ANDERSONVILLE — Gwendolyn Freeman will never forget March 14.
Like any other day, the 63-year-old StreetWise vendor went to her normal spot to sell the magazine outside Starbucks at 5300 N. Clark St. Eventually, she went to check on the man she loved, her longtime partner Joseph Genous, who sold the magazine a few blocks away outside Walgreens. But he never showed up.
"I was standing out there waiting for him. March 14, which was a Tuesday I’ll never forget, because it was cold out there. I left at 2 o'clock and they finally called me about 3 or 4 o’clock," she said softly three Tuesdays later. "They found him dead on the Blue Line train."
Freeman and Genous had dated for 18 years and "might as well have been married," she said, though she lives in North Park and he lived on the West Side. Almost every day, Genous would take the Blue Line up to the North Side, and they would sell StreetWise magazines together around the neighborhood. Over time, Andersonville residents had become fond of both of them.
"He was headed over here to see me," when he had a heart attack on the train, Freeman said. "What a way to go."
Locals would remember Genous' face as a fixture outside the Walgreens at 5440 N. Clark St., but that was actually her spot, Freeman said. They liked to rotate to see different parts of the area each day.
When Genous passed away, Freeman set up a memorial across the street from the store. Neighbors who saw the memorial began adding their own flowers and notes before it was taken down Tuesday.
"Joseph was a very loving person. He was very beloved. He had problems like we all do, but other than that he was a nice guy," she said.
[Photo of the memorial courtesy of Mark Marino]
Mark Marino, an Andersonville resident who would often chat with Freeman along Clark Street, saw the memorial and was moved to start a GoFundMe after noticing that she was still working as Genous' funeral services approached.
The donations started slowly, but "over the course of three days, it kept climbing," he said.
"Everyone knows her, so people were willing to donate. It was random [and] it was forwarded along. People were pretty generous," said Marino, adding that donations ranged from $10-$250.
In total, the GoFundMe raised $2,035 in just four days — including a $100 donation from Lilly Wachowski, one half of the filmmaking sibling duo hailing from Chicago that directed "The Matrix."
"I was in shock," Freeman said after hearing about the donations. "I knew everybody up here, but I don't know their names," Freeman said, or that they cared so deeply about her.
Freeman has worked for StreetWise off-and-on since it began in the early 90s and for the last two years has finished second in the Vendor of the Year contest, she said.
Freeman will be forced to leave her current home due to an upcoming rent increase, she said, and the donations will be a huge help in her upcoming move.
