11:41 AM #3    

Bonnie Robinson

If I recall, I was told that George was shot to death by Jeff Hall., who was in the class of 1963 and who had become a policeman. Sadly, I also recall that George was always getting into trouble and always trying to get away with it. This might be a very sad example of Karma.


04/03/14 11:46 AM #4    

Stephen Bruhn

George was a friend of mine in Junior High School.  He was always a "bad boy" even then, but a nice guy and fun to hang with.  We went our seperate ways when we started High School.


04/03/14 01:02 PM #5    

Preston Cook

Thanks John for now twice reminding me of the 1959 Ford Fairlane/George Hildreth incident.  Sounds like you really want to hear the full story.  So here it is.  My parents purchased a brand new 1959 Ford Fairlane 500 four-door.  They were proud of this new car, the first new car they owned since our 1951 Ford Crestliner with Ford-O-Matic automatic transmission.  They picked up the car at the Wilmette Ford dealer on Green Bay Road one Saturday morning, packed the three of us in the back seat and headed for burgers to celebrate.  Soon thereafter, the driveshaft fell off the car on the way to Hackney’s derailing the hamburger idea, and possibly writing the script for the fate of this car.

My older brother borrowed the near new Ford one Friday night in 1961 and headed to the Plant Room for the usual weekly dancing event.  George had stashed a 6-pack in the Ford and they both went inside. Later, George asked for the keys to the car to retrieve the beer, and was told to not drive the car.  When he didn’t return, my brother looked where he parked it and found it missing.  George, driving down a one-way street in the wrong direction, noticed a police car, with siren on and flashing red light in his rear view mirror.  Instead of stopping the car, he tried to outrun the cops. George crashed, doing extensive damage to the front end of the car. Fortunately, no one was injured.  While my parents did not want to press auto theft charges against George, they were forced to do so, as the insurance company would not pay up unless criminal charges were filed.  The car never worked as well and my parents sold it, replacing it with a 1963 Ford Falcon two-door hardtop.

One warm evening, sometime after the crash, on the screened front porch of George’s parents home, sat the four parents, George and I. They discussed ways to keep us apart, as together there seemed to be trouble.  The parents were unable to break the friendship and George and I remained friends through high school.

Richard, you are getting close to George’s demise.  It’s someone else’s turn to write the final chapter.


04/04/14 01:04 AM #6    

Thomas Wardell

George died prematurely, I know that is for certain but I don't have the details so will pass the baton on that one.

George was not a paragon of virture.  I don't want to go into any detail as I don't want to out anyone or have anyone's feelings hurt-I will say this-he and I discovered the meaning of life about the exact time-possibly the same night-we were both dating freshman...

The last time I remember seeing George face to face he handed me a business sized card-he printed them up regulary and handed them out to select friends.  This particular one said simply, "you've been flogging too much"...cryptic, but I got it.  I always liked his sense of humor.   In many ways he was a Renaissance man-I think he just got a little ahead of himself.  R.I.P. Mr. Hildreth, you were one bad dude...


04/04/14 06:32 AM #7    

Richard Darling

Bonnie, that's what I recall as well, maybe someone has a better search engine.


04/04/14 10:17 AM #8    

Jeff Cullerton

I never knew George in high school.  We met in the summer of '68.  He was dating Paula Behrendt at the time and one nite four us piled into her XKE and had great time on Rush St.  

Fast forward to '71 or '72.  I'm working at a north side bank.  U.S. Postal inspectors come in with mug shots of a group who have been ripping off mail from north side hi-rises.  They steal checks, passbooks, id's, etc.  One of the pictures is of George.  He and his then girlfriend are part of the group.  

Apparently George wound up doing time in the federal  prison in Sandstone MN.  The story I heard was he either died or was killed there.

 


04/04/14 11:50 AM #9    

Bonnie Robinson

The Federal Prison story sounds quite likely due to George's errant behavior; however, someone might possibly be able to check Jeff Hall, class of '63 out and find out if the shooting story is true. However, I think this anecdote was told me at our 10th reunion.


09/05/14 09:37 PM #10    

Susan Burns (Bangs)

I remember George, his sister and my sister were friends and that is how I connected with George, plus he was in one of my classes.  I remember that he was kind to me Freshman year and I was sad to hear of his troubles.

 


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