Clarendon Hills native Roger Day Bain returns to discuss new book

Author Roger Day Bain, a former Clarendon Hills resident, returns to the village at 7 p.m. Dec. 9 to present a reading of selected excerpts from his book “Clarendon Hills Kid” at the Clarendon Hills Public Library, 7 N. Prospect Ave.

The former Prospect School student and Hinsdale Central graduate lived in the village from 1949 to 1969. Bain now lives in Arlington Heights.

“Clarendon Hills Kid” is a memoir about his childhood in the village during the 20 years Bain lived there. In the book, he examines an idyllic childhood from the perspective of a boy living in the western suburbs of Chicago in the 1950s and 1960s and examines what shaped his life as the village grew.

It includes the distinctions of wealth, the transformation of a wild bog into a park, a teacher whose words he still remembers, the all-consuming love of baseball, the history of his family, the characters and personalities present in daily life.

“Clarendon Hills Kid,” which was released earlier this year, is a follow-up to Bain’s 2023 book, “Hardly Working: How I Found a Career and Kept My Soul,” a coming-of-age-style memoir about his unorthodox career journey.

“This book had many scenes and chapters set in Clarendon Hills, which made me realize that my hometown would make a worthy subject for a book,” he said, adding that the ultimate catalyst for his book about Clarendon Hills was learning of the death of a childhood friend.

Bain said he wrote “Clarendon Hills Kid” specifically for people, past and present, who call Clarendon Hills home, as well as those from surrounding suburbs.

“However, the point of view and the subject matter can be identified with by anyone who grew up in a suburb in the 1950s and 1960s, probably even the 1970s,” he said. “It’s social history.”

Signed copies of “Clarendon Hills Kid” will be available for purchase at the Dec. 9 event for $15.

Chuck Fieldman is a freelance journalist for Pioneer Press.