Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Traffic study conducted during low-traffic times, resulting in inaccurate data.
- OBITUARIES
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Tuesday, January 17
I read the announcement of the Village of Downers Grove's decision to vacate the right of way for Prince Street to accommodate Community School District 99's expansion of Downers Grove North High School in the Downers Grove Patch article of Jan. 5. As a resident in the immediate area affected by the Prince closure, there are a host issues that have not been properly addressed concerning the traffic study and proposed use of the land by the School District. The first traffic study only covered the hours from 7 to 9 a.m. and 3 to 4 p.m., a time period during which Grant and Prince adjacent to the school is already closed to traffic. There will be no impact seen during this time period, because the Prince right-of-way is already closed to …
Friday, November 18, 2011
The tree is planted in Memorial Park at the intersection of Janes Avenue and Center Drive.
Mike Szczepaniak died Oct. 6 of pancreatic cancer. He was 49. Now, when his wife, Sherri, looks out the window from her office, she can see a tree planted in his honor. Sherri works in an office directly across from Memorial Park. To remember Mike, friends purchased a tree to be planted there, in a location Sherri can see from her desk. There will be a plaque beneath the tree in Mike’s honor. It’s a red sunset maple. Mike and Sherri's son Mitch picked it out. “Now I’ll always be able to look outside and see Mike’s tree from my desk,” Sherri said. Mike and his family have a deep Woodridge connection. Mike grew up in the Woodridge area. He played football for Downers Grove South High School and was named most valuable player in a season …
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Szczepaniak died Oct. 6 of pancreatic cancer. He was buried in a Walter Payton jersey and hundreds wore Bears gear to his wake on the night of what would have been his 50th birthday.
Mike Szczepaniak touched everyone – even Walter Payton’s daughter -- with his quiet demeanor and big smile. Szczepaniak died Oct. 6 of pancreatic cancer. He was 49. His reputation as a diehard Bears fan was well-known in Woodridge. His father bought season tickets in 1975 and he rarely missed a game since. Szczepaniak had two Bears jackets (plus a lamp, jerseys, gear and other memorabilia), one of which he always wore to work. When Patch asked for a diehard Bears fan to interview before the Bears vs. Packers NFC championship showdown, he was the one readers suggested I talk to. So it was a special moment for Szczepaniak when Brittney Payton came to visit him at the Walter Payton Liver Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago …
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Szczepaniak died Oct. 6 in Woodridge. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer on Sept. 14.
Michael Paul Szczepaniak died just four days shy of his 50th birthday on Oct. 6 at home in Woodridge surrounded by his family. He had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer on Sept. 14. Mike was born to Jerome and Emily Szczepaniak on Oct. 10, 1961. He graduated from Downers Grove South High School in 1980. He attended Northern State University in Aberdeen, SD, where he was a member of the Wolves football team and where he met his future wife. Mike and Sherri Gullickson were married at the Second Presbyterian Church in Flandreau on June 12, 1982. The couple lived in Aberdeen where their son, Mitchell Ryan, was born on Dec. 11, 1983. The family moved to Woodridge in 1985 where he worked as a carpenter. Dustin Michael was born to the couple …
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Put Steve Jobs in the same category as Walt Disney. They were magic-makers of the first order.
When the world found out in February 1999 that Walter Payton needed a liver transplant, I was not particularly moved. It just didn’t pertain much to my life. Then, a few weeks later, film critic Gene Siskel died. “I am so very, very sad,” I told my husband when he delivered the news. “That’s the way other people feel about Walter Payton,” he said, mildly, but with import that has stuck all these years. That sadness I felt when Siskel died doesn’t BEGIN to cover how I felt when my middle daughter, the child who loves all things Apple, who convinced me that giving her dad an iPad for Christmas would be a fabulous, if extravagant gift, who couldn’t wait to order the MacBook she received for her high school graduation, called Wednesday night …
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Fire district pioneer died Sunday. Visitation is scheduled Thursday; funeral is Friday.
A former Lisle-Woodridge Fire Chief who was instrumental in the development of the fire district has died. Fire Chief Emeritus Paul H. Boecker died Aug. 14, according to a release from the Lisle-Woodridge Fire District. Boecker served as chief of the district from 1971 to 1994. During that time, he was instrumental in turning the department from a volunteer fire department to one with full-time, paid positions. Under his guidance, the district expanded to five fire stations, more than 80 personnel and an ISO (Insurance Service Office) Class I designation before his retirement. “Chief Boecker’s personality was larger than life and he utilized that to the advantage of the fire district,” the release said. Boecker started his career with the…
Friday, August 5, 2011
Drowning victim's memorial visitation will be held Monday. Service will be at Calvary Church in Naperville at 10 a.m. Tuesday.
Those who knew Jeremy Asbell say he always had a smile on his face. Asbell, 25, was found dead in a Lemont retention pond Thursday morning. The Bolingbrook native and 2004 Romeoville High School graduate was reported missing early Tuesday morning after he and a friend were tossed from a canoe that capsized on the pond. Crews discovered Asbell's body after two days of searchingthe pond, at Frontage Road and Woodward Avenue. Preliminary results of an autopsy indicate Asbell died of an accidental drowning and there is no indication of foul play or suspicious circumstances, according to a release from the DuPage County Coroner's Office. “I used to work with Jeremy at Plato's Pizza, as well as his brother Jeff,” said Johnny Lopez on the …
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Louise Schneider was one of the founding members of Woodridge with her husband, Frank, in 1959.
Louise Schneider liked to point out to Joel Kagann that she had been in Woodridge longer than he had. Kagann, Woodridge's first police chief and former mayor of Woodridge, came to the village in 1962. Schneider moved to Woodridge in 1959 and was one of the village's first founding families. Schneider died on March 15 at the age of 84. She was born on May 13, 1926, in Neuenhain, Germany. She married Frank Schneider, whom she met during World War II while U.S. troops were occupying Germany. According to an obituary printed in the Chicago Tribune, Frank Schneider was a member of the 82nd Air Borne Division of the U.S. Army at the time. The pair moved to the United States after the war and found their way to Woodridge, probably because the …
Monday, March 21, 2011
Marron died Feb. 28 at the age of 51.
Janice Marron walked her dog, Snickers, four-and-a-half miles every day in the summer. Snickers isn’t a Siberian Huskey or a Golden Retriever, but a Yorkshire Terrier. “I asked her, ‘What if he got thirsty?’” her sister, Pamela Mason, said. “She said she’d stop by a mini-mart to get a bottle of water for him.” Marron died Feb. 28 at the age of 51. Marron was one of six children in her family (three boys and three girls) raised by a single mother. She was the middle sister. She also was the mother to her son Michael and grandmother to her two grandsons, Caiden and Charles. Another grandchild is on the way. Marron's siblings said she liked to ride her bike, something that drew her and Mason closer. Mason was a jogger who couldn’t run anymore…
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Com Ed co-worker recalls friend who was killed Feb. 28 after being struck by car on Hobson Road.
Tammy England met Janice Marron in 1989 at ComEd in the engineering department. Below, England shares her memories of Marron, who died Feb. 28 at the age of 51 after being struck by a car on Hobson Road. Her funeral was held last weekend. There have been no charges in the incident, and the investigation is ongoing. "Janice was very devoted to her son, Michael. She also took her job seriously so she could provide for him without being dependent on others. "Her heart was so big that when her son started dating his now wife, Janice watched her little boy all the time. She loved Caiden like her own son. Then Michael got married and moved away. It was really hard on her, but she pressed on with love and sadness in her heart. "She filled …
Barb Nicotra
11:05 am on Thursday, October 6, 2011
I got my first Mac in 1985. A client bought it for me to use & said “Learn this Barbara, this is your future.” It came with 2 programs, MacWrite & MacPaint, a 512k hard drive & an audio cassette. I closed my studio door, turned it on & fell in love. Thank you, Steve Jobs, RIP. more ›