Montgomery's P.O. Douglas was a Man of the People

There was a time you could talk about P.O. without anybody thinking of the Post Office, or any colorful slang expressions. 

Prior to 1980, everybody knew you meant the long time village president, Preston Otto Douglas. He served the village as a trustee for 12 years and as president for 10 years, between 1933 and 1971.  P.O. was always known by his initials to everyone but his wife Valdis, who called him Preston, and of course, his children. He was known around town as the mayor, rather than president which is the correct title.

P.O. came from Tennessee where he had been working for the Tennessee Valley Authority. He followed his two brothers to Illinois, where they had found work.

A native of Kentucky, he brought his wife and their small daughters to Montgomery in 1926, and settled them into a house on the corner of Clinton and Main Streets in the heart of the village. He soon found work as a lineman for Western United Gas and Electric Company.

Montgomery was a sleepy village of a few hundred people, where everybody knew their neighbors, and nobody bothered to lock doors.  If anybody needed a helping hand, the word got around quickly, and there was usually somebody to offer before they could ask.

P.O.‘s family was warmly welcomed and easily fit in with village life. They joined the Park Place Baptist church in Aurora and both became involved. He was the superintendent of the Sunday school, a deacon, and (in retirement) he helped clean the church. Valdis spent her time caring for the home and the family, but in later years she became more active in her church. 

P.O. served on the Wayside Cross Mission Board, the Montgomery School Board, and as if this wasn’t enough, in 1933 he was elected to the position of trustee in the village of Montgomery. He was elected to this position five times, until 1961, when he became village president.

He was gifted with an abundance of energy and a supportive wife, and between the two of them they raised a family that would make any parents proud.

During the dark days of the depression, he had two big gardens, one on North River Street next to the cemetery, and another on South River Street next to Ernie Tschannen’s house. He supplied Valdis with enough fresh produce to fill 400 quarts of fruits and vegetables every summer. The girls remember being sent down the alley, carrying a knife, to cut fresh lettuce for supper. He and his friend, John Kozloski, hunted together around the countryside whenever time permitted.

His daughter Doris remembers a yearly Fourth of July ritual. Her father would take two of the girls across the river to a place on Keck Avenue to pick cherries. During the picking, he would shuttle the fresh cherries home to the waiting girls to pit them and pass them to Valdis, who was getting the canning kettles ready. 

During P.O. Douglas’ term as mayor, which ran from 1961 to the early 1970’s, the town grew at a slow, steady pace. He seems to have been exactly the right man for the times. He had a personal stake in the welfare of the village. The citizens recognized this and elected him three times. 

He was instrumental in bringing Montgomery into West Aurora School District 129. Previously, the 8th grade students chose between East Aurora, Oswego or West Aurora for high school. Joining District 129 enabled them to have bus service.

He would chauffer his girls to school in the mornings, and would stop for anybody who wanted to ride along. When he got a brand new Kaiser automobile in 1948, he took a group of Montgomery kids to a football game in Joliet. Riding in a brand new car was such a treat, they were too excited to critique his driving.

He smoked his ever-present cigar all the way. He had a reputation of driving fast and tailgating. The family lore is that it was so scary that when he went to have his driver’s license renewed, the ex-policemen who worked there refused to ride with him, so he was given his license without a test. His cars carried the scrapes and dents of too many close encounters.

The cigar became his trademark. One time while he was mayor, he took it upon himself to drive out to Blackberry Creek to deal with a flooding situation caused by some beavers building a dam. His plan was to dynamite the dam, but back home, his family envisioned him blowing himself up with his ever-present cigar before he got to the creek. 

There were many times when situations came up that required him to take care of emergencies that are now handled by a crew of village employees, but in those days he was often the only person available. He was a “hands on” mayor by necessity. And his experience at Western United gave him the background and skills.

His daughter Libby recalls being recruited by her father to take an informal census of the families in Montgomery, to find out how many children lived in each house. The purpose was to have a count for the Christmas packages the village Santa would hand out. She went up and down every street, making notes of the children and their ages.  The packages contained hard candy, handmade popcorn balls (the wonderful molasses kind made by Grandma Spitz), and nuts.

After the older children were married, he thought it would be a good idea to buy a home in Martin’s new development for the family. He thought Valdis would love a new place with all of the conveniences and less housework; but she was never as happy there as she had been in her old house, with all of the children around the dinner table, laughing and talking and enjoying her cooking.

Valdis died in 1969, while P.O. was serving his last term as mayor. P.O. will be remembered as a man of the people who spent his life making the village a better place to live.