Congratulations to Sandy Johnson,
Winner of a 2025
IAM Volunteer Service Award!

Sandy Johnson is the reigning queen of our volunteers, with over 30 years of service to the Des Plaines Historical Society and our 1907 Kinder House Museum. She’s exceptionally versatile and capable of working in every area where we need support. She greets visitors with her bright smile, and as she invites them to visit our exhibits she’s easy to talk to—and, of course, always has a wonderful story to tell. She has helped us with the bookkeeping, answered the phone with her warm greeting, and handled important correspondence with our members, businesses, and sponsors.

As with all museums, our archives are critical to the work we do in our community. Sandy is both knowledgeable and meticulous in this area: researching old photos, adding descriptions of their locations, and identifying the people and buildings. She is always working on one or more long-term projects, including transcribing old diaries and correspondence donated by the families of our famous local forefathers, so the curators can make them available to the public as part of the museum’s collections and exhibits.

Sandy’s work is most often done at our Visitor & Education Center, but she also participates in many local festivals and events. One of our favorites is the 3-day Fall Fest every September where you’ll find Sandy dressed in her 1800s reenactor’s garb as she turns wool into yarn on her spinning wheel, and explains the intricacies of what she’s doing to groups of fascinated kids (and adults) who have never seen this process.

She represents the Historical Society and the Museum at myriad city events, telling the public about our various memberships, adult programs, and the popular Hands-on-History programs for kids. She bakes cookies for our annual benefits—including our oldest tradition, Pies on the Porch—and is always eager, willing, and able to work on new things that come up—whether it’s with pen and ink or the latest computer software.

Sandy has been doing it all for more than 30 years, and now in her 90s is still going strong! We’re grateful for her every day, and she certainly deserves to be recognized with this Volunteer Service award.