Through my research of the club's history, I have enjoyed discovering about the lives of several of the members who have walked the grounds of the club. One person I have enjoyed reading about, and the subject of this post is Herb Matter, Jr. I will only touch on a few things here and save the rest for you to read in the other writings.
The Matters, and their extended family are an institution among the club and the Naperville community. Herb Matter, Jr. is the son of Herb Matter, Sr. - a founding member of the club. Herb Matter, Sr. married Laura Nichols, the daugher of James Nichols whose namesake is on the downtown Naperville library. James Nichols was a professor of business at North Central College and wrote a book in 1896 called
The Business Guide or Safe Methods of Business. The book was very popular in its day. It sold more than 4,500,000 copies through 18 editions and 96 printings! Quite an accomplishment without Amazon and online shopping. I have uploaded a link to the book in .pdf format on the right (the file is 20MB).
Herb Matter, Jr. followed in his grandpa's footsteps when it came to writing. Herb wrote for the
Naperville Sun from 1978-1996; first as a temporary sports editor, then as Arch in the "Hal & Arch" cross-letter feature, then as a columnist. Herb shared his reminicenses about life in Naperville through the 30's, 40's and 50's. Herb compiled all of his articles from the
Naperville Sun into a book that I have been enjoying thumbing through and would highly recommend. The book includes lots of history from around Naperville, and the humorous stories that go along with it. Herb gave the club a copy, and several copies are available in the Naperville Libraries system.
The cover of Herb's book
Herb made several contributions to Vern McGonagle's efforts at compiling club history. It appears a formal book on the club's history was in the works by the two.
