Post by wvhsparent on Dec 29, 2006 19:13:48 GMT -6
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full article - www.dailyherald.com/search/printstory.asp?id=264420
Top newsmakers: Naperville, Lisle, Aurora
Posted Friday, December 29, 2006
Imagine you are asked to draw a single face to represent 2006 in Naperville, Lisle and Aurora.
Well, you say, it should reflect the incredible kindness of those who help neighbors in need, who put themselves on the line for others, who are willing to make unfathomable sacrifices to benefit us all.
Still, be careful how strong you carve those lines, you say, because the same face also must show the greed of some and the evil of others.
There should be a sense of joy and accomplishment around the eyes, of course, but they should show sadness and pain, too.
Should the mouth be curved in a smile for those who have won success and acceptance? In a frown for those who have come under fire and sometimes tilted at windmills?
And what of the forehead? Wrinkled with age and worry? Smooth with the promise of youth and hope?
Imagine you are asked to draw a single face to represent 2006 in Naperville, Lisle and Aurora.
It can’t be done, you say. For all of our similarities, we are each different, too. There is no single face of 2006, but rather a collection, each different in its own way
Here then, are some of our Faces of 2006.
Bradley Beste
The Army sergeant became the fifth Naperville resident to be killed in Iraq when an explosive went off near his Humvee during combat operations Aug. 4 in Ramadi. A graduate of Neuqua Valley High School, he was assigned to the 1st Armored Division based in Friedberg, Germany.
Barbara Heller
The honeymoon has ended for the Naperville Park District executive director who found her agency coming under increasing fire as the year ended over plans to build a $35 million recreation center in Frontier Park. Opponents say the park district has not sufficiently built its case.
Jim Caulfield
The Naperville Unit District 203 school board member made waves throughout the year. His argument for returning foreign language instruction to elementary schools met with support, but the school board soundly rejected his plea for a one-year “tax holiday.”
Susan Donahue and Carolyn Berkheiser
The two Naperville women are co-founders of a group called Ambassadors of Kindness Naperville. The group’s roughly 40 members work individually and together to perform random acts of kindness, from delivering goodies to hospital workers and firefighters to praising school board members for their hard work.
Richard Furstenau
The Naperville city councilman found himself at the center of a controversy in January when police were investigating whether he came in physical contact with a police officer during a dispute before the city’s anniversary parade. Furstenau, who ran unsuccessfully for state Senate, denied any wrongdoing. The case is still pending.
Evan Lysacek
The Neuqua Valley High School graduate finished second in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in January and won a spot on the U.S. Olympic team in Turin, Italy. A tumble during his short program robbed him of any chance for an Olympic medal, but he bounced back with a brilliant long program.
Howard Crouse
The Indian Prairie Unit District 204 superintendent was one of the masterminds behind the district’s successful referendum request push to raise taxes by $124.7 million to build a third high school near Route 59 and 75th Street in Aurora. Just a few weeks later, he announced plans to step down at the end of the 2006-07 school year.
Erica Carter
The Naperville Central basketball player stepped out of Candace Parker’s shadow to star for the Redhawks and be named the honorary captain of our All-Area Girls Basketball Team. “Clearly in the 18 years I’ve been here, she’s the second-best player we’ve ever had,” Redhawks coach Andy Nussbaum said. “I don’t think it’s even close.”
George Pradel, Mary Ellingson and Doug Krause
If Naperville’s mayor was hoping for an easy path to re-election this coming spring, he got quite a jolt when two longtime city council members, Mary Ellingson and Doug Krause, both filed to run against him. Their entry into the campaign guarantees a February primary to winnow the field to two before April’s general election.
Kay Allard and Debbie Ryndak
Ryndak, a Wheaton woman who survived a brush with cancer surgery 26 years ago, always felt she was spared for a purpose. That purpose became clear when a co-worker, Allard of Naperville, needed a donated kidney. In February, Ryndak’s left kidney was transplanted into Allard at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.
Harold Moser
The longtime Naperville developer, who died in 2001, was back in the news in March when the Daily Herald declared him the most influential person in Naperville’s 175-year history. The designation came as the culmination of a series on the 25 most influential residents as identified by a panel of Naperville experts.
Alicia McCareins
The Naperville woman was one of 32 women featured in a Campbell’s Soup book called “Moms Know Best.” Containing equal parts recipes and inspirations, the book featured the moms of 32 NFL players. McCareins’ son, Justin, is a Naperville North grad and wide receiver for the New York Jets.
Sean Payton
The Naperville Central High School graduate was named head coach of the New Orleans Saints in January. It was his first head-coaching job after working as an assistant coach for the Dallas Cowboys. The Saints finished 3-13 in 2005, but their unexpected success reaching the playoffs this year led Sports Illustrated to name him its NFL coach of the year.
Kate DiCamillo
The acclaimed children’s author came to Naperville in February during the first phase of the city’s annual Naperville Reads campaign. DiCamillo made several appearances to discuss her books, including the most recent “The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.”
Dave Sinker
The Naperville man opened the Comedy Shrine improvisational club in January in the downtown space formally occupied by Crossroads Theatre. The club was designed to focus on fast-paced, short-form improvisational theater.
Fran Bolson
The CEO of the Lisle Convention and Visitors Bureau stepped down in late March to assume the helm of the Greater Woodfield Convention and Visitors Bureau. Her stint in Lisle netted the village the 2007 USA Youth Outdoor Track & Field Championships and an increase in convention and hotel business.
Curt Bradshaw
The newest Indian Prairie Unit District 204 school board member cast the deciding vote in early February to approve new high school boundaries. His vote sent students from his own Brookdale neighborhood to Waubonsie Valley, something most of his neighbors opposed.
Candace Parker
The Naperville Central grad became the first woman to dunk in a NCAA Tournament game on March 19 while helping lead Tennessee to a 102-54 victory over Army. She then became the first woman in college history to dunk twice in the same game when she repeated the feat.
Robert Krzyzanowski
Just call him your typical 15-year-old Naperville kid who already happens to be a senior at North Central College and who’s majoring in math, physics and computer science. Oh, yes, he also was named the youngest winner of the state’s Lincoln Laureate Awards.
Jodi Wirt and Lenore Johnson
Johnson stepped down at the end of June as Naperville Unit District 203’s associate superintendent of instruction. She was replaced by Jodi Wirt, who was tabbed for the post by administrators after serving as assistant superintendent for curriculum and staff development.
Michael Fuller
Aurora Police Department’s second-in-command retired in March after 29 years as deputy chief. Fuller said he wanted to spend more time with his family.
Jodi Picoult
The best-selling author came to Naperville in March to meet with hundreds of fans as part of the citywide Naperville Reads campaign. Her appearance raised money for a group that assists the siblings of young cancer victims.
Adrian Missbrenner
The Burr Ridge man was acquitted in March on charges he raped a former Naperville girl in December 2002, during a drunken teen party. The incident was caught on videotape and a Cook County jury found in favor of Missbrenner. He was the second of three men brought up on rape charges in connection with the incident and the acquittal sparked a firestorm among victims rights advocates.
Melissa Kosar
The 23-year-old Benedictine University graduate premiered her first film, “Perilous Ties,” in April at the AMC Yorktown 17 theater in Lombard. It was an action flick that featured, at various times, Lisle police and area stores.
Ron Ory
The Naperville Park District commissioner began to rattle some cages when he openly questioned plans to build a $35 million recreation center in Frontier Park in south Naperville. Ory questioned whether the district had built enough community support for the project and whether it had the wherewithal to actually build it — and others began to agree with him by the end of the year.
Liz Young
The Naperville Central High School water polo team member spearheaded a drive among Redhawks athletes to hand-assemble 200 blankets and present them to patients at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago.
Randy Visor
Convicted in 1998 in connection with a 1997 drunken driving crash that killed four people — including three Waubonsie Valley High School juniors — Visor was ordered never to drive again. But in March, he was nabbed by a Batavia patrolman and charged with driving with a revoked license and without insurance.
Matt Moran and Mironda Heston
Moran, a graduate of North Central College, walked 100 miles in April in memory of his friend and former classmate, Mironda Heston, who died of a disease she contracted while helping women and children in Haiti. Moran raised money to help fund a service scholarship in her name.
Lynn Rule
Rule, a first-grade teacher at Ranch View Elementary, was named Naperville Unit District 203’s Teacher of the Year for her passion for literacy and learning. In August, she also was nominated by the state board of education as one of Illinois’ 10 best teachers.
Curt Gaskins
The 61-year-old Naperville stockbroker died in April trying to save one of his grandchildren from a Pacific Ocean riptide. The girl was saved by her 13-year-old brother, but Gaskins perished in the rescue effort.
Mary DeScenza
Naperville native Mary DeScenza won the Honda Award in early April as the nation’s top female collegiate swimmer. A member of the University of Georgia swim team, she won several races at the NCAA Championships and earned seven All-American citations.
Rick Tarulis
The Naperville homeowner and his wife, Nancy, always have been big fans of holiday lights, but this year they installed their stuff way early so they could be featured on the HGTV show, “What’s With That House?”
Alka Tyle
Educated on three continents and an active volunteer in the schools, she outdistanced 31 other applicants to be appointed to the Indian Prairie Unit District 204 school board in May. She attracted the district’s attention with her work on high school boundaries earlier in the year.
Patrick Collins
The assistant U.S. attorney grew up in Lisle with a strong streak of independence. It served Collins well as the lead prosecutor in the trial of former governor George Ryan, who was found guilty of all 18 counts in a federal trial that involved fraud, racketeering and more.
Julie Andrews
The halls were alive with the sound of music when the actress and children’s book author returned to Naperville for an appearance at Naperville North High School. She was promoting her latest work, “The Great American Mousical.”
Senobio Nila
The Aurora man celebrated his 105th birthday in May. He came to Aurora in the 1920s from Mexico as a railroad worker and played a key role in transforming the city’s ethnic landscape.
Shaun’ta Whitehead
The student spent the first three years of her college career at Dillard University in New Orleans. But when Hurricane Katrina wreaked its havoc, she moved back home to the Chicago area and — with the help of her aunt, Tanya Whitehead — graduated from Aurora University with a degree in biology.
Diane Ladley
The Aurora woman gained some local fame for her storytelling abilities and her ghost tours in Naperville. But in October, she became more infamous when some residents began complaining she had included the Marilyn Lemak house on her ghost tours. She eventually dropped the house from her outings.
Shane Gericke
The former newspaper reporter and editor published his first book, “Blown Away,” which focused on a serial killer stalking the streets of Naperville. Gericke is a longtime Naperville resident who says he’s fascinated by the classic battle of good vs. evil.
Marcelite and Lucinda Bucheit
Marcelite, 5, and Lucinda, 3, became media darlings in June when their lemonade stand — which had raised $45 in three days — apparently was snatched from the garage behind an apartment complex. A Naperville police officer, Matt Fletcher, saw the news accounts and after scouring the neighborhood, discovered the stand dumped in some bushes about a block away.
Allen Albus
The longtime head of finance for Naperville Unit District 203 — who became a central figure in the debate over the amount of money raised in a 2002 referendum proposal — resigned in June to accept a similar post in Lake Forest.
Colin Powell
The former secretary of state spoke to about 2,000 people in May at Benedictine University as part of the Lisle school’s Great Issues-Great Ideas lecture series. He largely avoided current controversies and instead devoted his 90-minute speech to issues of diplomacy, trust and values.
Donna Dziedzic
Another year, another weird hairdo for the Naperville Library director, who likes to change her style whenever her facility is named the best of its size in the nation. That happened again this year, for the eighth straight time.
Johnnie Russell
The 58-year-old Aurora man was shot and killed in November by police during a long standoff on the fifth floor of Provena Mercy Medical Center. Aurora police said a 12-year veteran of the force shot Russell as the man emerged from a room with a gun.
Jennifer Garrison
The 27-year-old Naperville woman was the first of 1,603 women across the finish line during the U.S. Women’s Triathlon in late June in downtown Naperville. Garrison, who has competed in three Ironman triathlons, said she got a taste for the races while still a high school student working at Centennial Beach.
Marc Kancler
The 29-year-old Naperville man — a self-proclaimed actor, musician and three-time featured player on reality TV — admits he likes the spotlight. So it was no surprise in August when he offered a lock of his hair — and the DNA that goes with it — to the highest bidder on eBay. “I love attention,” he said. “I’m a big self-promoter.”
Prescillia Spencer
She runs the Naperville Family Resource Center in the Naper Trails apartment complex with an iron fist and a warm heart. But even she said in August that the center needed some additional funding if it was going to continue to fight crime and raise test scores among low-income children living at the complex.
Don Darfler, Leo Kuefler, Vincent Mazza, Al Rubin and Bob Wehrli
The five highly decorated World War II veterans from Naperville were honored by the Century Walk Corp. with a bronze sculpture along Washington Street near Central Park.
Lindsey Mango
The Naperville Central volleyball star led her team to a 31-8 record and the DuPage Valley Conference championship. She also was named the Daily Herald’s All-Area 2006 girls volleyball captain.
Anthony Bruno
The garbage man from Naperville became something of a hero in October when he saw a Jeep flip onto Lower Wacker Drive in Chicago and pulled two men to safety before the vehicle burst into flames and exploded.
Susan Gedz
The kindergarten teacher at Prairie Elementary School was the first in Naperville Unit District 203 to be honored with an OfficeMax Teacher Innovator Award in October. The monthly awards are part of a new partnership between the school district and Naperville-based OfficeMax.
Heather Butler
A member of Neuqua Valley’s first graduating class, Butler returned this fall as a rookie teacher at the Naperville high school and found her history at the school gave her an immediate bond with her students.
Brent Schepp
The Aurora resident, who worked as a civil engineer in Naperville, was running for Kane County board on a family values platform when he was indicted in October on allegations of getting teens drunk and then molesting them. Just days after the indictment, he died when he drove his car at a high rate of speed into a pedestrian bridge in Aurora.
Millie Shepich
The Waubonsie Valley teacher thought one of the first pep rallies she attended was too quiet, so she grabbed the microphone and led the classes in a battle of school spirit. Now, she calls herself the school’s “Crazy Lady” as she leads most of the school’s pep events.
Jim Hemphill
The Naperville man and his wife, Nancy, awoke one morning in late April to find someone had fired at least four shots into their Naperville-area home. Police were investigating, but no one seemed to have a clue about what the motive may have been.
Teri Nosek
The Aurora woman raised money to participate in the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s Out of the Darkness 20-mile overnight charity walk. Nosek’s sister had hanged herself several years ago while in prison.
John Guppy
The president and CEO of the Chicago Fire lives in Naperville, but much of his attention was focused on Bridgeview this year as his team opened a sparking new stadium called Toyota Park.
Emily Giffin
The Naperville North High School graduate returned to town in June to sign copies of her third book, “Baby Proof.” It’s the story of a woman who’s happily married but decides she doesn’t want to have a baby.
Bob Evanosky
The Aurora man was one of thousands who participated in the Chicago marathon, but his cause was unique. He was running to raise awareness of a rare — and almost always terminal — disease called metachromatic leukodystrophy that all three of his young sons are fighting.
Stephanie Eick and Shannon Derrick
It started with the disappearance of an iPod and then captured headlines endlessly as the two girls — now freshmen at Waubonsie Valley High School — and their parents bickered in court over who should do what in reparation. In the end, the two families reached a convoluted settlement that served as a fitting coda for one of the year’s strangest stories.
Nico Contreras
The 6-year-old Aurora boy was shot and killed 10 years ago while sleeping in his bedroom. His killer was never caught. In August, police announced new evidence has come forward to warrant a renewed effort to capture his assailant and in December they announced the arrest of a man they believe drove the getaway car.
Patricia Blagojevich
Illinois’ first lady visited the DuPage Children’s Museum in Naperville in May to gather support for her governor husband’s “preschool for all” campaign, which calls for statewide preschool subsidies for 3- and 4-year-olds.
Patrick Raleigh
The banker-turned-math teacher thrilled students and colleagues at Still Middle School in May when he won Teacher of the Year recognition from Wal-Mart. The Indian Prairie Unit District 204 teacher won praise for his passion for his job and his ability to see the big picture.
Bruce Rodman
The Indian Prairie Unit District 204 school board member, first elected in 2003, stepped down in March citing business and health concerns. His resignation came just days after district voters approved a $124.7 million tax increase to build a third high school and months after the school board struggled through a long and sometimes contentious effort to redraw attendance boundaries.
Redhawks
The Naperville Central boys baseball team became the first Naperville high school to win the state crown. The team clinched the Class AA championship with a 2-0 victory over St. Patrick.
Max Ganet
The Naperville North student always seemed to be on center stage at the high school, including in April when he won the citywide title of Mr. Naperville 2006 in a park district event at North Central College that featured two senior guys from each of Naperville’s four high schools.
Lisa Madigan
The Illinois Attorney General came to Benedictine University in Lisle in July for the first state summit under her watch on identify theft. She urged agencies to work together to combat the problem.
George W. Bush
The president stopped in Aurora in July during a two-day visit to the Chicago area to stump for GOP gubernatorial hopeful Judy Barr Topinka, who lost.
Rudy Giuliani
The former New York mayor stopped in Bolingbrook and Lisle in July during a visit to the Chicago area to stump for, you guessed it, GOP gubernatorial hopeful Judy Barr Topinka. She still lost.
Tracy Pionek
The Lisle woman has been playing hockey for seven years and her team participated with roughly 12,000 other athletes in the Gay Games when they came to Chicago in July.
Dave Ferguson
The pastor and founder of Naperville’s Community Christian Church won kudos in July when it was named the 13th most influential non-Catholic church in America by The Church Report, a monthly magazine, that polled 2,000 churches nationwide.
David Thomas
The 19-year-old Aurora man and Waubonsee College student started a summer basketball team for young men of high school age. Players not only learned about the game, they learned about setting higher standards for themselves and their community.
Bea Malloy
The widow of Lisle’s first mayor returned to town in August to visit her former house and to help the village celebrate its 50th anniversary. Her husband, T.J. Malloy, was elected president of the village in August of 1956.
Barack Obama
The U.S. senator was contemplating a run for president when he arrived in Naperville in December to talk to a federal panel about cancer victims who believe their illnesses can be traced to their work at a weapons plant during the Cold War. But the rock star politician didn’t want to talk about his political aspirations.
Bill Louis
The 60-year-old Naperville man drowned in August an accident in Ontario, Canada, when his boat capsized. His son, Jeff, desperately tried to pull his father — who couldn’t swim — to shore, but it was simply too far.
Sean McNees
Nearly five years after he caused an alcohol-related accident that claimed the life of Stacey Blundell, the Naperville man apologized to her family — but it was too late. He was sentenced to six years in prison in September for driving drunk again while on probation for the original crash.
Zhili Xiao
The Naperville man, a physicist at Argonne National Laboratory, was honored for leading the development of an ultra-fast hydrogen sensor that was named one of the world’s top 100 scientific and technological innovations for 2005.
John Madormo
The North Central College professor sold a screenplay in September to a California-based film company. “Coach Dracula” is about the famous vampire trying to blend into suburbia as the coach of his stepson’s Little League team.
full article - www.dailyherald.com/search/printstory.asp?id=264420
Top newsmakers: Naperville, Lisle, Aurora
Posted Friday, December 29, 2006
Imagine you are asked to draw a single face to represent 2006 in Naperville, Lisle and Aurora.
Well, you say, it should reflect the incredible kindness of those who help neighbors in need, who put themselves on the line for others, who are willing to make unfathomable sacrifices to benefit us all.
Still, be careful how strong you carve those lines, you say, because the same face also must show the greed of some and the evil of others.
There should be a sense of joy and accomplishment around the eyes, of course, but they should show sadness and pain, too.
Should the mouth be curved in a smile for those who have won success and acceptance? In a frown for those who have come under fire and sometimes tilted at windmills?
And what of the forehead? Wrinkled with age and worry? Smooth with the promise of youth and hope?
Imagine you are asked to draw a single face to represent 2006 in Naperville, Lisle and Aurora.
It can’t be done, you say. For all of our similarities, we are each different, too. There is no single face of 2006, but rather a collection, each different in its own way
Here then, are some of our Faces of 2006.
Bradley Beste
The Army sergeant became the fifth Naperville resident to be killed in Iraq when an explosive went off near his Humvee during combat operations Aug. 4 in Ramadi. A graduate of Neuqua Valley High School, he was assigned to the 1st Armored Division based in Friedberg, Germany.
Barbara Heller
The honeymoon has ended for the Naperville Park District executive director who found her agency coming under increasing fire as the year ended over plans to build a $35 million recreation center in Frontier Park. Opponents say the park district has not sufficiently built its case.
Jim Caulfield
The Naperville Unit District 203 school board member made waves throughout the year. His argument for returning foreign language instruction to elementary schools met with support, but the school board soundly rejected his plea for a one-year “tax holiday.”
Susan Donahue and Carolyn Berkheiser
The two Naperville women are co-founders of a group called Ambassadors of Kindness Naperville. The group’s roughly 40 members work individually and together to perform random acts of kindness, from delivering goodies to hospital workers and firefighters to praising school board members for their hard work.
Richard Furstenau
The Naperville city councilman found himself at the center of a controversy in January when police were investigating whether he came in physical contact with a police officer during a dispute before the city’s anniversary parade. Furstenau, who ran unsuccessfully for state Senate, denied any wrongdoing. The case is still pending.
Evan Lysacek
The Neuqua Valley High School graduate finished second in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in January and won a spot on the U.S. Olympic team in Turin, Italy. A tumble during his short program robbed him of any chance for an Olympic medal, but he bounced back with a brilliant long program.
Howard Crouse
The Indian Prairie Unit District 204 superintendent was one of the masterminds behind the district’s successful referendum request push to raise taxes by $124.7 million to build a third high school near Route 59 and 75th Street in Aurora. Just a few weeks later, he announced plans to step down at the end of the 2006-07 school year.
Erica Carter
The Naperville Central basketball player stepped out of Candace Parker’s shadow to star for the Redhawks and be named the honorary captain of our All-Area Girls Basketball Team. “Clearly in the 18 years I’ve been here, she’s the second-best player we’ve ever had,” Redhawks coach Andy Nussbaum said. “I don’t think it’s even close.”
George Pradel, Mary Ellingson and Doug Krause
If Naperville’s mayor was hoping for an easy path to re-election this coming spring, he got quite a jolt when two longtime city council members, Mary Ellingson and Doug Krause, both filed to run against him. Their entry into the campaign guarantees a February primary to winnow the field to two before April’s general election.
Kay Allard and Debbie Ryndak
Ryndak, a Wheaton woman who survived a brush with cancer surgery 26 years ago, always felt she was spared for a purpose. That purpose became clear when a co-worker, Allard of Naperville, needed a donated kidney. In February, Ryndak’s left kidney was transplanted into Allard at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.
Harold Moser
The longtime Naperville developer, who died in 2001, was back in the news in March when the Daily Herald declared him the most influential person in Naperville’s 175-year history. The designation came as the culmination of a series on the 25 most influential residents as identified by a panel of Naperville experts.
Alicia McCareins
The Naperville woman was one of 32 women featured in a Campbell’s Soup book called “Moms Know Best.” Containing equal parts recipes and inspirations, the book featured the moms of 32 NFL players. McCareins’ son, Justin, is a Naperville North grad and wide receiver for the New York Jets.
Sean Payton
The Naperville Central High School graduate was named head coach of the New Orleans Saints in January. It was his first head-coaching job after working as an assistant coach for the Dallas Cowboys. The Saints finished 3-13 in 2005, but their unexpected success reaching the playoffs this year led Sports Illustrated to name him its NFL coach of the year.
Kate DiCamillo
The acclaimed children’s author came to Naperville in February during the first phase of the city’s annual Naperville Reads campaign. DiCamillo made several appearances to discuss her books, including the most recent “The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.”
Dave Sinker
The Naperville man opened the Comedy Shrine improvisational club in January in the downtown space formally occupied by Crossroads Theatre. The club was designed to focus on fast-paced, short-form improvisational theater.
Fran Bolson
The CEO of the Lisle Convention and Visitors Bureau stepped down in late March to assume the helm of the Greater Woodfield Convention and Visitors Bureau. Her stint in Lisle netted the village the 2007 USA Youth Outdoor Track & Field Championships and an increase in convention and hotel business.
Curt Bradshaw
The newest Indian Prairie Unit District 204 school board member cast the deciding vote in early February to approve new high school boundaries. His vote sent students from his own Brookdale neighborhood to Waubonsie Valley, something most of his neighbors opposed.
Candace Parker
The Naperville Central grad became the first woman to dunk in a NCAA Tournament game on March 19 while helping lead Tennessee to a 102-54 victory over Army. She then became the first woman in college history to dunk twice in the same game when she repeated the feat.
Robert Krzyzanowski
Just call him your typical 15-year-old Naperville kid who already happens to be a senior at North Central College and who’s majoring in math, physics and computer science. Oh, yes, he also was named the youngest winner of the state’s Lincoln Laureate Awards.
Jodi Wirt and Lenore Johnson
Johnson stepped down at the end of June as Naperville Unit District 203’s associate superintendent of instruction. She was replaced by Jodi Wirt, who was tabbed for the post by administrators after serving as assistant superintendent for curriculum and staff development.
Michael Fuller
Aurora Police Department’s second-in-command retired in March after 29 years as deputy chief. Fuller said he wanted to spend more time with his family.
Jodi Picoult
The best-selling author came to Naperville in March to meet with hundreds of fans as part of the citywide Naperville Reads campaign. Her appearance raised money for a group that assists the siblings of young cancer victims.
Adrian Missbrenner
The Burr Ridge man was acquitted in March on charges he raped a former Naperville girl in December 2002, during a drunken teen party. The incident was caught on videotape and a Cook County jury found in favor of Missbrenner. He was the second of three men brought up on rape charges in connection with the incident and the acquittal sparked a firestorm among victims rights advocates.
Melissa Kosar
The 23-year-old Benedictine University graduate premiered her first film, “Perilous Ties,” in April at the AMC Yorktown 17 theater in Lombard. It was an action flick that featured, at various times, Lisle police and area stores.
Ron Ory
The Naperville Park District commissioner began to rattle some cages when he openly questioned plans to build a $35 million recreation center in Frontier Park in south Naperville. Ory questioned whether the district had built enough community support for the project and whether it had the wherewithal to actually build it — and others began to agree with him by the end of the year.
Liz Young
The Naperville Central High School water polo team member spearheaded a drive among Redhawks athletes to hand-assemble 200 blankets and present them to patients at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago.
Randy Visor
Convicted in 1998 in connection with a 1997 drunken driving crash that killed four people — including three Waubonsie Valley High School juniors — Visor was ordered never to drive again. But in March, he was nabbed by a Batavia patrolman and charged with driving with a revoked license and without insurance.
Matt Moran and Mironda Heston
Moran, a graduate of North Central College, walked 100 miles in April in memory of his friend and former classmate, Mironda Heston, who died of a disease she contracted while helping women and children in Haiti. Moran raised money to help fund a service scholarship in her name.
Lynn Rule
Rule, a first-grade teacher at Ranch View Elementary, was named Naperville Unit District 203’s Teacher of the Year for her passion for literacy and learning. In August, she also was nominated by the state board of education as one of Illinois’ 10 best teachers.
Curt Gaskins
The 61-year-old Naperville stockbroker died in April trying to save one of his grandchildren from a Pacific Ocean riptide. The girl was saved by her 13-year-old brother, but Gaskins perished in the rescue effort.
Mary DeScenza
Naperville native Mary DeScenza won the Honda Award in early April as the nation’s top female collegiate swimmer. A member of the University of Georgia swim team, she won several races at the NCAA Championships and earned seven All-American citations.
Rick Tarulis
The Naperville homeowner and his wife, Nancy, always have been big fans of holiday lights, but this year they installed their stuff way early so they could be featured on the HGTV show, “What’s With That House?”
Alka Tyle
Educated on three continents and an active volunteer in the schools, she outdistanced 31 other applicants to be appointed to the Indian Prairie Unit District 204 school board in May. She attracted the district’s attention with her work on high school boundaries earlier in the year.
Patrick Collins
The assistant U.S. attorney grew up in Lisle with a strong streak of independence. It served Collins well as the lead prosecutor in the trial of former governor George Ryan, who was found guilty of all 18 counts in a federal trial that involved fraud, racketeering and more.
Julie Andrews
The halls were alive with the sound of music when the actress and children’s book author returned to Naperville for an appearance at Naperville North High School. She was promoting her latest work, “The Great American Mousical.”
Senobio Nila
The Aurora man celebrated his 105th birthday in May. He came to Aurora in the 1920s from Mexico as a railroad worker and played a key role in transforming the city’s ethnic landscape.
Shaun’ta Whitehead
The student spent the first three years of her college career at Dillard University in New Orleans. But when Hurricane Katrina wreaked its havoc, she moved back home to the Chicago area and — with the help of her aunt, Tanya Whitehead — graduated from Aurora University with a degree in biology.
Diane Ladley
The Aurora woman gained some local fame for her storytelling abilities and her ghost tours in Naperville. But in October, she became more infamous when some residents began complaining she had included the Marilyn Lemak house on her ghost tours. She eventually dropped the house from her outings.
Shane Gericke
The former newspaper reporter and editor published his first book, “Blown Away,” which focused on a serial killer stalking the streets of Naperville. Gericke is a longtime Naperville resident who says he’s fascinated by the classic battle of good vs. evil.
Marcelite and Lucinda Bucheit
Marcelite, 5, and Lucinda, 3, became media darlings in June when their lemonade stand — which had raised $45 in three days — apparently was snatched from the garage behind an apartment complex. A Naperville police officer, Matt Fletcher, saw the news accounts and after scouring the neighborhood, discovered the stand dumped in some bushes about a block away.
Allen Albus
The longtime head of finance for Naperville Unit District 203 — who became a central figure in the debate over the amount of money raised in a 2002 referendum proposal — resigned in June to accept a similar post in Lake Forest.
Colin Powell
The former secretary of state spoke to about 2,000 people in May at Benedictine University as part of the Lisle school’s Great Issues-Great Ideas lecture series. He largely avoided current controversies and instead devoted his 90-minute speech to issues of diplomacy, trust and values.
Donna Dziedzic
Another year, another weird hairdo for the Naperville Library director, who likes to change her style whenever her facility is named the best of its size in the nation. That happened again this year, for the eighth straight time.
Johnnie Russell
The 58-year-old Aurora man was shot and killed in November by police during a long standoff on the fifth floor of Provena Mercy Medical Center. Aurora police said a 12-year veteran of the force shot Russell as the man emerged from a room with a gun.
Jennifer Garrison
The 27-year-old Naperville woman was the first of 1,603 women across the finish line during the U.S. Women’s Triathlon in late June in downtown Naperville. Garrison, who has competed in three Ironman triathlons, said she got a taste for the races while still a high school student working at Centennial Beach.
Marc Kancler
The 29-year-old Naperville man — a self-proclaimed actor, musician and three-time featured player on reality TV — admits he likes the spotlight. So it was no surprise in August when he offered a lock of his hair — and the DNA that goes with it — to the highest bidder on eBay. “I love attention,” he said. “I’m a big self-promoter.”
Prescillia Spencer
She runs the Naperville Family Resource Center in the Naper Trails apartment complex with an iron fist and a warm heart. But even she said in August that the center needed some additional funding if it was going to continue to fight crime and raise test scores among low-income children living at the complex.
Don Darfler, Leo Kuefler, Vincent Mazza, Al Rubin and Bob Wehrli
The five highly decorated World War II veterans from Naperville were honored by the Century Walk Corp. with a bronze sculpture along Washington Street near Central Park.
Lindsey Mango
The Naperville Central volleyball star led her team to a 31-8 record and the DuPage Valley Conference championship. She also was named the Daily Herald’s All-Area 2006 girls volleyball captain.
Anthony Bruno
The garbage man from Naperville became something of a hero in October when he saw a Jeep flip onto Lower Wacker Drive in Chicago and pulled two men to safety before the vehicle burst into flames and exploded.
Susan Gedz
The kindergarten teacher at Prairie Elementary School was the first in Naperville Unit District 203 to be honored with an OfficeMax Teacher Innovator Award in October. The monthly awards are part of a new partnership between the school district and Naperville-based OfficeMax.
Heather Butler
A member of Neuqua Valley’s first graduating class, Butler returned this fall as a rookie teacher at the Naperville high school and found her history at the school gave her an immediate bond with her students.
Brent Schepp
The Aurora resident, who worked as a civil engineer in Naperville, was running for Kane County board on a family values platform when he was indicted in October on allegations of getting teens drunk and then molesting them. Just days after the indictment, he died when he drove his car at a high rate of speed into a pedestrian bridge in Aurora.
Millie Shepich
The Waubonsie Valley teacher thought one of the first pep rallies she attended was too quiet, so she grabbed the microphone and led the classes in a battle of school spirit. Now, she calls herself the school’s “Crazy Lady” as she leads most of the school’s pep events.
Jim Hemphill
The Naperville man and his wife, Nancy, awoke one morning in late April to find someone had fired at least four shots into their Naperville-area home. Police were investigating, but no one seemed to have a clue about what the motive may have been.
Teri Nosek
The Aurora woman raised money to participate in the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s Out of the Darkness 20-mile overnight charity walk. Nosek’s sister had hanged herself several years ago while in prison.
John Guppy
The president and CEO of the Chicago Fire lives in Naperville, but much of his attention was focused on Bridgeview this year as his team opened a sparking new stadium called Toyota Park.
Emily Giffin
The Naperville North High School graduate returned to town in June to sign copies of her third book, “Baby Proof.” It’s the story of a woman who’s happily married but decides she doesn’t want to have a baby.
Bob Evanosky
The Aurora man was one of thousands who participated in the Chicago marathon, but his cause was unique. He was running to raise awareness of a rare — and almost always terminal — disease called metachromatic leukodystrophy that all three of his young sons are fighting.
Stephanie Eick and Shannon Derrick
It started with the disappearance of an iPod and then captured headlines endlessly as the two girls — now freshmen at Waubonsie Valley High School — and their parents bickered in court over who should do what in reparation. In the end, the two families reached a convoluted settlement that served as a fitting coda for one of the year’s strangest stories.
Nico Contreras
The 6-year-old Aurora boy was shot and killed 10 years ago while sleeping in his bedroom. His killer was never caught. In August, police announced new evidence has come forward to warrant a renewed effort to capture his assailant and in December they announced the arrest of a man they believe drove the getaway car.
Patricia Blagojevich
Illinois’ first lady visited the DuPage Children’s Museum in Naperville in May to gather support for her governor husband’s “preschool for all” campaign, which calls for statewide preschool subsidies for 3- and 4-year-olds.
Patrick Raleigh
The banker-turned-math teacher thrilled students and colleagues at Still Middle School in May when he won Teacher of the Year recognition from Wal-Mart. The Indian Prairie Unit District 204 teacher won praise for his passion for his job and his ability to see the big picture.
Bruce Rodman
The Indian Prairie Unit District 204 school board member, first elected in 2003, stepped down in March citing business and health concerns. His resignation came just days after district voters approved a $124.7 million tax increase to build a third high school and months after the school board struggled through a long and sometimes contentious effort to redraw attendance boundaries.
Redhawks
The Naperville Central boys baseball team became the first Naperville high school to win the state crown. The team clinched the Class AA championship with a 2-0 victory over St. Patrick.
Max Ganet
The Naperville North student always seemed to be on center stage at the high school, including in April when he won the citywide title of Mr. Naperville 2006 in a park district event at North Central College that featured two senior guys from each of Naperville’s four high schools.
Lisa Madigan
The Illinois Attorney General came to Benedictine University in Lisle in July for the first state summit under her watch on identify theft. She urged agencies to work together to combat the problem.
George W. Bush
The president stopped in Aurora in July during a two-day visit to the Chicago area to stump for GOP gubernatorial hopeful Judy Barr Topinka, who lost.
Rudy Giuliani
The former New York mayor stopped in Bolingbrook and Lisle in July during a visit to the Chicago area to stump for, you guessed it, GOP gubernatorial hopeful Judy Barr Topinka. She still lost.
Tracy Pionek
The Lisle woman has been playing hockey for seven years and her team participated with roughly 12,000 other athletes in the Gay Games when they came to Chicago in July.
Dave Ferguson
The pastor and founder of Naperville’s Community Christian Church won kudos in July when it was named the 13th most influential non-Catholic church in America by The Church Report, a monthly magazine, that polled 2,000 churches nationwide.
David Thomas
The 19-year-old Aurora man and Waubonsee College student started a summer basketball team for young men of high school age. Players not only learned about the game, they learned about setting higher standards for themselves and their community.
Bea Malloy
The widow of Lisle’s first mayor returned to town in August to visit her former house and to help the village celebrate its 50th anniversary. Her husband, T.J. Malloy, was elected president of the village in August of 1956.
Barack Obama
The U.S. senator was contemplating a run for president when he arrived in Naperville in December to talk to a federal panel about cancer victims who believe their illnesses can be traced to their work at a weapons plant during the Cold War. But the rock star politician didn’t want to talk about his political aspirations.
Bill Louis
The 60-year-old Naperville man drowned in August an accident in Ontario, Canada, when his boat capsized. His son, Jeff, desperately tried to pull his father — who couldn’t swim — to shore, but it was simply too far.
Sean McNees
Nearly five years after he caused an alcohol-related accident that claimed the life of Stacey Blundell, the Naperville man apologized to her family — but it was too late. He was sentenced to six years in prison in September for driving drunk again while on probation for the original crash.
Zhili Xiao
The Naperville man, a physicist at Argonne National Laboratory, was honored for leading the development of an ultra-fast hydrogen sensor that was named one of the world’s top 100 scientific and technological innovations for 2005.
John Madormo
The North Central College professor sold a screenplay in September to a California-based film company. “Coach Dracula” is about the famous vampire trying to blend into suburbia as the coach of his stepson’s Little League team.