Laurel & Dennis McMahon
If you appreciate River Forest’s beautiful architecture and dedication to historic preservation, you can thank Laurel and Dennis McMahon for their efforts. After owning and restoring two homes in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood, the couple purchased a home at 306 Keystone Ave., in River Forest, and went to work restoring the 1882 Victorian.
As a result of their hard work, the home (known as the William H. Hatch House) is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the village in 2016 designated the 300 block of Keystone as “Laurel and Dennis McMahon Way” for their commitment to historic preservation and work on village commissions.
In addition to home restoration, Laurel served two terms as board president of The Historical Society of Oak Park and River Forest (2002-2006) and worked tirelessly on growing the society’s annual Cemetery Walk which continues to be one of the most anticipated and well-attended Historical Society events of the year. She fostered neighborhood pride by founding the South of the Tracks Society, 20-year parade stalwarts. In 2005, she was chairman of the Planning Committee for River Forest’s 125th anniversary celebration. She was a prime mover behind River Forest’s first-ever Historic Preservation Ordinance, approved by the River Forest Village Board after a four-year campaign. She was appointed the first chairman of the village’s Historic Preservation Commission. She also lobbied for the first comprehensive architectural and historical survey and significance rating of every property in River Forest. The couple owned and operated McMahon’s Refreshments at 7985 Lake St., from 1993 to 1996 which became a popular local gathering spot.
Dennis was the executive vice president, general counsel and secretary at Follett Corporation in River Grove, a company with deep roots in the villages. He served on the River Forest Plan Commission from 1995 to 2005. Simultaneously he was the longest serving member of the village’s Development Review Board, 1997-2015, which included a term as chairman.
The couple, rightfully proud of their restoration of the Hatch House, generously opened it to the public many times over the years for various house and garden walks. In 1988, the house won the “Chicago’s Finest Painted Ladies” competition presented by the Chicago Paint and Coatings Association. In 2016, the couple decided to downsize and moved to adjacent Elmwood Park.
Sandra & David Sokol 
They may be regarded as a local power couple, but Sandra and David Sokol are best known for the impressive achievements each has earned in their own right.
David Sokol was 34 years old when he was elected to the Oak Park Village Board in April 1977, just five years after moving to Oak Park with his wife and two children. At that time, the associate professor of art and architecture at the University of Illinois-Chicago Circle was already invested in the community. He was a member of the Oak Park Temple School Board, a board member of the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio Foundation, and was involved in the Hawthorne School (now Julian) community. He was elected chair of the Art History Department at UIC and served 16 years on the Oak Park Historic Preservation Commission, nine years as chair in two different periods.
Sandra Sokol started working at Oak Park Village Hall in March 1985 as a community relations representative, and was named Village Hall Employee of the Year in 1991. While working for the Community Relations Department, Sandra worked with the Oak Park Housing Center on organizing the Oak Park Exchange Congress, bringing together leaders from communities nationwide working on racial integration. She was elected village clerk in April 1993, a position she held for 16 years before deciding to retire rather than seek re-election. During her tenure as village clerk, Sokol saw the transition to the digital age, introduced a program to host first-time juvenile offenders while they performed community service work and instituted Oak Park’s domestic partner registry.
The McMahons and the Sokols will be honored with the “Heart of the Villages” Award by The Historical Society of Oak Park and River Forest at the OPRF Museum Gala on March 12. To learn more about the event and ways to show your support for our honorees, visit the Events page of our online History Store.