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Chicago lakeshore, 1988
‘To explore without having to go on an expedition’
Elancia (Lancie) Williamson
By Clay Eals
Growing up with four siblings on the inner-city westside of Chicago, Elancia (Lancie) Williamson had no experience of taking a multi-day trip.
Childhood life was a sheltered routine of activities at home and school. But a few special times each year, her parents took the troupe on a one-day journey four miles east to the wonderland of Chicago’s lakeshore.
“It was like taking a vacation,” says a beaming Lancie. “It was being able to explore without having to go on an expedition.”
In a weathered print from 1988, the 5-year-old wears a colorful sun dress while posing with her sisters during a badminton match. Off camera, their mom holds their baby brother and their dad captures the image.
She recalls the Windy City breezes streaming through her hair. “We would always lose our barrettes,” she says. “You’d get in trouble if you did that, so you couldn’t play around too much and made sure that you kept yourself together.”
Besides the lakeshore, beckoning were a nearby nature museum and Lincoln Park Zoo. “Every time we had to go home,” she says, “some of us were crying. We really wanted to stay out there.”
Today a Belltown resident and an elementary library paraeducator in Auburn, Lancie attributes her adventuresome curiosity to those precious early family outings.
Some may take for granted the freedom to visit a park or zoo, but not Lancie. “It still feels like a little bit of a vacation because I can daydream and imagine a world where I can do that every day.”
WEB EXTRAS
Here is a video interview of Elancie (Lancie) Williamson.
