Lucy Reum
However, as her family was facing difficulties from the Great Depression, she was only able to attend because her younger sister had gotten a job paying $15 a week.
[6] She sought work as a teacher, but was initially unable to find it and enrolled in a master's degree program at the university.
[9] In 1969 Reum and eight other candidates ran for election as delegates to the Sixth Illinois Constitutional Convention from the second legislative district in northwestern Cook County.
[10] The district was heavily Republican but low turnout for the delegate elections favored the Democratic-endorsed candidates.
The 1964 Supreme Court decision in Reynolds v. Sims meant that the state's system of reapportionment had to be revised to comply with the principle of one person, one vote.
Reum argued that a party expecting a majority in the upcoming election would have an incentive to obstruct reapportionment so that they could win the largest possible number of seats.
When the article was reported out to the convention, Reum spoke against an amendment brought by Odas Nicholson that deleted a prohibition on district lines crossing the Chicago city boundary, describing concerns of suburban votes being diluted by Chicago, but the amendment passed.
She converted a house trailer into an imitation railroad car with an observation platform, bearing the slogan "The Little Train That Could".
She traveled around the county on what she described as a "whistle-stop tour", and pledged to have a "one-track mind" in eliminating patronage hiring from the recorder's office.
[19] In December 1972, Democratic Governor Dan Walker appointed Reum to the Illinois Racing Board.
Having no background in the industry, she spent days devouring every book on the subject of horse racing at the Oak Park Public Library.
[27] In her time as chair Reum faced accusations of racism and improper practices connected with the selection of racing dates.
"[28] In 1979 Reum founded the Racing Industry Charitable Foundation (RICF), which among other things provides health care to backstretch workers.
