Vi Schadeck had to be 6 feet tall; otherwise all that heart would never have fit inside. She`s a clown, a real clown, the kind who gets all painted up to look as goofy as possible and make kids laugh. And she can actually fill those big shoes with her size 10 feet.
Beyond that, she`s good. You can`t get into the Midwest Clown Association Hall of Fame and be bad. But where she is most famous is in places such as Townhall Estates in Wauconda and Sheltering Oak Inc. in Island Lake, homes for the elderly where the aged wait for family and friends such as Brrdie the Clown-that`s Schadeck-to come by.
”She`s very good,” said Sharon Wagner, assistant activities director at Townhall. ”She entertains the residents, and they`re delighted. The people just love her. She`s so tall and stately when she walks into the room.”
The reviews are just as good at Sheltering Oak: ”The residents just love her to death. She comes in different costumes at different times of the year,” said Mariona Stoesslein, activities director. ”She brings little treats, talks to everybody. She makes a special effort. She is the ultimate in bringing good things to other people.”
Schadeck isn`t always a clown. For example, at Easter she was the Easter Bunny. And if you think the elderly can`t appreciate that, consider what it must be like to find yourself at the other end of life, waiting for someone, anyone, to come share your time. In that case the Easter Bunny becomes a virtual angel.
Then sometimes Schadeck visits as Vi Schadeck, 66, just someone who cares. And that might be her hardest role of all, because Schadeck has good reason to be bitter, to withdraw rather than reach out. No one would blame her.
In January 1978 she lost a 26-year-old son to an auto accident. In the same month her 82-year-old mother died. The next month she lost her 55-year-old sister, who died of pulmonary arrest. Shortly afterward she had breast surgery for cancer. Then in 1986 her 7-year-old granddaughter died of a heart ailment. The following year Schadeck had breast surgery for cancer again. By most standards that gives her the right to be mad at life, God, the planet and whatever else is out there. Her response was the opposite.
”It`s such a joy to do things for the old people. They smile with their eyes,” she said. ”It`s such a good feeling when I do the nursing homes. I feel like I`ve really contributed something to this crazy world.”
But she doesn`t stop there. She`s also a caring voice to shut-ins, manning a phone for Wauconda Senior Services to call the elderly to make sure everything is all right. One of those phone buddies is Lillian Vlach of Wauconda, who said she can remember the last 96 of her 101 years pretty doggone well.
”The conversations we have are very interesting,” Vlach said. ”I tell her a lot of things from olden days. We get along real good. We are very good friends. She really makes me feel good.”
But it also makes Schadeck feel good. ”It gives you a lift because you are making people happy,” she said. ”You have to inwardly love people. You`ve got to have a lot of faith in the Lord or you`ve lost the whole ballgame.”
Candy Wettergreen of Grand Rapids, Mich., a leader in policing standards for the Midwest Clown Association Hall of Fame and also a big Brrdie fan, said, clowning ”really gives back an awful lot.”
She marveled over Schadeck`s ability to shrug off adversity. ”I think she`s a very neat lady,” she said. ”With all the troubles she`s had in her life, to be able to smile, let alone pass that smile along to others, is amazing.”
Son Karl, 41, of Glendale Heights, who works some clowning gigs-he`s Mayor Bimbo and the non-clown Santa Claus-with his mother, said, ”My mom`s the type of person who will give you the shirt off her back.” But admittedly like his mother, Karl also speaks his mind: ”Sometimes she gives a rotten first impression” because of that Schadeck candor. ”She says what`s on her mind.”
The truth must not be too hard to take, however. According to Karl, when they go to homes for the elderly, ”they want you to take them home with you. It`s so sad. Yet others are so full of life.” Like his mother.
Maybe the greatest tribute to Schadeck in all this comes from her daughter-in-law, Karl`s wife, Corinne: ”She`s a good friend to me. We goof around. We`ve been through good times and sad. I admire her strength to get through.”
It was Karl`s twin brother, Kenneth, who was killed in an auto accident in 1978, and it was Karl and Corinne`s daughter, Kara, who died of a congenital heart defect five years ago at age 7.
Kenneth and Kara had both been baptized into Brrdie`s brand of life. In other words, they both clowned with her-Kara was Little Brrdie. In 1977, Kenneth and Karl had joined their mother in a clown class at Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills.
Her sons enjoyed it; Schadeck excelled. One of her specialities is clown makeup. In fact, she teaches it in adult-education classes at Fremd High School in Palatine and the Island Lake Village Hall. The Island Lake Park District recreation coordinator, Marianne Mendoza, has booked Schadeck`s clown class twice a year for the last four years.
”Vi does an excellent job and is highly regarded in the community,”
Mendoza said, noting that the class has people coming from all over the area and that its instructor gets charged up by her students` enthusiasm, whether there are six or 60 people signed up.
With a $3-per-night fee for the 10-week class (two hours a week), students get some serious instruction in the art of being funny. Schadeck likes to keep the costs down. ”Numbers don`t mean a lot to her, it`s the enthusiasm for clowning her students show that`s important,” Mendoza said.
Clowning is a good deal more than just applying and wearing makeup.
”You`ve got to love people and kids to go into clowning,” Schadeck said.
”You have to get behind the makeup.” It takes an extrovert, she said, but one with a conscience. ”Some people, if they put on the makeup and that, think they can get away with anything they want. That`s the wrong reason to be a clown.”
Joyce Sybirski (a.k.a. Chuckles) of McHenry was already a clown before she met up with Schadeck, but she attended the classes just for the makeup lessons.
”Vi changes you completely; she has excellent ideas,” Sybirski said.
”I was such a different-looking clown then. There are so many people that teach wrong.”
Sharon Floer of Ingleside, a mechanical assembler by day, officially became Bubbles the Clown last fall after graduating from Schadeck`s class.
”It`s something I`ve always wanted to do,” she said. ”It`s like you can be a different person.” As Bubbles, Floer said, she had already performed a lot of parties and truly liked entertaining the 2-year-old set before meeting Schadeck. Back then, she was a homemade clown, and her costume and makeup weren`t nearly as good as the ones she has now.
”Vi`s a good teacher,” Floer said. ”She even cracks you up in class.” Just for the record, it should be known that Schadeck does do some clowning for profit. The usual rate is about $75 an hour per roomful of screaming kids. And as most parents know, 10 times that rate probably doesn`t cover the aggravation.
Aside from that, clown official Wettergreen said, by the time you figure in two to three hours of applying and removing makeup, plus the drive, plus that very intense time before an occasionally ruthless audience of children, $75 can seem like a greater act of charity than going to homes for the elderly.
Now you know why some clowns have sad faces.
Yet, Schadeck said, when she is working one of those children`s parties, she sometimes thinks of the granddaughter who isn`t here. Obviously Schadeck can`t please Kara anymore, but she can bring a laugh to the children at parties. So in that sense, what could be a tough act isn`t an act at all.
Schadeck does have other grandchildren. Karl`s son, Kenneth, 11, and Danielle, 9, and Rikkell, 11, who are daughters of Schadeck`s other son, Rick, of Island Lake.
Kenneth (elf and magic act assistant) has gotten involved in the business with his grandmother and father, and he is toying with the idea of clown competition.
That is territory his grandmother knows well. It`s at the regional competitions where points are won toward entry into the Hall of Fame. Only 20 clowns have made it since the Midwest hall was formed in 1985, Wettergreen said.
”What`s good about Brrdie is she passes it along to others through teaching,” Wettergreen said.
From the time Schadeck was a kid herself, ”I always wanted to be either a carousel or a clown,” she said. ”I knew I couldn`t be a carousel, so I became a clown.”
About 20 years ago, the opportunity arose. While working as a pet-shop clerk, she saw a clown working at the grand opening of a neighboring store in a Hanover Park strip mall. That led her to the Chicago Metropolitan Guild of clowns. That camaraderie nudged her to take the classes.
”All kinds of people can make good clowns,” she said. ”It all depends on why they want to do it. I get a lot of grandmas who want to do it for their grandkids.” Others want to make money at it, she said, adding that women usually make the best clowns because they`re better and more patient with children.
And speaking of patience, it probably ought to be said that Schadeck is married. The spouse of this clown is Matthew, 72, who has invested 45 years with Schadeck and used to drive her to the various engagements. ”She pretty much drives herself now,” he said. And what does a clown`s husband do for fun? ”I`m a reader.”
The two had met when both lived on the North Side of Chicago. Schadeck`s German immigrant parents had bought the building where Matthew lived. That was their introduction.
And all these years later, Vi Schadeck still has the spirit of a youngster, despite incredible adversity.
”They say the Lord only gives you what you can handle,” Schadeck said. Some might say the Lord outdid himself this time-in allowing such a buffeting but also in creating someone who, despite it all, can still make people laugh. If you need a clown, the number is 708-526-3044.
