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Living across the ocean from your family is hard enough. Add a global pandemic, and keeping in touch becomes a real challenge, especially for those who aren't yet old enough to have their own cell phones and social media accounts. Eliana Villone wasn't about to let COVID-19 get between her and her young cousins living in Italy. So while she was unable to visit in person, she found another way not only to keep in touch, but to help her young cousins learn English in her...
Singer Patricia Hurd had just returned to Chicago from a multi-year working tour of Europe in the late 1980s. She needed to earn some money before pursuing a new opportunity across the Atlantic. Then Hurd got word auditions were being held for the runaway Broadway hit "Phantom of the Opera." "It was like 'Hamilton' was the first year. You couldn't get tickets to save your life," Hurd remarked. She gave it a shot. "I went in literally 36 hours after I'd gotten back from...
Running for office wasn't always part of Julie Renehan's plan, but doing what she could to help her community was. In 2017, she determined the best way to do that was to pursue a seat on the DuPage County Board. "I decided I was going to take my community service to the next level," said Renehan, who had volunteered in many capacities, including with the Hinsdale Junior Women's Club and as an election judge prior to placing her name on the 2018 ballot. After a successful run...
Nancy Parkinson has learned that helping children heal from the loss of a loved one is less about leading and more about listening. "Really what you're there for is to just normalize things and to help them feel like they're not the only one this has happened to," said Parkinson, a volunteer group facilitator for Buddy's Place childhood grief program. "You're not the therapist for these kids." Buddy's Place is a dimension of Pillars Community Health, which is celebrating 100...
Looking back on her adventures is one of the many things that Barbara Riegger loves about travel. But sometimes, photos and videos just don't tell the story. "I wanted a journal that is easy to use and doesn't take a huge amount of time to fill with content," said Riegger. Instead of simply wishing for the perfect travel journal, she decided to use her vast experience as a traveler to create one of her own. "Travel. Experience. REMEMBER: A fun and inspirational travel diary,"...
Everyone is just one storm, one fire or one accident away from needing the services of the American Red Cross. That's why Hinsdale resident Hilary Chidi makes membership on the organization's board part of his already busy life. An executive vice president at TransUnion and a father of two young boys, Chidi recently joined more than 30 civic and corporate leaders on the volunteer board of the American Red Cross of Illinois. "The importance of the work they do cannot be...
Volunteering and community service are important parts of Shriya Mehta's life. Period. The Hinsdale Central High School rising senior recently received the National Community Service Awards Ambassador Award from the United Nations Association after logging more than 100 hours of service between June 2020 and April 2021. Many of those hours were spent at the head of Hinsdale's local chapter of Period. Period is an international organization that strives to eliminate period...
Nick Newlin had a rather strenuous introduction to fatherhood 19 years ago with the birth of his daughter, Emmanuelle. "She didn't sleep outside of our arms for the first two, if not four, months," he related. Today, as dad to twins Henry and Sloan, 15, and William, 12, in addition to Emmanuelle, Newlin regards his parenting debut as a precious experience that marked the start of a new life chapter. Father's Day is an opportunity to reflect on the unique individuals he's...
Julianna Waters is eager to play the Cat this weekend in Stage Door Fine Arts' "Honk" at The Community House. She got a taste of being in front of a live audience last week as a member of the ensemble of "Emma," also a Stage Door production. "This is the first opportunity we've all had to get back on stage and perform again," she said the morning after opening night. "It's really nice to perform again and just see the audiecne and stuff like that - and see all of your friends...
Bison aren't roaming through Hinsdale these days, but a vestige of the landscape they once inhabited survives on the western edge of the village: the Hinsdale Prairie. "That's not just a prairie, that's a remnant prairie," said resident Kathleen Thomas. "Here it is. A suite of plants that have been together for thousands of years." Saturday is National Prairie Day, celebrating the beauty and environmental value of the ecosystem once so vast it gave Illinois its "Prairie...
George Bull fell in love with the great outdoors as a 12-year-old summer camper, backpacking the Grand Tetons of Wyoming. So much so that the Hinsdale native and recent University of Vermont graduate has returned to that same western wonderland for his second summer as a backpacking trip leader at the Teton Valley Ranch Camp, guiding kids ages 12-15 into the wild. "My hope is that one of the campers I'm leading will find a passion for the outdoors like I did," Bull said from...
When Cathy Coyne Hofmann discovered that Southern Illinois University offered a degree in communications, she knew she had found a path for her education and a channel for her love of language. A chatty child, Hofmann said her report cards often included comments about her tendency to talk in class. But as an adult, she found a way to turn her gift of gab and endless energy into a successful career and a resource for her community. Now retired from her role in marketing and...
For Allison Peters, motherhood has been an evolution, with each stage having its joys and struggles. "I don't know that it gets better. It gets different," remarked the mom of four, ages 11 to 5. "When they're newborns and they're just a ball sleeping on your chest, I love that. Then being able to laugh with your 11-year-old to Monty Python is pretty great, too." Eventually they'll be fully baked, so to speak, as Peters invoked a bread analogy. "You're putting all these...
Patti Kolewe discovered Newcomers and Neighbors of the Greater Hinsdale Area not long after becoming a newcomer herself. Just months after she and husband Ort moved to Hinsdale from Minnesota, they spotted an announcement in The Hinsdalean about an open meeting of the Newcomers and Neighbors group. "We joined on the spot," said Kolewe. Eight years later, she's no longer a newcomer. Kolewe is now president of the group that she credits with helping make Hinsdale her new home. B...
Stewart Seman was stuck in rush hour traffic on Route 83 one day while driving from the northern suburbs back to his Calumet City home. That's when he got his first view of Hinsdale from the roadway's bridge and was instantly charmed. "I could look down into Stough Park. There was the train station and the park and the kids running around," he recounted. "It was like in a dream, seeing this beautiful place." Shortly thereafter, Seman and wife Mary relocated to the village...
The musical "Annie" is a story of hope and the country's recovery from a dark time - a fitting theme for Nazareth Academy's 2021 spring musical, said Hinsdale resident and cast member Harrison Gianares. After a canceled show in spring 2020 and a fall show compiled of individually recorded monologues, "Annie" takes a welcome step toward normal. The first half of the show is a compilation of individual recordings, but by the time the cast got to the second act, safety measures...
Several years ago Hinsdale's Christine Marzullo was at Robbins Park, taking pictures of her then-2-year-old son as he spun with delight as only a toddler can. A close look at her shots revealed a stunning image. "My dad's picture, that we had used with his funeral, was in the sun's rays," Marzullo related. It was a sign, she believed, that the village should play host to an event helping people process their bereavement. Years later that vision has materialized as the Memory...
The death of Molly Haunty's friend and sister-in-law in 2015 launched her into a group to which no one wants to belong. Like so many others, Haunty's life had been touched by cancer. "Cancer is pervasive, unfortunately," Haunty said. As her sister-in-law, Nancy, battled metastatic breast cancer, Haunty said she admired her friend's ability to continue living right up to the end. With help from her community, Nancy was empowered to travel, run and even climb a mountain while...
Srinidhi Rao's lifelong love of language began when she was still eating from a high chair. Even as a toddler, she loved spelling words. Now a fifth grader at The Lane School, Srinidhi will compete in the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee - her most prestigious spelling accomplishment to date. Competing with students three grades above her, Srinidhi placed sixth in the South Asian Spelling Bee in Chicago as a kindergartner. She may have placed higher had she not forgotten to...
Hinsdale Central senior Katrina Geiersbach isn't just an athlete, an award-winning speaker, an accomplished student and a musician. Geiersbach also is one of 26 high school seniors from across Illinois named to the Illinois High School Association's 2021 All-State Academic Team. The IHSA awards this honor to students who have excelled academically and in extracurricular activities. Geiersbach will be recognized, along with other members of the 2021 team, at a virtual banquet...
Last Friday was shaping up to be a big day for the Fussaro family. "We're actually getting a puppy today," mom Tracy Fussaro revealed during a conversation with The Hinsdalean that morning. "We're getting a chocolate Lab puppy. "Let's add to the craziness!" she added with a smile, speculating as to the level of house dog-proofing required. With her flexible schedule as a real estate agent and her husband Tom working from home, she envisions lots of neighborhood walks with...
She could have been secretary to the president of a major company, the young bride of a military leader or even a professional musician. But Mary Ellen "Ditty" Reck didn't let any obstacle or opportunity get in the way of her dreams of going to college and becoming a teacher. "I was determined," said Reck, who in her 100 years of life saw that dream, and many others, become reality. Born in 1921, Reck was just a few months old when she faced the first obstacle to realizing...
Among its many sobering revelations, the pandemic has shone a light on the importance - and vulnerability - of the nation's economy. Hinsdale Central junior Paton Mehrhoff wants to help youth bone up on the topic. "I kind of thought it would be helpful for younger kids to understand principles of economics before starting middle school and high school," she said. Mehrhoff is finalizing plans for a summer program for kids in second through fifth grade to impart foundational...
Scott Altemose's search for his family's new home ended when he discovered Robbins Park. Here was a place where his children could kick a ball or swing a bat. And right across the street, at The Community House, was a place where they could learn to do those things and so much more. The Altemose family, including Scott and Katy's three children - Emma, 9, Luke, 10, and Jack, 13 - made Hinsdale their home in 2015, settling into a house just a few blocks from the park that...
Laurie McMahon never had a dog growing up. Neither had her husband, Bob. But they decided in 2007 that their Hinsdale household was ready for a four-legged addition. "Bob did the research to find a breed that had a good disposition with families," said McMahon, whose three children are now grown. "He recommended a Welsh springer spaniel." Sadly, Bob passed away in 2013. Now Ranger, the Welsh springer spaniel, is 12, and McMahon is thankful they took the pet plunge. "Ranger...
