Sorted by date Results 935 - 959 of 983
Jack Orbell's service with Hinsdale American Legion Post 250 began six years ago when he said yes - grudgingly - to one simple request. "They needed some walkers for a Memorial Day parade one year and my uncle dragged me over, and I kind of stayed," he said. Orbell not only stayed, he's starting his second year as post commander. His family's lineage of post members includes his uncle and his great-uncle. The grandfather and uncle of Orbell's son-in-law have been active in...
I was going through my inbox the other day, trying to clear out some old emails. This is some of what I found. • Recipes from Epicurious for 63 work lunches that don’t need refrigeration. • A link to download photos from Ainsley’s summer theater camp. • Eddie Bauer’s reminder that I have a $20 reward to spend by Oct. 7. • A request from a student looking for feedback on her work. • An invitation to pitch in a retirement gift for one of Ainsley’s former preschool teacher...
We had a special guest take up residence outside our back door for several weeks this summer. We didn’t notice her at first. We simply woke one July morning to find a large, intricate spider web extending from the side of the house to a post outside our back door. My husband grabbed a broom and cleared the web away so we wouldn’t accidentally lean into it while tossing recyclables in our bin. The next day, when the web reappeared, we knocked it down again. On day three, the...
Every September I have the bittersweet task of bidding a group of contributing columnists farewell and welcoming a new group of writers to our paper. This year three writers have finished their terms — Rob Johnson, Laura LaPlaca and student columnist (and now Hinsdale Central graduate!) Annika Agrawal. We also are saying a premature goodbye to Jim Hutchinson, who is moving with his wife, Donna, to Oberlin, Ohio, to be closer to his daughter, son-in-law and grandson. H...
I was listening to the radio in the car the other day and all of the sudden realized I was singing along. “Believe it or not, I’m walking on air. I never thought I could feel so free.” How did I know this song? “Flying away on a wing and a prayer. Who could it be? Believe it or not it’s just me.” And then it hit me. “The Greatest American Hero.” I had an immediate visual of the guy who starred in the show, with his curly blond hair and his red superhero costume. The sh...
A young man rang our doorbell Tuesday night last week, interrupting one of my less successful parenting moments. As soon as I opened the door and saw his clipboard, I knew what he wanted. He was selling subscriptions to the Wall Street Journal — for a mere $100 — so he could get his degree from Northwestern University. He had graduated from Lane Tech, gone to community college for two years and already raised $14,000, he told me. He was very friendly and very chatty, com...
This spring a litter of kittens sought shelter in a window well on the south side of our house. Once our dog Lizzy discovered them, they decided to seek other accommodations. The kittens that took up residence at our house last week, however, were much more resolute. Ainsley and I first spotted them when Lizzy was raising a ruckus at one of our living room windows. A cute little black kitten sat outside, staring at Lizzy with a “You can’t get me!” look on its face. We went...
Community Consolidated Elementary District 181 plans to spend just a little more than $1 million more on operating expenses in fiscal year 2019-20 than it did last year. The school board voted 6-0 Monday to approve the budget, which shows operating revenues at almost $69.6 million and operating expenses at almost $65 million. Property taxes make up about 90 percent of the district's revenues, coming in at $62.9 million. "The lifeline for our school district is the local...
Name: Nick Franko Year: senior Hometown: Clarendon Hills Why do you prefer football to individual sports? I think it's the camaraderie on the team. With football, you can't win a game without everyone working as a unit. Are you better at playing offense or defense? Maybe defense just because I've been playing it longer. This year I started playing both ways. Do you have a preference? I really don't. I'll do whatever my coach tells me to do. Do you have any pre-game rituals or...
"All in." That's the theme of the Hinsdale Central football program this year. Offense and defense. Juniors and seniors. Males and females. Wait, what? Yes, it's true. Look closely at the next game and you might spot coach Allison Fish working with defensive players on the sidelines and blond braids extending from the helmet of No. 34, wide receiver Chiara Gregor. The two make joining a group of 80 players and half a dozen coaches - none of whom are women - look easy, varsity...
Coaches, players and families involved in Hinsdale Falcon Football are among those mourning the loss of Mark Koschik of Clarendon Hills. Koschik, 47, the father of three, died Sunday at Hinsdale Central High School while coaching his son’s Varsity Gold team. “The Falcons family and our community is deeply saddened by the loss of Mark,” said Jay Novatney, Hinsdale Falcons president. “He was an outstanding veteran Falcons football coach for his two boys. “But more than that, he was a wonderful human being, a devoted husband a...
Almost a year after Hinsdale trustees first discussed commercial filming requests and regulations, they have approved changes to make the process easier on staff and residents. One of the biggest changes in the amended ordinance is the implementation of a refundable application fee of $500 for small productions and $1,000 for large productions. “Essentially we have added some fees that are commensurate with the staff effort required in order to process these,” said Trustee Jerry Hughes, chairman of administration and communit...
"There's nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be." - John Lennon, "All You Need Is Love" Yoshiko Imai Burchinal didn't go to the Kidsave picnic in Oak Brook last summer looking to adopt a child. She merely wanted to support an organization featured in a Hinsdalean article given to her by a friend. Nor did she invite the 14-year-old Colombian girl she met there to her home because she wanted to grow her family. The mother of four and grandmother of four thought...
Year: senior Hometown: Hinsdale When did you start running? I started running in junior high. I did the track team. My family runs, so that's how I got involved in that. What do you enjoy most about the sport? I really like the team aspect of cross country, ho we all kind of rely on each other. What is most difficult? It's a long season, so probably keeping our focus and being ready to race every weekend. How many days a week do your train? Five. Every day it's a different...
The week opened with a taste of Indian Summer, but today it feels like fall. And with the cooler temperatures comes the desire for heartier, more filling cuisine. At Page's, the chalkboard indicates the imminent return of one of the restaurant's most popular items. "We're known for our pot roast," owner Cissy Rallo said. "Everybody is patiently waiting." The tender meat will make several appearances on the menu - served on a dinner plate with mashed potatoes and a veggie,...
Modern. Inviting. Bright. Fresh. None of those adjectives would have been used to describe the old Hinsdale Middle School. But they are quite fitting for its successor, thanks in part to a three moms who lent their design expertise to the construction process. "I think we recognized the strength of our community - that we have a variety of outstanding resources that we need to leverage more often," HMS Principal Ruben Peña said. "I couldn't pay for a better group of people." I...
Hinsdale Central senior Sydney Thayer has been thinking about Homecoming since last spring. She hasn't been dreaming of the perfect date or the perfect dress. As co-president of Varsity Club, she's been involved in the nitty gritty details of making this week a success. The club's executive board chose the theme, "Let's Get Fired Up," in the spring. But much of the work was still to be done when classes resumed in August. "We really only have five weeks with our full club at...
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is asking people to do one thing in recognition of Suicide Prevention Month in September - #BeThe1To. Be the one to ... ask. Keep them safe. Be there. Help them connect. Follow up. That can sound like a lot of responsibility. But Community Memorial Foundation in Hinsdale, which sent out this message to 1,000 recipients via email, wants people to know they aren't alone, whether they are considering taking their own life or trying to...
For years, Hinsdale Central soccer coach Mike Wiggins had organized the donation of hundreds of soccer balls for kids at the O’Brien School for the Maasai in Tanzania, Africa. Then Kellie O’Brien, the Hinsdale woman who founded the school, asked Wiggins to donate something else. “You know, what we really could use is you,” O’Brien remembers telling Wiggins. “You would be the best gift.” It would be his dream, he responded. “I said, ‘Let’s make it happen,’ ” she said...
A home for recovering alcoholics and addicts at 111 N. Grant St. violates Hinsdale’s zoning code, contends Village President Tom Cauley, and is the subject of a complaint in DuPage County Circuit Court. The R-4 residential district in which Trinity Sober House is located stipulates that no more than three unrelated people can live in one home. “It’s meant for families,” Cauley told The Hinsdalean last week. “While they don’t have more than three now, or at least the last ti...
Sean Casten and his wife, Kara, have spent the past couple of weeks helping their daughters - Gwen, a high school sophomore, and Audrey, a sixth-grader - acclimate to the new school year. Gwen has a full calendar as a member of the Downers Grove North High School marching band and JV tennis team. "I'm not sure which of us has the busier schedule - Gwen or me," Casten quipped. That's saying something, as Casten was pretty busy himself, traveling the 6th District before he...
With only two members currently serving on the village’s economic development commission, Hinsdale trustees wonder whether the group has outlived its purpose. “There have been challenges with both recruiting members to the commission and getting a quorum and meeting regularly,” Trustee Jerry Hughes, chairman of administration and community affairs, told his fellow village board members Tuesday. The EDC is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. the fourth Thursday of each month. Five...
Name: Jessica Joy Year: senior Hometown: Hinsdale When did you start golfing? I picked up golf a few weeks before freshman year tryouts. What do you enjoy most about the sport? I like the fact that you can see improvement. Your score itself is pretty direct feedback of all the work you put into it, so you can see the improvement pretty quickly. What is your greatest strength? I approach the game of golf as an athlete having played different sports growing up other than golf...
The Community Revue is the kind of benefit performance that could make the executive director of any nonprofit nervous. It's edgy, irreverent and sure to raise an eyebrow or two. But the last revue in 2017 sold more than 1,000 tickets and raised more than $50,000 for The Community House. And that's just one of 11 shows that have been performed since 1997. Each also represents an incredible investment of time in writing, rehearsing, set building and other activities. "This is...
Three days after students at Hinsdale Central High School heard a presentation on the dangers of vaping, the Illinois Department of Public Health reported the death of an individual who had recently vaped and was hospitalized with severe respiratory illness. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also indicated last week that more than 149 possible cases of severe lung illness associated with e-cigarette product use were reported by 15 states between June 28 and Aug. 2...
