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Vickroy: Guiding knight: Lab gets woman where she needs to go

Sun, 19 May 2013 02:19:07 -0500

Up concrete stairs, around giant flowerpots and through throngs of bustling commuters, Kathy Austin makes her way to work each morning. Though she is virtually blind, only able to distinguish contrasts of light and dark, she makes getting from her home in the leafy suburb of Homewood to her office on the 10th floor of a Loop high rise look easy, partly because she has Solomon to guide her, partly because she doesn’t let much stop her from pursuing her dreams. “Going blind is the only horrible thing that’s ever happened to me,” she says. “It’s just one of those …

Vickroy: Gardens are proof that life goes on

Thu, 16 May 2013 11:49:22 -0500

“God gave us memories that we may have roses in December.” J. M. Barrie Since the beginning of time, man has sought comfort in tilling the earth. Gardens provide sustenance, joy and, increasingly, solace in times of grief. Flowers, trees and other plants are reminders that life does indeed go on. About six years ago, the Rev. Rod Reinhart began planting a memory garden on the south side of St. Joseph and St. Aidan Episcopal Church in Blue Island. He started with a couple of rose bushes and dedicated them to local people who had been killed either while serving …

Vickroy: Modern-day explorers to kids: Get out in wilderness

Wed, 15 May 2013 12:44:44 -0500

Khareah Horton stepped into the giant oversized parka and all but disappeared. The first-grader took one for the team when she volunteered to lead the “sled dogs” across the gymnasium at Wagoner School in Sauk Village. Not only was she barely visible beneath her fur-lined hood, she couldn’t stop laughing as her fellow classmates grabbed the leashes and lugged the bamboo transport carrier a good 20 feet. “Teamwork,” Dave Freeman said. “That’s what gets the job done.” Freeman and his wife, Amy, visited the school recently to tell pre-K through second-graders about their latest adventure — a three-year kayak/canoe/sled dog …

Vickroy: Mother’s reading habit led to son’s penchant for writing

Sun, 12 May 2013 02:17:19 -0500

Mothers impart a lot of things to their children: wisdom, advice, recipes. But sometimes the most endearing gift a mother leaves her son or daughter is a lifelong passion, something that sparks their interest, taps their creativity and engages them in the workings of the world. And sometimes such gifts are handed down unknowingly, more by example than instruction. Monica Joria didn’t become a writer until she recently began penning her autobiography. But in many ways, the 99-year-old South Sider and current resident of Smith Village in Chicago’s Morgan Park community lived the lifestyle of a writer — observing, analyzing …

Vickroy: Pennies from an angel to help special-needs dancers

Sun, 19 May 2013 12:18:10 -0500

At face value, the penny is worth next to nothing. But for those who believe in the power of serendipity, the penny can be priceless. As her sister, Linda, lay dying in 2000, Cathy Epstein-Faxel and her mother wondered how they might honor the 29-year-old’s memory. Then a friend gave Epstein-Faxel a copy of the poem “Pennies From Heaven” by Charles Mashburn. The work is a reminder that loved ones who have passed often send messages of hope in the most unsuspecting ways. It was meant to be a comfort, to get her family through the difficult times ahead. Little …

Vickroy: It’s no fib: You can grow figs in this climate

Wed, 08 May 2013 10:12:22 -0500

Long before humans cultivated wheat, barley or legumes, they grew fig trees. Some even suggest that figs were grown a thousand years before wheat and rye were domesticated. “For 98 percent of the time humans have been alive, it has been a starvation existence,” said William Pakosz, a Matteson dentist and lover of natural history. “It wasn’t until recent times that food has been plentiful for so many.” Back during much of those early hungry years, the fig tree was a symbol of survival. Its early spring blossom, called the breba, often was the first crop to be harvested. It …

Vickroy: Remembering Kaylah with music, poetry and new safety measures

Sun, 05 May 2013 02:17:44 -0500

A year ago this weekend, Kaylah Lentine was celebrating her 14th birthday at a sleepover party with friends. They sang, laughed and made a video parody of “The Hunger Games.” In a bittersweet nod to life’s unpredictability, those same friends, along with members of Kaylah’s large extended family, gathered Friday — Kaylah’s birthday — at Oak Lawn-Hometown Middle School to remember the girl who not only changed them for the better but changed them for good. The mourners sang, laughed and watched a snippet of Kaylah’s version of “The Hunger Games.” Kaylah died May 25, 2012, one day after she …

Vickroy: Get closer view of eagles’ new offspring

Sat, 04 May 2013 06:16:11 -0500

It’s not exactly a bird’s-eye view, but the public can now get even closer to a rare eagles’ nest in Palos Township. Cook County Forest Preserve officials have cleared a path north along the eastern banks of Tampier Slough, enabling bird watchers to get within 250 yards of the cottonwood tree that holds the giant eagles’ nest that was first discovered more than a year ago. “This is a closer and safer spot for people to watch for the birds, yet it’s far enough to keep the birds safe, too,” said Jim Phillips, fisheries biologist for the district. “We don’t …

Vickroy: Tireless teen earns Governor’s Volunteer Award

Wed, 01 May 2013 18:53:48 -0500

They’re small, soft and oh, so cute. Yet, these tiny pillows are strong enough to comfort the afflicted, cheer the saddened and remind even the most downtrodden that somebody cares. “You can see it in the smiles people give,” says Sarah Dynia. “You can definitely see the transformation in someone when you give them something. You can see the impact is way bigger than one small pillow.” Sarah, a sophomore at Mother McAuley High School, recently presented one of her hand-stitched heart-shaped pillows to a Vietnam War veteran. He told her he hadn’t received many tokens of appreciation since that …

Vickroy: Students take live surgery experience to heart

Thu, 02 May 2013 11:53:06 -0500

Alex Engraffia knows there’s only so much you can do in a classroom. Sometimes, to really learn something, you have to go out into the field. And sometimes that field is a hospital operating room. The Evergreen Park High School senior joined more than 100 other local students to watch Christ Medical Center’s “Live from the Heart,” a projected feed of an open-heart operation in real time. The surgeries are conducted weekly for high school students during the school year. On Wednesday, the mission was to replace an aortic valve on a 37-year-old man with a congenital heart defect. Students …

Vickroy: Former Palos Hills man was courageous first responder

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 10:15:32 -0500

“A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.” Christopher Reeve Before he became a first responder, Kevin Sanders was an altar boy, a baby sitter and an animal lover. “He was a joy to have in class. He never seemed to have a bad day,” said Bonnie Littleton, one of his teachers at Marist High School. “I also remember him as a caring young man who loved to laugh. He wasn’t shy. He was outgoing and personable.” Littleton described Sanders as “one of those students you loved, never worried …

Vickroy: Teacher shares heartbreaking story to keep prom-goers safe

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 02:12:03 -0500

It is a human flaw that until we are touched by tragedy, we consider ourselves immune to it. Like so many, Cora Umeker grew up believing teenagers are invincible. That is, until her senior year of high school. The reality that kids are not wrapped in a special safety net strong enough to protect them from their own bad decisions hit her hard, and stays with her to this day. That’s why she now takes on the challenge of bursting that bubble of bravado in teens. As the faculty sponsor of Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) at Richards High School …

Vickroy: Giving gang members a future in Bedford Park

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 02:23:45 -0500

Quantrell “Q” Haywood has his sights set on a white 1966 Impala. The two-door muscle car is the carrot that gets the former Chicago gangbanger into a uniform and onto the bus each morning. It’s a daily reminder to show up, work hard and abide by the law. “If I keep at it, they’re going to give me that car,” Haywood, 22, said. More important, if he keeps at it, he might just leave with a future. Alex Levesque has every confidence that Haywood will earn the keys one day. In the meantime, he’s learning how to be reliable, work …

Vickroy: Korn guitarist to talk about overcoming drugs

Sun, 19 May 2013 07:36:30 -0500

By his admission, Brian “Head” Welch has been through the ringer. “Crazy drug addiction and depression, it was nuts,” said the co-founder and lead guitarist of the nu metal band Korn. Welch, who grew up in Bakersfield, Calif., tried several times to stop, but it wasn’t until he found Christ, he said, that he was able to fill the hole in his soul that kept him high on crystal meth, prescription drugs and alcohol for so long. Welch, 42, will talk candidly about his addiction, about giving his first child up for adoption and about how his second child, Jennea …

Vickroy: Wannabe bakers get much-kneaded experience

Fri, 17 May 2013 06:10:45 -0500

“If thou tastest a crust of bread, thou tastest all the stars and all the heavens.” — Robert Browning. Have most kids under the age of 12 heard of poet Robert Browning? Probably not. But there’s no denying the appeal of fresh-baked bread transcends the ages. Sometimes, so does baking it. Though a growing gluten-free movement coupled with the rise in popularity of the Atkins diet did much to damage the bread industry, some believe that baking, particularly artisan baking, may emerge even stronger. Last week, a dozen junior Girl Scouts from St. Christina School in Chicago’s Mount Greenwood community …

Vickroy: Chance ‘encounter’ leads to lifetime of preaching tolerance

Wed, 15 May 2013 06:10:11 -0500

Dennis Gaeta was just 12 when his life’s mission came into focus. The son of an Italian Catholic father and a Jewish mother, the Tinley Park optometrist was often told he could follow whichever religion he wanted. His ambivalence dissolved the day he “met” Anne Frank. He was at the John F. Kennedy High School Library in North Miami Beach, where he lived at the time. “They said the bus was going to be an hour or two late,” he said. “So I pulled out a compilation of Look magazines from the 1950s, hoping to see some cool 1953 Pontiacs.” …

Vickroy: Longtime hotel employee leaves the way she came in: with a smile

Sun, 12 May 2013 06:33:19 -0500

In the early 1970s, when the south suburbs were marked with wide-open spaces and Interstate 294 was young, a newly divorced mother of five walked over to the Crouching Lion hotel in Alsip and applied for a job. “I didn’t have a car at the time,” Geri Hoffman said. And the new hotel, with its orange carpeting inside and giant cement lions outside, was within walking distance of her Crestwood home. It was built to accommodate interstate travelers and would-be overnight guests in the south suburbs. Now, as she looks back on her 40-plus years of greeting restaurant customers, remembering …

Vickroy: Help the helpers stop child sexual abuse

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 11:37:16 -0500

Here are some alarming numbers: 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys are sexually abused during childhood. The average age of the victims: 9. “This is a social epidemic and a real tragedy,” said Heather Randazzo, program coordinator for the Childhood Trauma Treatment Program run by Advocate Health Care. “A tremendous number of people experience abuse and don’t come forward. “It’s like slavery,” she said. “We all have to do something in order to end it.” That something begins with increased awareness, and what better time to consider this than during National Child Abuse Prevention month. In addition …