This was his first visit to the Speedway. He said today that he believes that ethanol is our near-term solution to importing too much oil.
Kohl museum’s founder loves it enough to let it go.
Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL) September 2, 2005 Byline: Charles Storch Sep. 2–When Dolores Kohl Kaplan was a 4th-grade teacher in Highwood more than 30 years ago, she had each year’s students draw versions of the “Mona Lisa.” Kohl Kaplan said she has not been able to part with those sketches, 730 in all, which she laminated to preserve her memories of the little Leonardos.
Her teaching would assume a different form through the Kohl Children’s Museum that she opened in Wilmette 20 years ago. The memories of the millions of youngsters who passed through that “classroom” of hers will be carefully preserved, too, but not by her or in the same setting.
The Kohl’s birthplace, a one-time bowling alley at 165 Green Bay Rd., is to close Sunday. The museum itself is being transplanted to new and far larger quarters in Glenview and is to reopen to the public on Oct. 20. go to site kohls coupon codes
The new museum will carry its founder’s name, but Kohl Kaplan’s participation there is likely to be minimal. She nurtured the museum for so long, but soon it will be clear to all that she has let go.
“That’s the pleasure of giving birth to something,” said the slight, white-haired mother of two children and grandmother to three. “It has been a great privilege to see it grow and blossom.” Like many a parent, Kohl Kaplan sensed when to step back.
In 1999, she gave up the jobs of president and chief executive in favor of Sheridan Turner. Turner had joined the Kohl a year before from Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, where she had been education director and helped to plan the construction of its underground garage.
And the $1.96 million Dolores Kohl Education Foundation, through which Kohl Kaplan established and bankrolled the non-profit museum, phased out its grants for operating support by 2001. But the foundation continues to own the Wilmette building the museum rents, and Kohl Kaplan personally contributed more than $1 million to the $23 million capital campaign for the Glenview facility.
“The foundation loves to develop and move on,” she explained. “The foundation supported the museum until it was on its way and was embraced by the corporate and foundation community.” Turner, 49, said Kohl Kaplan “challenged us to make this a community-funded organization. She knew that to continue and expand its mission and to reach out to many communities, the museum needed to grow. She knew she could not be the sole funder ad infinitum. That’s when she stepped aside.” But Turner noted Kohl Kaplan remains a life trustee — a non-voting position on the museum board — and continues to offer advice and make friends for the Kohl.
“She still loves the museum and is eager to see us succeed,” Turner said.
That affection was evident as Kohl Kaplan led a visitor through the museum. She vividly provided the history and purpose of the exhibits, pausing every now and then in her recollections to chat or lend a hand to a child. But whether it was in the CTA rail car, Music Makers, Construction Zone, Dominick’s Food Store, Great Sailing Ship or any of the other exhibits, the youngsters were too absorbed in their play to take much notice.
“When you see kids fishing off the side of the ship, you can see how serious they are in their role-playing,” she observed. “I love watching children go through this place. It’s their place. They take their parents or grandparents through because they are empowered.” Kohl Kaplan came from a Milwaukee family where education and attainment were stressed. Her late parents, both immigrants, founded and formerly owned the Kohl’s supermarket and department store chains. Her brother Herb is the Democratic U.S. senator from Wisconsin and owner of the Milwaukee Bucks basketball team.
Formerly married to noted Chicago lawyer Jerold Solovy, she wed Morris Kaplan eight years ago. He is a former CEO of the Sealy mattress company and a philanthropist in his own right. The two reside in Highland Park.
She established her foundation in 1973, about the time she gave up teaching at Highwood’s Oak Terrace Elementary School. She envisioned the foundation as a catalyst for new ideas in education, developing models that would be embraced and widely adopted.
A year later she started her first of four teaching centers — two would be in Wilmette and two in Israel. The center was conceived as a haven of sorts where educators could gather and share lesson materials and methods. It was situated in a former dry cleaner in Wilmette, a block from the building that in 1985 would be transformed into the Kohl.
The museum, too, was to be a haven, but for children. The Kohl always has been a place for hands-on play and other activities meant to stimulate imagination and learning in newborns to 8 year olds. Its focus on early learning set it somewhat apart from broader-targeted (up to ages 10 or 11) institutions such as Chicago Children’s Museum, founded in 1982, and Naperville’s DuPage Children’s Museum, founded in 1987.
Early this year, Chicago Children’s declared its goal of becoming “a model of its kind in early childhood.” Its chief, Peter England, acknowledged the debt many in his field owe to Kohl Kaplan. “She is a giant, a true pioneer in the children’s museum movement,” he said. web site kohls coupon codes
The Glenview museum, at Lake Avenue and Patriot Boulevard, will expand on her legacy. It will have a grander name, the Kohl Children’s Museum of Greater Chicago, befitting its spaciousness — 46,700 square feet compared with 17,000 in Wilmette — and nearer proximity to highways. Situated on 8 acres, it will have outdoor exhibits and ample parking, neither of which was available at the old Kohl.
Only the Music Makers exhibit will be shipped intact to Glenview, Turner said. Some other old favorites will be re-created more elaborately, and there will be many new exhibits.
What isn’t carted away by other museums will be offered to the public in a tag sale slated for Sept. 23 in the old museum.
Once vacated, the foundation will likely sell that building, Kohl Kaplan said.
When it closes, she said, “I guess I’m going to hear those echoes of children at play and savor the memories — and look forward to new memories and echoes in the new museum.” Though her teaching centers here closed around 1990, Kohl Kaplan never stopped working with educators.
Her foundation began in 1985, annually giving cash prizes to outstanding early-education teachers. Since 1995 it has done so in partnership with the McCormick Tribune Foundation, a $1.5 billion philanthropy established by a former Chicago Tribune publisher. (McCormick Tribune contributed $2.5 million to the campaign for the new Kohl.) Since 2001, the two foundations also have partnered on a project called StoryBus. It is a mobile literacy museum that travels to needy Chicago communities, where staffers work with youngsters and teachers.
Kohl Kaplan said StoryBus takes up much of her time these days.
“It has given me the opportunity to work with teachers,” she said. “It’s a wonderful feeling to go back to the classroom.” Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
The Ethanol Promotion and Information Council is sponsoring five days of the Ethanol Fast Lap.
Our Energy Secretary found out firsthand what it feels like to crank up the RPM’s in an Indy Car. He took a couple laps with driver Davey Hamilton in a 2-seater.
Well I’m here at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on “Ethanol Day.” The day started out wet but dried up just before the 
he’s seen here today and says that his visit here means a great deal to him personally. As for his department, he says they’re seeking more and more ethanol to be used all through our country. The Secretary is from Illinois and this is his first visit to the track. He also made the point that ethanol helps make sure that the money spent by consumers on gas, stays here in the country. The Secretary is pictured trackside (r) with Tom Branhan, CEO of 
I know that Cindy already mentioned this but I’m getting ready to leave one alternative fuel event for another one. The Clean Cities Congress is over but tomorrow is “Ethanol Day” in Indianapolis. I’ll be attending all the events and collecting audio and pictures to share with you. The 
The Congress is over but posting won’t stop. Well, maybe for a while today. 
The Alternative Fuels Media Training Workshop was a wonderful session to attend. During these three hours, Jenna Higgins as well as a couple guest speakers, talked about how to have a successful interview with the press.
The big announcement at Alice Cooper’s Town was next year’s Congress location. You can hear it in the announcement audio I have for you in this post.
Our energy bill discussion this morning covered a lot of ground.
Our energy roundtable moderator this morning was Andrew Littlefair, CEO of 
The Executive Director of the 
Our final day general session is going on right now.
The Clean Cities Congress crowd kind of changed the slogan for Alice Cooper’s Town a little last night to “Where Rock and Alternative Fuels Meet.”