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Roger Matile continues to be a caretaker of Oswego, Kendall County history · Kendall County News - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Roger Mattel continues to be a caretaker of Oswego Kendall
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  Speaker 1: County history. Written by Eric Shelkoff, this article is being
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  Speaker 1: read by an automated voice brought to you by Everlett.
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  Speaker 1: To know about the history of Oswego or Kendall County,
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  Speaker 1: there's no better person to ask than Roger Mattel. He's
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  Speaker 1: been the volunteer director of the Little White School Museum
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  Speaker 1: in Oswego since nineteen ninety four. The building was built
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  Speaker 1: as a church in eighteen fifty before being used as
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  Speaker 1: a school. Church school eventually had to close in the
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  Speaker 1: spring of nineteen sixty after being the last one room
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  Speaker 1: school in Oswego Grade School District eight. The building now
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  Speaker 1: serves as a community museum. The Oswegelan Heritage Association operates
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  Speaker 1: the museum in partnership with the oswegiln Park District. In
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  Speaker 1: May nineteen sixty one, voters living in Oswego Community High
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  Speaker 1: School District three hundred voted to consolidate with Oswego Community
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  Speaker 1: Consolidated Grade School District eight, creating a community unit school
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  Speaker 1: district serving students through twelfth grade. Mattili, who recently turned eighty,
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  Speaker 1: has lived in Oswego most of his life. I grew
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  Speaker 1: up on a farm in Wheatland Township, out on Haggs Road,
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  Speaker 1: he said, But we were in the Oswego School District.
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  Speaker 1: I lived on the farm until I was eight. I
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  Speaker 1: actually went to a one room school called Church School,
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  Speaker 1: because it was right across the street from the Wheatland
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  Speaker 1: United Presbyterian Church. Mattel is a nineteen sixty four graduate
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  Speaker 1: of Oswego High School. He has been involved with the
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  Speaker 1: Oswegoland Heritage Association since nineteen seventy six when it was
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  Speaker 1: first formed. They asked me to be on the board,
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  Speaker 1: he said. He remains a member of the Oswegoland Heritage
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  Speaker 1: Association board. One of the projects Matteel oversaw while on
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  Speaker 1: the board was the restoration of the Little White School Museum.
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  Speaker 1: His work has not gone unnoticed. In twenty sixteen, restored
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  Speaker 1: room at the Little White School Museum was named the
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  Speaker 1: Roger Mattel Room. In twenty twenty four, Mattel was named
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  Speaker 1: the Kendall County Citizen of the Year, with the award
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  Speaker 1: being presented to him at a Kendall County Board meeting
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  Speaker 1: in May. This award is really for people who make
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  Speaker 1: the community better, Kendall County Board Chairman Matt Kellogg said
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  Speaker 1: when presenting the award to him, there are people who
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  Speaker 1: go about their daily lives not worried about recognition. They
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  Speaker 1: are that fabric of the community that really pulls things together,
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  Speaker 1: and Roger really fits this. In addition to being honored
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  Speaker 1: as Citizen of the Year, Mattel received a Kendall County
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  Speaker 1: Historic Preservation Commission Award at the meeting for a lifetime
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  Speaker 1: of dedication to historic preservation. In twenty twenty five, Mattel
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  Speaker 1: was named an Outstanding Citizen Volunteer of the Year by
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  Speaker 1: the Illinois Association of Park Districts. Mattila continues to spend
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  Speaker 1: a lot of time talking and writing about history. He
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  Speaker 1: served as the editor of the ledgersl for twenty eight
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  Speaker 1: years and wrote and published the books A bi Centennial
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  Speaker 1: History of Kendall County, Illinois and one hundred and fifty
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  Speaker 1: Years Along the Fox, the History of Oswego Township, Illinois.
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  Speaker 1: He continues to write a local history column, Reflections, published
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  Speaker 1: in the Oswego Ledger and Record newspapers. I want people
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  Speaker 1: to realize that things happened before they came along, and
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  Speaker 1: that there are reasons why roads go where they do
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  Speaker 1: and why towns are built where they are. Mattila said,
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  Speaker 1: stuff didn't happen just willy nilly. I like to inform
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  Speaker 1: people why things are the way they are.