[dropcap]EVANSTON[/dropcap], Ill. (WLS) — Former Evanston Mayor Lorraine Morton is gone, but not forgotten.
Morton lived a purpose-driven life, accomplishing many firsts. She made Evanston her home after graduating Northwestern University and became the first educator of color to teach in a public school there. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″]
Over the years, she went from principal, to alderman, to being elected the city’s first African American mayor in 1993.
“She was the mayor for the city of Evanston. Not just a black mayor,” said Delores Holmes, a former Evanston alderman.
Holmes had known Morton long before they worked together on city council and said Morton never met a stranger.
“If you were in the civic center building, her door was always open,” said Ald. Ann Rainey.