Southern Illinois Leaders Among Us - 2019

eaders L

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Southern Illinoisans who have a positive impact on their communities

2019

Leaders we can count on

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irst, I’d like to congratulate each and every one of our members of this year’s class of Leaders Among Us. ‌Each of you brings something to our community to make it better. For that, we are proud. For that, we are grateful.

Being a leader isn’t easy. It takes hard work. It takes dedication.

The great thing about being a leader is that it can be anybody in TOM any walk of life. It just takes being a ENGLISH special person in a special place.

Each one of this year’s honorees does all of the above. These 12 men and women are some of the best and brightest in Southern Illinois, and they were all nominated passionately by their peers. That means they’re all doing something right and good for Southern Illinois and beyond.

I say this every year, but every year it still rings true — these are the people we look up to and they’re the people we can count on when we need them.

Simply put: These are the people that make Southern Illinois the great, unique place that it is.

So, let’s raise a glass to all of the members of the 2019 Class of Leaders Among Us. Each of you have a true part in making our region what it is.

Cheers!

Tom English | Executive Editor About Us The Southern Business is a weekly section in The Southern Illinoisan. Contact us via mail at 710 N. Illinois Ave., Carbondale, IL, or at P.O. Box 2108, Carbondale, IL, 62903. Also reach us on the web at thesouthern.com. Copyright 2019 by The Southern Illinoisan. All rights reserved. Information about how to subscribe may be obtained by calling 618-529-5454, or by visiting thesouthern.com.

Contact Us ‌ ublisher P Terra Kerkemeyer

Writer Les O’Dell

618-351-5038

Photographer Byron Hetzler

Executive Editor Tom English

Advertising Director Lyn Sargent 618-351-5815

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Mary Nell Chew

hen Mary Nell Chew stopped at her home to gather some items before meeting others for dinner on a summer day earlier this year, she noticed a large parcel on her front porch. The side of the box was labeled “Apparel,” but the Carbondale resident did not remember ordering any clothes.

On her way back out to the car she grabbed the box and tossed in it the backseat.

Arriving a little early for dinner, she decided to see what was in the box. Instead of apparel, she found a stack of more than 90 manila envelopes, all but one addressed to local military veterans. The other one, on top of the entire stack, was for her. The return address on every single envelope was a simple, familiar one: The White House, Washington D.C. These were letters from the President which Chew had requested. The recipients were those veterans who participated in the fifth Veterans Honor Flight in May 2019 and who soon would be gathering for a reunion.

Chew didn’t have to request the letters, but she did. She thought the veterans deserved it. Her involvement with Honor Flight Five began months ago and was much more significant than simply requesting letters.

“I first applied as a guardian,” the 82 yearold explains, sharing how each veteran on an honor flight is accompanied by a personal escort, “but their insurance cuts off at age 70 for guardians. I was really upset; I had six veterans in my family, so it was important to me to be involved.”

Determined to be involved, Chew made an appointment with Veterans Airport of Southern Illinois Director Doug Kimmel, a member of the local Honor Flight Board of Directors.

“I went out to talk to Doug at the airport and at first, he kind of cowered because he knew I was really upset about being a guardian,” she recalls. “And then I told him what I wanted to do. I wish I had before and after pictures of him.”

What she wanted to do was single-handedly fund the Honor Flight those same veterans enjoyed, taking them to places in their

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honor and other memorials in the national capital, and she did. She thought the veterans deserved it, and her donation of $83,000 made it all possible. And while she didn’t expect it, her gift garnered her an invitation to go, too.

Chew says it was just something she wanted to do to honor the veterans in her own family — her father, stepfather, husband and three uncles. She wanted to be involved.

That has been the story of her entire life.

Born in Olney, as a youngster she lived in Madison County before moving to Carbondale to attend Southern Illinois University in 1954. For decades she assisted her husband in the daily functions of a trucking company, later working with the Illinois Fruit Growers, area lumberyards and even a stint repossessing semi tractors. No matter what her occupation, she was involved in the community.

“I’ve just been involved in so many wonderful things. I spent 13 years on the county board and I think I belong to most organizations in this area,” she says.

That statement does not stretch the truth.

The list of Chew’s involvement is extensive, ranging from conservation organizations to the American Legion, the extension service, masonic-related groups, hospital auxiliaries and more. Even today, she continues to be involved.

“I have to be busy doing something,” she says over coffee at a Carbondale McDonald’s — one of her daily stops, where she meets friends who discuss everything from current events to shared memories.

“We enjoy talking to one another because we have known a lot of people in Carbondale and the area, who they were before they married, where they lived and what they did.

We have big discussions here,” she says with a laugh.

Once she’s finished her coffee and conversation, she goes on about her day.

“My car kind of looks like a gypsy wagon: I have eye glasses for the Lion’s Club, plastic sacks to make mats for the homeless, bottle caps that will become park benches and more. People are always bringing me things to help groups in the area and I seem to be a funneling mechanism for all of these organizations.”

When she’s not helping other groups, she can be found entertaining. A skilled organist, she is in demand nationally to play at churches, gatherings and conventions.

“I’ve been very privileged to be part of a lot of groups nationally and internationally where I get to play organ,” she says. “I get to meet so many nice people and I just enjoy going and doing it.”

The organ playing helps to quench Chew’s quest to travel.

“I love to go and I’ve been all over the world,” she says, mentioning trips to Europe, South Africa and South America. She says she hopes to someday visit Southeast Asia.

“I’m just motivated to go. I don’t want to give up. I’m going to keep busy,” she says, as always adding some self-deprecating humor and humility. “I don’t sleep much and I eat a lot, but I just keep going.”

Until then, Chew says she is happy staying busy in Southern Illinois and says she hopes her involvement is mutually beneficial.

“I think everything I’m involved in is good for me and I hope it’s good for them,” she says. “I just try to participate and be a part of things. I don’t like belonging and not helping in some way.”

‌ ary Nell Chew is a big fan of old-time radio shows, especially Westerns, M mysteries and comedies. “Yes, I absolutely love those. I listen in my car all of the time to channel 148 on my satellite radio — it’s Radio Classics,” she says.

Photo by Byron Hetzler, The Southern‌ Leaders Among Us | 2019

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Tiffany Delaney

t is not uncommon for homeowners to remodel part of a garage, converting a place for cars and storage into a family room or an additional bedroom. Renovating automobile space into a closet is not completely unheard of. But, transforming most of the garage into a closet just for one type of clothing is, in a word, unusual. That is, however, exactly what Tiffany Delaney has done. For dresses. Formal dresses to be specific.

“It’s still not big enough,” Delaney says about her new 240-square-foot closet.

There are rods on three of the walls, the fourth — where the large garage door is — consists solely of mirrors. In the middle of the new closet are four portable hanging racks and, like the wall rods, they too are full of formal dresses.

Delaney also has dozens of ball gowns and long dresses hanging in the un-remodeled areas of what used to be the garage.

“We don’t use the garage for cars anymore,” Delaney says with a chuckle.

Counting the gowns in the garage, the ensembles in the new closet and those spread throughout her rural Scheller home, there are some 1,500 formal dresses in Delaney’s house, but they are not for her. Instead, these dresses are for any young woman in Southern Illinois who needs one.

Since 2011, Delaney has been gathering, altering and giving formal wear to girls completely free of charge. She estimates that she’s passed along more than 1,000 dresses.

In fact, in a period of just a few weeks this fall she gave away more than 100 dresses to young ladies preparing for homecoming celebrations. It’s almost a second full-time job for the 43-year-old teacher at Bethel Grade School in Mount Vernon, but one for which she doesn’t earn a dime.

“I do all of it completely for free,” she explains. “I only have two rules: one, you come to me and try it on so I can make sure it fits you properly, and two, when you are done with it don’t sell it — pass it on to someone else, bring it back or keep it to wear again.”

She says it is not unusual for a girl to wear a dress for homecoming and return it to her when they pick out something for a sweetheart dance or even prom. Like the

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latest best-seller on a library shelf, it is not uncommon for dresses to come back to Delaney time and again to be “checked out” by other girls. Her inventory ranges from size 3T up to 26 and includes wedding dresses, mother-of-the-bride dresses and even a few suits. Most of the apparel, however, is formal dresses, perfect for high school dances.

“We have one dress that we call the boomerang dress. Over a three-year span, it went to every dance at Mount Vernon Township High School,” she says. “My daughter wore it the first time and since then it’s gone every time — three dances each year. It is a gorgeous dress.”

Delaney’s foray into the world of formal fashion began out of necessity.

We had just moved back to Scheller and my daughter needed a dress for a formal dance.

“As a single mom with bills to pay, we went to a thrift store,” she recalls. “She found what she wanted and it wasn’t the cheapest in the world.”

Frustrated at the cost and the fact that she still had to make repairs and alterations, Delaney vowed to find a better way. She stared finding yard sale dresses and making improving them.

“That’s how it started. I never expected it to turn in to what it has,” she says.

While there are still some rummage and thrift store finds in her collection, most of the dresses are ones given to her from others with a desire to help young ladies make memories. Most have been worn before, but a few of the dresses are brand new with original tags still attached. One sports a $793 price tag.

In addition to individual clients from as far away as Belleville and Cairo, Delaney also donates dresses to those attending the an-

nual “Night to Shine” in Herrin, a prom for people with disabilities presented by the Tim Tebow Foundation. For her, it is a team effort.

“There are so many people who help me with this. So many donors and my family and friends do so much: running everywhere, picking up dresses and more. Without the help of others, I couldn’t do what I do. It’s a big circle and I’m just the front person,” she says, adding that she welcomes donations of dresses, clear plastic hanging bags and dress hangers.

As the “front person,” Delaney opens her home to dozens of young ladies and parents who make appointments for her to help them find the perfect dress. She’s gotten to where she can suggest a size just by looking and then, as a self-trained seamstress, make all of the necessary alterations to make sure the dress fits perfectly.

All of the dresses are photographed and cataloged on her Facebook page. She keeps particular sizes together so that “shopping” is easier.

Delaney realizes that she’s doing more than just giving away dresses.

“When you get parents who, while their daughter is changing, say ‘I can’t believe you do this,’ or they begin to cry because their daughter comes out in a gorgeous, namebrand dress that they could have never been able to buy, I know I’m doing the right thing.”

She continues to explain why she goes to all the work of keeping and giving away dresses, even to the point of sacrificing her own garage. “There is just a need. These girls need to know that they are somebody and that they are somebody special. My ultimate goal is that no girl feels second best; I want them to all feel like a princess.”

T‌ iffany Delaney played basketball throughout elementary and grade school.

She describes herself as “a huge die-hard Florida Gators fan.”

Photo by Byron Hetzler, The Southern‌ Leaders Among Us | 2019

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Brad Dillard

rad Dillard is a busy man during the day. As the director of Plant and Service Operations at Southern Illinois University, he often is in his office as early as 6 a.m. Seldom does he arrive later than 7 a.m., and he often doesn’t leave until most all of the other staff and students have gone home. Of course, he already checked his phone for emails and overnight reports before ever getting out of bed. Responsible for some 8 million square feet of campus grounds and facilities, he oversees more than 300 employees and more than 500 vehicles. From electrical service to mowing, mail delivery to maintenance, Dillard and his team look after infrastructure and more. But that’s not all he does.

Brad Dillard is a busy man in the evenings. In addition to running things on campus, he is also responsible for one of the biggest running things in the Midwest: the annual River to River Relay which draws 2,000 participants each April for one of the most unique road races in the nation. But that’s not all he does.

Brad Dillard is a busy man on weekends, too.

Always fascinated with emergency services, he is a fully sworn member of the Energy police force, one of a dozen part-time officers serving the village alongside four full-time police officers.

Brad Dillard is a busy man all of the time, which begs the question, why, at age 51 is he doing so much?

“I like to describe myself as active,” Dillard says in an obvious understatement. “I don’t regularly hunt, and I don’t regularly fish because of all of these other activities that I enjoy instead. These are things I like doing. My philosophy on life is to do things in life in the order you can do them and right now, my body is allowing me to do all of this.”

Despite a full calendar, Dillard says he only adds a new role when he is certain it is a good fit.

“Even though it looks like I’m sort of spread thin, I’m very careful because I don’t want to take on a task that I can’t fulfill,” he explains. “I don’t want to disappoint those whom I am taking the task on for and I don’t want to disappoint myself or my family.”

A 1987 graduate of Carbondale Community High School, Dillard studied electrical engineering technology at Southern Illinois University, where he got a job as a student worker in the round-the-clock operations center, monitoring various systems around the campus. In essence, he never left. His office at SIU today is just a few dozen feet from where he worked as a freshman 30 years ago.

“Statistically the odds of that are infinitesimal

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and I didn’t set out for that to be the case, but I’ve been fortunate that over my career I’ve been successful and the people in charge have thought I was worthy of additional challenges and opportunities,” he said.

Today, those challenges include supervising a staff of hundreds and responsibility for caring for the campus. He is quick to credit staff members.

“We have good managers and good teamwork,” he says. “Without that, there’s no way we can pull off what we do, especially in this era of declining state resources. From a facility standpoint, we have about half of the resources we had 25 years ago, but costs are continually escalating.”

Dillard says no matter the budget or enrollment, his units have the same duties, adding that it makes for challenges.

“I would say professionally, I’m most proud of what we’ve been able to do the last few years with the tight financial times,” he says. “There isn’t anything that happens on campus that we either aren’t involved in or shouldn’t be involved in.”

That includes special events including welcoming thousands to campus for happenings, including the 2017 solar eclipse and responding to the 2009 derecho. Both of these events further ignited his passion for emergency services.

“I was a volunteer fireman when I was in college and I got my first responder certifications and through the university. I’ve had a lot of experience on that side,” he says.

Formerly a volunteer member of the Williamson County Sheriff’s Department Auxiliary, he was hired as a part-time officer in Energy almost a year ago, after going through weekend police academy and all of the related trainings and testing.

“When I can carve time out after work and on the weekends, I’m going through the department’s training in addition to the official police academy, but I’m already out working with other

field officers,” he adds.

He says he’s told his wife Kathy that this would be the last “real significant time-involved endeavor” that he would tackle. Well, that is, with the exception of the annual River to River Relay.

Dillard has served as race director for 13 years, only the third director in the event’s three decades of existence.

“It’s an eight-person, 80-mile relay race,” he explains. “We have runners from all 50 states and we’ve had people come from other countries, too.

It’s an incredible event.”

Dillard says while there is a lot of work throughout the year both for him and more than 200 volunteers, things really get going on race weekend.

The day before the race — check-in day — starts about 8 a.m. It’s a long day.

“We go constantly until about 10 p.m. that night, checking teams in. There’s a managers meeting where we go over with all of the teams the rules, responsibilities and all that,” he says. “Then we pack up all of our equipment and stuff, I go home and unload my vehicle, get it repackaged and reload it with race day stuff. That usually gets done about midnight and then sometimes I’ll go to sleep, but usually I don’t even try to because about 2 or 2:15 I’m headed toward the start line.”

Race day is equally busy, but Dillard says it is all worth it.

“I really enjoy it because 99% of the people who are involved are doing it as volunteers and they do it because of the joy it brings people,” he adds. “It’s a ton of work; it’s cyclical, but there really is no off season.”

No, there is no off season for the race, or for Dillard. He likes it that way.

“I’m obviously a very active person. I don’t sit around. I like being involved in things. I like being part of the community.”

‌ ome of Brad Dillard’s most prized possessions are old drafting tools as well S as meters and other pieces of equipment from the 1940s which belonged to his father, also an engineering graduate.

Photo by Byron Hetzler, The Southern‌ Leaders Among Us | 2019

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Jim Dooley

uthors call it foreshadowing — subtly giving an advanced hint of what is to come later in a story.

Used well, readers develop expectations of the future.

If there was ever an example of foreshadowing in a life, this is one: Jim Dooley retired from a company named “Connect.”

The business could have been known as “Community” and the foreshadowing would have been equally prevalent because the 73 year-old Carbondale resident spends most of his time working to connect people and build community.

“I often go back to John F. Kennedy saying it’s not what your country can do for you, it’s what you can do for your country,” he explains. “I say it about community — discovering how can I help a little bit.”

Dooley’s calendar is full of “little bits” in which he helps the community. He’s started an organization working to welcome international refugees to Carbondale, he volunteers with the local Habitat for Humanity chapter, he delivers meals on wheels, is active in his church and is a key member of the local Lions Club. And we he sees a need that’s not being met by one of the groups in which he belongs, he frequently will take up the cause and start a new group to solve the problem. It is something he has done ever since he retired, moving from Chicago to Southern Illinois.

“When I was working I typically got up on Monday, went to the airport and flew somewhere just to get back on Thursday or Friday,” he recalls. “I didn’t have any community. So when I retired, I didn’t have to fly everywhere any more. I had more time and I was able to begin to give something back.”

In essence, leaving Connect and the Chicagoland area gave Dooley an opportunity to connect.

“When we decided to retire, we wanted to be near water and we wanted to be in a university community with good access to arts and health care. We went all over the

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Midwest and finally said, ‘Let’s go to Carbondale.’ We had a place at Lake of Egypt, so we knew the area,” he said.

In the eight years since Dooley and his wife Carol moved to Carbondale, some would say he has become a pillar of the community.

“Oh, I hope not,” he replies with a laugh.

“I think you’ve run out of people to talk to.”

Yet, he is one of the people that everyone in the community seems to know. He credits his involvement in civic causes for that.

He is especially active in the Carbondale Lions Club.

“I help set up everything. I get the name tags out, the plaques. I guess it keeps me off the streets before the meetings start,” he says. He also helps with vision programs the club sponsors and other efforts, too. If the Carbondale Lions have a project, odds are that Dooley is involved. He especially takes seriously his role in finding programs for the club’s gatherings.

“I’ve lined up a speaker every week for the Lions club for the last six or seven years,” he says, adding that he’s booking presenters up to four months in advance now. “That’s fun because I get to meet so many people.”

Dooley keeps his eyes open for what’s happening in the region, never missing an opportunity to meet someone new and to invite them to share with the club.

“There are so many wonderful people in this community and fortunately, most of them say ‘yes.’ In all of these years, other than some coaches, I don’t think we’ve duplicated many speakers. The benefit of lining up the speakers is that as I meet all of these people, I can begin to see how all of the threads tie together,” he says.

Tying things together has been a passion for Dooley. A graduate of Northern Illinois

University, he worked in a variety of technological fields. He and a business partner established a company which developed continuous-feed laser printers for barcode applications. When that company sold to a California firm, Dooley moved to the West Coast to work with them, then soon started another company focusing on system integrations — getting hardware and software to work together. Eventually, he stepped into a role as international sales manager for a Chicago-based software company.

“I used to tell them that I was the global intercontinental sales manager, because any order we got, I had something to do with it,” he says. Basically, he made connections for Connect.

Dooley continues to have something to do with a lot of things — still making connections. A perfect example is his involvement with Habitat for Humanity, which came from a simple desire to help.

Now, he is not only finding others to fill a particular role, but also helping with construction.

“I have no mechanical ability,” he confesses. “I went to Habitat thinking that the carpenters could probably use somebody to haul their stuff to them and they just kept putting tools in my hands. So far, I haven’t hurt anybody and now I actually have some of my own tools. I’ve actually learned a few things.”

He says along with involvement, he puts a premium on learning. He’s trying to relearn the guitar after years of not playing. An avid reader, he finishes a couple of books each week. And he says he walks his dog about five miles each day, always carrying treats in his pocket in case they meet any other canines. Of course, he meets the other animals’ owners, too.

Always making connections.

‌ ne of Jim Dooley’s first cars was a 1964 ½ Ford Mustang. He took possession of it just O six weeks after the infamous sports car was introduced. He says it was white with a red interior and had a 289 engine under the hood. “I wish I still had that car,” he laments.

Photo by Byron Hetzler, The Southern‌ Leaders Among Us | 2019

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Shadi Frick

ome of Shadi Frick’s earliest memories involve music. While other children carried around a favorite toy or perhaps a blanket, Frick was rarely without a portable tape recorder.

“I have loved music as long as I remember. I’ve always been surrounded by it. I loved it and I loved the technical aspects of it. I was always trying to record myself playing something or singing something. I’ve still got some of those cassettes,” he says.

Frick had no choice but to be musical. Growing up in a house on South 51 in Carbondale, there was always music. His mother played and sang at church. His father had a band, often playing at what Frick calls “the animal clubs” — local chapters of the Elks, Eagles and the like. His dad had even cut a record in Nashville, one that young Shadi knew the lyrics to before he was three.

“At one point, he actually called me up on the stage to sing with him,” Frick recalls. “For a lot of kids, I guess that would have been a scary experience, but not for me. I was just a ham. I loved performing for people.”

He still does. Now 40, Frick continues to share his love of music with listeners and with future generations of musicians. He’s a key part of several local bands including King Juba, The Phonics, Secondhand Cartunes and more. He also has been the band director at Carbondale Middle School for 15 years.

“Junior high can be a tough level for kids because there are so many different things going on in their heads and their lives,” he explains. “I try to make it a fun, safe experience that kids can remember as being a class that they enjoyed. I want them to realize that they don’t have to be a professional musician to enjoy music for the rest of their lives.”

For Frick, teaching band is about

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experiences, not perfection.

“One of the first things I tell my students is that if we march in a parade and we do our job, playing and entertaining people while having fun, and if we happen to win first place, that’s great. On the other hand, if we marched in the parade and our lines weren’t perfect but we still played some great music and had some fun and win a fourth place or a ‘thanksfor-coming’ certificate, it’s still great.

It doesn’t make that much difference to me.”

Frick continues, “Sometimes students get competitive and they start fighting with themselves — times they are struggling and they get frustrated.

I ask them, ‘Why did you get into this in the first place—why did you join the band?’ Most of the time it’s because they wanted to play some music and have some fun. That’s what it’s about.

It’s the same with me. Sometimes when I get frustrated, I have to remind myself it’s to play music and have fun.”

He is having fun, but still working hard to teach notes and technique.

Most of all, however, he strives to build character.

“I push the kids to do their best. I don’t want to say that we’re just there making noise and having a crazy time.

That’s not it, but there is more than winning medals and trophies. There’s something about a band when you have 60 to 80 kids and we become kind of a family unit. From the first day of band camp I tell them that we are family and we’ve got to take care of each other. From a social standpoint, one of the things we learn is acceptance of each other’s differences,” he explains.

In doing that, he adds, is where true

success lies.

“A lot of people talk about diversity and I think being in a diverse situation is great, but I try find what makes us more universal. We have different skin colors, different religions, different preferences and different opinions, and kids in junior high are beginning to think about these things. I really push that we have all of these differences: we look different, we smell different. We’re short or tall or fat or green or blue or yellow or white or black, but we are all here for the same purpose and everybody’s on an equal playing field. It’s a challenge, but I love it,” he says.

Frick is eager to show his scrapbook featuring nearly two decades of students, first at Trico High School and then Carbondale Middle School. He tells stories of how former students have returned, sharing the impact that he and the band program have had on their lives — and that they have had on his.

“They enrich my life as much as I did theirs,” he says. “I think that’s the biggest reward. It’s not the paycheck, it’s not the tunes we play. It’s knowing that these kids got something that they’ll hopefully take with them forever.”

Sometimes Frick doesn’t even realize the impact he is making.

“More than once I have received a note or letter saying, ‘Mr. Frick, you don’t know this, but that band saved my life.’ It is so humbling. I thank God that I was able to be there for those kids when maybe other people weren’t,” he says. “It’s amazing to think that maybe I did make a little bit of difference in their lives.”

F‌rick was destined to be in music. His unique name, Shadi (pronounced “Shad-ee”), actually means “Singer” in Arabic.

Photo by Byron Hetzler, The Southern‌ Leaders Among Us | 2019

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Mary Ann Hortsmann

ot long after opening the door to her Elkville home, Mary Ann Horstmann admitted she had to move a pile of books so the visitor would have a place to sit down. In fact, she also apologized for all of the other volumes in neat stacks around the living room.

Horstmann, 75, is an avid reader, preferring actual hardbacks and paperbacks to electronic books.

“I’ve read some on my Kindle, but there’s just something about holding an actual book,” she said. “I read a wide gamut of things. I like historical fiction, I read thrillers and mysteries, I read my Bible and Christian works. I’m always reading something.”

Hence the piles of books. After all, a love of reading has been instrumental in her life. Growing up in Dowell, the granddaughter of coal miners who immigrated to Southern Illinois from Eastern Europe, she was part of the final graduating class of Elkville Community High School prior to consolidation formed the Elverado school district.

“I really didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I got the teacher scholarship to attend Southern Illinois University and that just opened the door,” she recalled.

Older cousins already attending SIU helped her get a student work position and shared housing near the campus.

With the scholarship, she was able to put herself through school on 80 cents an hour.

“I was so thankful for that scholarship because it made the world of difference,” she said.

After graduation, she took a job at the Elkville grade school in 1966, teaching special education.

“I had fourth, fifth and sixth graders whom, at the time, they called socially maladjusted and culturally disadvantaged. I really had no training in special education and I don’t know how I did it,” she said.

A master’s degree earned while she was teaching special education led into teaching remedial reading at the school for six years. That tenure was followed by a break to start a family and to undergo surgery on a ruptured disk. A teaching position at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Herrin followed. A few years later she returned to the Elverado district, filling in for a third grade teacher on maternity leave.

“The next year they said they were going to move me to the junior high, I assumed to teach remedial reading. A week before school started they said I’d be in language arts, so there I was for 21 years — teaching sixth, seventh and eighth grade language arts up until I retired the first time.”

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Note the phrase, “first time,” because the retirement did not last very long.

“I retired in 2004 and that same year the district called and said, ‘Why don’t you come over to the high school and teach one hour?’ They put both of my former eighth grade classes together and I told myself that it was only one hour, it was first thing in the morning and I knew all of the kids,” she said.

The next year, her schedule grew to two hours. Before long it expanded again, with Horstmann taking on the role of school librarian. She did that for eight years, retiring from teaching again at age 68, but still remaining in her own extra-curricular activities including work at her church, ministry outreach to inmates and serving on the local library board, something she had done since 1991.

“I was originally invited to be on the library board; they told me it was just one meeting, once a month,” she said, noting that almost immediately, however, she was elected president of the board — one she continues to serve on.

She also took a prominent role in the Elverado Educational Foundation, a not-for-profit group designed

to provide resources and students in the school district.

Horstmann has been president of the group since 2012.

“We started with the intention of giving scholarships, but in actuality we are giving teacher grants. We give something like $10,000 in grants that goes to the teacher, the classroom and to the students,” she explained. “For example, they need an overhead projector, they need reading materials, they need math items, they need library books. We’re getting them what they need; things that the school is not able to buy.”

The fact that Horstmann, who once was given money to become a teacher, is now giving money to teachers is not lost on her.

“I guess I’ve kind of come full circle with that,” she said, adding that she wants to give back to the community. “This school district was my livelihood for 37 years, so I feel like it is important to give back.”

Even as she considered slowing down, she is eager to make sure things continue.

“I just feel blessed and thankful and I want to give back as long as I can,” she added. “I want to leave things so there will be a legacy there.”

‌ ary Ann Horstmann met her husband Mark at a country line dance in 1994. “I went with a M friend, and she was picking up a gentleman from church. We got to the dance and she went off and danced with everybody she knew and I danced with him. The rest is history,” she said.

Photo by Byron Hetzler, The Southern‌

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YOUR HOME. YOUR UNIVERSITY. SINCE 1869.

Congratulations to Brad Dillard Leaders Among Us Class of 2019

THAT’S A SALUKI.

SPECIAL SECTION | SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2019 |

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Mike Monchino

ong before Mike Monchino became a mainstay in Herrin, long before being recognized as a leading businessman, a tireless volunteer and an engaged citizen, he was a soon-to-be graduate with a bachelor’s degree in management and a master’s degree in finance and no clue as to what was next.

“Like anybody else, I just started interviewing with different companies and then I got a very unusual offer from a company in Alaska,” he remembered from 1975. “This was before the internet and I’ll never forget looking up the location on a map. It was something like A-5, and I realized that on the map, it was at the top of the page. Wow.” Still, the offer appealed to him. The prospective employer flew him to A-5, to Barrow (now called Utqiagvik), to see if he’d like the area and the job. Monchino, now 68, recalls company officials meeting him at the airport with a winter coat in case he was unprepared for the Alaskan weather.

“Here I was in my early 20s and they made me a job offer. I never thought I’d be making that amount of money with unbelievable benefits, especially compared to jobs in the lower 48. At that time, the pipeline was going strong and there was a lot of things going on. I decided to take the job.”

The job was working in finance and accounting for a corporation developed through the Alaska Native Settlement Act. His company, owned by members of the Eskimo tribe, was active in land development and providing services throughout the state. He remembers being fresh out of school and involved in some serious business.

“I wasn’t just dealing with dollars and cents,” he said. “I was dealing with hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars and I was always scared, wondering if I actually knew what I was doing. I’m doing things and wondering if I was making the right decisions. You pretty much work supposedly as an expert even though you were right out of college. It becomes a humbling experience because you begin to learn just how dumb you are and all of the things that you don’t know, things that school never taught you.”

“One thing I learned is that if you ever stopped learning, if I you ever make the assumption that you know everything, you are going to have some difficult times,” he said, adding that he

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made it a point to always be learning. Take for instance Monchino’s approach when his company began efforts to build a hotel.

“I was involved in the construction of the hotel; I was paying all of the bills. So I would question, what am I paying for, what is this? I’d learn: what is this $12,000 piece of equipment for? What are we getting for this $30,000. I was always learning,” he explained.

Monchino was glad he was learning all of this because he caught the attention of the company which would be managing the new hotel.

“They said they thought I would be a natural for the hotel business,” he said. “They hired me, they trained me. I was made the general manager of that new hotel in Barrow. I knew nothing of the hotel business but I knew about the hotel.”

Again, he learned quickly. At the helm of the hotel, and later at properties in other Alaskan cities, Monchino discovered how to get things accomplished.

“If there was anything that you needed to do, you had to figure it out how to get it done. In Alaska you can’t just pick up the phone and call somebody. You also don’t look at something and say, ‘I’m not going to do this.’ You look at it and you say, ‘I’m going to get this done.’ You develop a drive that regardless of what happens, you’re going to solve it.”

Monchino recalls an employee of the same management company describing the motivation and drive of those in Alaska.

“He says, ‘I’ve been managing hotels for 25 years and if you can manage a hotel in Alaska, you can manage a hotel anywhere.’ I’ll never forget that,” Monchino added.

The company must have agreed because soon, they moved Monchino along with his wife Donna (whom he met and married in Alaska) and the first of three sons to Philadelphia, then to the corporate headquarters in California. Knowing that hotel management might mean frequent relocation, and desiring a more permanent home, he began to put out feelers for other options. In 1983, an option

came in the form of a call from Robert Brewer of Southern Illinois and Best Inns of America, a 35-property hotel chain.

“I remember telling my wife it was a pay cut, it’s a much smaller company, it’s less responsibility and that I was going to take the offer,” he said.

The family moved to Herrin. In Brewer, Monchino found a mentor and someone very much like himself.

“Bob Brewer was a man of ‘if we need to do it, we do it,’” Monchino, who became the No. 2 person in the organization said. “He was probably the greatest businessman I ever knew.”

A few months after Brewer sold the company in 1998, Monchino discovered he wasn’t ready for retirement or even semi-retirement.

He decided to start a management company on his own, and Herrin-based Monchino Management was born. Soon three properties became four, five and more. Today, the company directs 11 properties in three states.

Monchino oversees the company but doesn’t limit his efforts there. He currently chairs the SIH Foundation, saying the “why” is very simple: “I’ve always felt that if you had the ability to do it, you should help others.”

Additionally, as a strong proponent of local business, Monchino has been active in the Herrin Chamber of Commerce and other economic development entities including REDCO, the Regional Economic Development Corporation. He’s a member of the board of commissioners for Herrin fire and police employees and part of the Greater Egypt Regional Planning and Development Commission, as well as giving extensive volunteer hours to Herrinfesta Italiana and other community causes. He says he gets real satisfaction from these efforts.

“When people ask, ‘Can you help out?’ or ‘Can you do this?’ I look at it and if it something that I can help with, I’m in. I find that as you get older you find that you are a lot less “about you” and a lot more “about us.”

‌ ike Monchino is an avid collector of sports memorabilia. Without a doubt, the M knockout blow of his collection is a pair of boxing gloves autographed by Muhammad Ali and a photograph of Ali and Monchino jaw to jaw, ready to rumble.

Photo by Byron Hetzler, The Southern‌ Leaders Among Us | 2019

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Thanet Natisri

hanet Natisri keeps gaining accolades and recognition, both in his native Thailand and here at home. Some comes from his donation of meals from his restaurant, Thai D, to help those who were helping battle rising flood waters along the Mississippi River earlier this year.

He already had been recognized for his efforts to rescue a Thai youth soccer team from certain death in a flooded cave last year. Then in December, he received the Southern Illinois United Nations Association Human Rights Defender award, recognizing how he has been giving back to his home country and region for years, helping residents of rural Thailand, Myanmar and Malaysia get consistent access to fresh water.

Natisri didn’t plan on becoming a groundwater expert, whose knowledge would prove instrumental in rescuing the Wild Boars youth soccer team after the kids became stranded in a cave in Northern Thailand.

It’s a lot of recognition for the humble 33-year-old who calls Marion home.

Born in Thailand, as a teen, his family moved to San Antonio and then to Carbondale. In school, he studied architecture, but in 2014, he became involved in a project that is transforming Thailand.

He was recruited by Pra Nitedsasanakun, a Thai Buddhist monk, whom he considers a personal friend and great teacher, to tackle a problem common to many southeast Asian countries.

“In the rainy season, everything is flooded,” Natisri said. “Then all that water drains to the sea, and they cannot save anything, so in the summertime, they face drought problems.”

Together with Nitedsasanakun, he founded the Groundwater Bank Project. The men assembled a team of engineers, hydrologists and architects, some based in Thailand, others in the U.S. They travel to water-deprived communities, and find ways to restore their aquifers.

“We try to save the wells that are already there,” Natisri said. That means doing detailed studies of a community’s topography and groundwater network,

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then excavating new “recharge wells” and “recharge ponds” that filter rain back to the water table.

Local governments provide the labor. Natisri’s group provides the expertise, making sure projects are effective and sustainable.

Besides replenishing wells, the Groundwater Bank Project educates people to conserve the water table, by keeping it free of pesticides and chemicals, Natisri said.

“I think we are really helping people out and it’s given me a sense of happiness,” he says. “I’ve kind of become addicted to it.”

Natisri was in Thailand working on a groundwater project when 12 young men and their soccer coach became trapped several miles inside the Tham Luang Nang Non cave on June 23, 2018.

Because he is known as a groundwater expert, Natisri was approached by the Thai military to help.

With the world watching, Natisri worked with a team of civilians, soldiers and volunteers to run pipes into the cave system and pump out water.

The Thai monsoon season was fast approaching, and heavy rains threatened to further flood the cave.

As they were pumping water out, Natisri was also working to stem the inflow of new water.

That meant hiking miles into the forest to find sinkholes that fed water into the cave system. In total, he diverted water from some 20 sinkholes, his wife, Yada, told The Southern, giving rescuers more time to get to the boys and their coach, all of whom were safely extracted from the cave.

Natisri has been recognized for his role in the rescue by the Thai government, the City of Marion, the State of Illinois, and many civic groups.

Natisri confesses he got involved in the ground-

T‌hanet Natisri is a huge fan of documentaries. “My hobby is learning.

I don’t want to watch movies or TV, I watch documentaries. I think it is more interesting to learn,” he says.

water work partly out of obligation to his former teacher, Nitedsasanakun. Now, as he said, he’s “addicted.”

He continues to make frequent trips to Thailand for new projects and is planning a journey to Uganda to try to find ways to help there also.

He says he appreciates the honors and recognition, but he is quick to deflect much of the attention.

“I don’t see any of this as leaving a legacy,” he said.

“That’s because it’s not just me. It’s everyone and it’s the people themselves in the areas who have open minds and work with us. That’s how these projects become so successful. I cannot take the credit.”

Still, he feels the responsibility.

“Most of the time, I don ‘t feel really good about it. There’s a lot of pressure. In the last three years, I’ve gotten a lot of gray hair. Even when I’m at the restaurant, sometimes my mind is not here; it is in Thailand trying to solve a problem.”

He thinks about his own region, too. Five or six different times Thai D staff members took meals to those filling sandbags to combat flooding in East Cape Girardeau. They do it as volunteers.

“I am so blessed by them wanting to help,” he added.

Even though Natisri has considered not making future trips to Thailand, he said he will continue to help.

“I was going to stop, but right now it’s become even more important. This work is spreading to neighboring countries and it’s become global. I cannot turn people down when they are suffering.”

Editor’s Note: The Southern’s Gabriel Neely-Streit contributed to this profile.

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Stephanie Rhodes

t’s been said that all roads lead home. Union County Farm Bureau Manager Stephanie Rhodes would agree, although she warns that it may not always be smooth travels.

“For me, it’s kind of a broken road with lots of twists and turns,” she says. Yet in talking with her, one gets the impression that she wouldn’t have it any other way.

Rhodes has been the leader of the agricultural organization for the past four years, working with producers and promoting agriculture in her home county. After a lifetime of travels, she has settled into her role. She has settled as well as in a traditional farmhouse just down the road from her family’s farm, where she grew up among row crops and a farrow-to-finish hog operation near Wolf Lake. She says it was a very auspicious upbringing.

“I was fortunate just knowing no other thing than living far from town and helping out on the family farm and fortunate enough to be involved in a lot of things in our little school. I was fortunate to be involved in sports and leadership training and programs like FFA and 4-H,” she says.

She was also fortunate to be the recipient of a tuition scholarship to the University of Illinois because her father is a veteran of the Vietnam War. “I was interested in agricultural communications at the University of Illinois,” she recalls. “That was pretty ambitious for a kid from a class of 19 students at Shawnee High School. I was a little fish in a big pond at the U of I, but because of my FFA connections, I made fast friends with other tiny fish.”

Landing a job at the state offices for 4-H, a network of youth organizations coordinated by the state extension service based at the University of Illinois, Rhodes learned of an exchange program for agriculture students. Seizing the opportunity, she spent six months living with several farm families in the German countryside. She says she not only learned about farming in Europe, but also gained a better understanding of herself and her world.

“Today, when I am invited to talk with high school kids, no matter what they’ve asked me to speak about, I always find a pathway to tell them that they need to get out of Southern Illinois, out of the country, out of their bubble and see the world,” she says, all while understanding that a more worldly exposure will also change perceptions of home.

“It was a wonderful experience,” she continues. “I

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really didn’t know how special Southern Illinois was until I went somewhere else. It changed me because at the time I was going to get my degree and get as far away as possible, but instead I became the boomerang that came back.”

Rhodes didn’t come back right away. In fact, her chosen path kept leading away from home. Combining an artistic mind with a Midwestern work ethic and organizational skills learned from Extension, she landed a post-graduation job with AGCO Corporation, a worldwide manufacturer of agricultural equipment. Working from Atlanta, she was part of the company’s in-house advertising agency.

One of her primary assignments was in planning and coordinating the company’s participation and displays at agricultural expos and shows around the country, including some of the nation’s largest farmrelated events.

“There I was, working 60 or 70-plus hours a week and traveling nine or 10 months of the year,” she says.

It was work she enjoyed, and she began advancing through the company. Still, longing for home was frequent.

“I had some thoughts about coming to the Midwest and my family whenever I thought that nieces and nephews were beginning to come along and grandmas and grandpas were getting older,” she recalls.

A new position found her closer to home, this time in Batavia, Illinois, but another promotion found her back in Atlanta serving as the North American communications manager for Massey Ferguson, one of AGCO’s divisions. From meeting with dealers in Brazil to coordinating photo shoots in Germany, the new role was perfect for her, and she enjoyed Atlanta.

“Even though I’m not a sweet tea drinker, I really prefer to be south of the sweet-tea line,” she says. “I love the charm of the South.”

Home, however, kept calling.

“My work was fun and it was full of wonderful experiences, but I came to a realization that I was in my late 20s and missing all of the fun stuff with nieces and nephews while the grandmas were still getting older. When you are going at the pace I was and at that distance from home, you have to pick and

choose, so for me, I just knew I wanted to be back in the Midwest. I put in my notice and came home on a wing and a prayer.”

For most of the first two years back in Southern Illinois, while she was searching for just the right thing, she found herself doing lots of things. From substitute teaching and working as an auction ring girl to cashiering at a thrift store, Rhodes was willing. She says it was a time of slowing down, enjoying being home and reinventing herself.

She found work coordinating efforts to promote agricultural tourism in the area, and while the position only lasted as long as grant funding was available, it gave her inroads to other opportunities.

“I was able to network my way through Southern Illinois and was able to reacquaint myself with what is agriculture in the region now,” she says. “I was able to become reacquainted, but this time, I had a much broader perspective of my world.”

Somewhere along the way, she decided she wanted to stay in Southern Illinois — in Union County, actually. It wasn’t long after that choice that she applied for and was selected as the county manager for the Union County Farm Bureau.

“I had always wanted to work for Farm Bureau, but there aren’t a lot of Union County Farm Bureau Jobs,” she says through a grin.

At Farm Bureau, she hit the ground running, utilizing everything in what she calls “her toolbox of experiences, contacts and skills.” She’s expanded the programs of the organization, hiring an agriculture literacy coordinator for the group’s “Ag in the Classroom” effort and strengthening communications between the organization, its members and the general population.

“I think it is using some leadership skills and knowledge I’ve learned from the grassroots up,” she explains.

She’s also taken a role in working with local high school-aged entrepreneurs, promoting women in business and helping agriculture producers find a common and unified farm voice.

“I’m doing this because I care,” she says. “I’m going to stay right where I’m at and bloom where I’m planted.”

‌ hile Stephanie Rhodes has had a variety of jobs around the globe, she W says her dream job is more down-to-earth. “I am a plant nerd,” she admits.

“I’d love to own a flower shop.”

Photo by Byron Hetzler, The Southern‌ Leaders Among Us | 2019

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Herby Voss ‌H

erby Voss considers himself a late bloomer. Sure, he had a lot of success as a college gymnast, an account executive for several local firms including The Southern Illinoisan, Silkworm, 1187 Creative and some skilled nursing facilities, but it wasn’t until he reached what some would call midlife and became responsible for communications, marketing and development for Heartland Regional Medical Center in Marion that he felt he had hit his stride.

“I was an account executive and a salesperson for about 25 years, and while I had a lot of success in that role, it never feels like my job feels now. I look forward to going to work every day. Now, with the problems I am asked to solve or the projects on which I am asked to collaborate, it all feels like it’s right in my wheelhouse and that I am able to bring something to the table,” the 56-year-old from Murphysboro explains.

So what happened? He says it was a matter of gaining a variety of experiences and exposure.

“I was an account manager for 1187 Creative, and as a small agency, the projects I worked on meant that I would wear a lot of hats,” he recalls. “It wasn’t about selling and then moving on. Instead, you’re in there, you’re advising, you’re writing copy, you’re involved in everything. I learned a lot and found my voice.”

He has brought that voice and creativity not only to his work at Heartland, but also to a variety of other outside interests including serving as a member of the Marion Chamber of Commerce board of directors, the Murphysboro bocce club and a term as a Murphysboro city councilman.

“I’ve learned to trust my instincts,” he says.

“For the first six months on the city council I didn’t say very much at all. I was really just listening and paying attention, taking things in.”

As the only non-native Murphysboro resident on the council, he brought a unique perspective.

He brings that same value, perspective and creativity to one of his passions, the annual Hospice of Southern Illinois Red Carpet Gala which he has co-directed with Jared Garrison

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and Todd Ellis for five years years. Considered by many to be the premier social event in the region, the gala includes dozens of volunteer performers entertaining an audience of more than 1,000 while raising tens of thousands of dollars for the charity organization.

He began as a performer, doing one song in the event seven years ago at the request of Gail Van Ormer, who used to direct the gala. When she stepped down, Voss was eager to bring his talents and energy to co-directing the event.

Under the leadership of Voss, Garrison and Ellis, the event has matured, featuring a live band and an ever-increasing level of talent.

In the first six months of the performance year, Voss says he devotes about 10 hours weekly to lining up acts, planning choreography and working out the details of the show.

As the gala draws nearer, his commitment increases.

“It gets to 20 or 20-plus hours a week as we get toward gala time,” he explains. “But it is something where I’ve made incredible friends through the process. I love it. This is an opportunity to get that creative button pushed, to collaborate with others. This is another level for me; working with musicians has been incredible and I’ve learned a lot.”

Voss says he enjoys every moment of the Gala, and adds, believe it or not, working with the Hospice event is how he relaxes.

“When I actually think about it, when I turn off everything else and that turns on, it really is an escape for me,” he explains. “I love in my down time thinking about what combination of people and songs will really resonate with our audience.”

To say that Voss loves what he does would be

an understatement. From work with Hospice and the chamber to assisting other not-forprofits, he is having fun. Every day.

“I must have applied for this job five or six times as it came open,” he says of his role at Heartland. “This is my dream job. It’s exactly what I want to do and it is always challenging and incredibly rewarding.”

Voss is up to the challenge, whether it is in marketing a regional health care facility or directing volunteer performers on a big stage.

Originally from Arlington Heights, Illinois, Voss started participating in competitive gymnastics as a high school freshman, competing on the pommel horse. Having success, he chose to enroll at Southern Illinois University to continue in gymnastics.

“I was a mediocre student at SIU at best — a solid C average guy,” he recalls. “Staying eligible to compete was my scholastic motivation in college.”

His pommel horse was apparently better than his grades. As a senior, Voss was an AllAmerican, earning third place nationally.

“At the time, international competition was just for the all-around gymnasts, so that was the end of my career, but it was a good way to end it. I accomplished more than I ever expected.”

He says he learned much from his gymnastics career that he still uses. Certainly being in under pressure situations and performing on the big stage come to mind, but for Voss, it is something more.

“I’m extremely proud of all of that, especially the collaboration — being part of a team.

It’s working with others for a larger goal. That pushes me.”

‌ erby Voss comes from a long line of die-hard Chicago Cubs fans. “When they won H the championship, that was a significant life moment for a lot of us. I was able to put championship shirts on my parents grave,” he says, choking back tears.

Photo by Byron Hetzler, The Southern‌ Leaders Among Us | 2019

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Paula Voss-Maloney

aula Maloney of Murphysboro has a hard time sitting still. In fact, she says even the thought of sitting and doing nothing doesn’t sit well with her.

“Resting makes me tired and if I’m tired, I go to sleep,” she says. “So I don’t lay around much.”

It’s not that she doesn’t relax, however. The 56-yearold Murphysboro resident says she relaxes by doing things — especially projects where she can tap into her artistic side.

“Creativity relaxes me,” she explains. “It keeps me going.”

And go she does, always looking for ways to do something, particularly things that make a difference. It leads others to question where she finds the time to do everything.

“I feel that you make time for what you want to make time for,” she says. “I am very project-driven. I like to make a difference.”

For more than two decades, Maloney has been making a difference in her community.

A resident of the Jackson County seat since she was 2, Maloney grew up the eldest of six children in the Voss family, learning the importance of community involvement and hard work in a family-owned business. After earning a degree in mass communications from Southeastern Missouri State University, she returned home, going to work for the Murphysboro American newspaper.

“I wore a lot of hats there; I was a newspaper reporter — I had news beats, the police blotter, the courthouse — I wrote a column that I loved. It was a great experience,” she recalls. That experience was followed by public information roles for what is now the Southern Illinois University College of Agriculture and the university’s Coal Research Center. In 1991, she married Scott Maloney, third-generation owner of Jackson County Abstract.

“When Scott’s father suddenly passed away, I put on another new hat so to speak and began working in the family business,” she says. “I love the idea of being part of a small hometown business in my hometown and working with family.”

Working in the family business gives Maloney opportunities and freedom to pursue her passion of being active in the community, something she learned early in her career.

“One of the things I am most proud of is my involvement with the American Cancer Society of Jackson County,” she says. “I first got involved as part of my experience at the

DID YOU KNOW?

Murphysboro American and that was in 1985 or 1986. I started working with them and I have never stopped.”

Maloney’s involvement pre-dates the establishment of the annual Relay for Life event, a program that she currently oversees as the volunteer Jackson County event coordinator.

“They do so many things for people and provide wonderful liaisons not only for friendships but benefits — physical, mental, emotional — I could go on and on about them. Plus, all of the funds that are raised locally, stay local. They are helping real people with real challenges get real remedies,” she says.

Her involvement goes beyond the relay event, as she works most of the year doing fundraising and lending other support to the organization.

“We were involved with the American Cancer Society

before, but when both of Scott’s parents passed away from cancer within one year, it began to mean even more,” she says.

Maloney is also a mainstay in activities of her community’s signature event: the Murphysboro Apple Festival.

“I’ve been involved with the Apple Festival since 1985 and have chaired a committee since 1995,” she says of her work with the Miss Apple Festival pageant scholarship.

“We work with a wonderful group of ladies, raising funds and promoting the scholarship portion of the pageant.”

She says the funds, which are awarded to runners-up for the title as well as the young woman crowned Miss Apple Festival, have totaled more than $70,000.

Additionally, she serves on the festival’s decorating committee, doing what she calls “a lot of behind-thescenes preparation and decoration.”

Again, her creative side comes to the surface as it does every week at Immanuel Lutheran School where “Thursdays with Miss Paula” are a staple and something the nearly 100 students look forward to. Every week, she volunteers as the school’s art teacher, guiding kindergarten to eighth grade students through art instruction, projects and even some history by exposing them to a variety of art mediums.

“It gives me a creative outlet,” she says. “I like to paint and draw and this gives me a change to share some of my talents and learn from them as well.”

She adds that she thinks she looks forward to Thursdays even more than the students do.

“You can be having the worst day ever and walk into school and come out laughing,” she says. “I get so much more back than what I give.”

She also teaches adults, often leading painting parties for civic groups or charities. She’s even taken her artist’s eye and lent it to downtown revitalization efforts.

“I also have recently joined a committee called Murphysboro Main Street. It’s made up of business leaders and other people who want to make a difference in the way our town looks and provides opportunities for residents and future residents,” she explains. “We spend a lot of time talking about aesthetics. It may not be the most important thing, but it is important. I feel like my interest in art can make a positive influence on the committee.”

Maloney sees common threads in all that she does.

“It’s about being a positive influence, stemming from my work in the Apple Festival and Main Street committee,” she says. “I like to gather people together and try to bring out the best, to make a difference for positive change.”

‌ aula Maloney’s first car was a white 1976 American Motors Pacer. Known to her friends as “The P Moon Mobile,” Maloney says the little car could hold up to six people comfortably.

“It was a good car,” she says, adding that even friends she has not heard from in years will text her photographs of Pacers they find in their daily travels. “Lots of great memories in that car.”

Photo by Byron Hetzler, The Southern‌

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Emily York ‌M

arion’s Emily York embraces her long family history of teaching, taking care of others and making a difference.

As an instructor of family health and community nursing at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, she is following in the footsteps of her parents Mark and Nadine who each taught more than 30 years in the public school system. York learned from them, as well as the rest of her family, to be the best she could and to serve.

“I think in my family, we are all very driven and motivated,” she said. “We were always encouraged to get higher education, so I think part of the expectation was always to attain a certain level of success and to give back to others.”

She continues, “Not only did my parents teach, but they did so much in our church parish. They always are taking people on ministry trips, always volunteering for things in the community. When you see that, you realize there is a responsibility — to those whom much is given, much is expected.”

York, 36, says her mother’s family also was very involved in the community and church, adding that her grandmother still serves even in her 80s.

“You see so much civic-mindedness all around you and you know that there’s a piece of that you must inherit and you have to carry it forward,” she adds, recalling how her family made it a point to help her understand that she was growing up in a very stable home, blessed with thing that not everyone else had.

I remember that we would collect toys and things for others around Christmastime and how we all went along to deliver them, making sure that we, as children, learned that not everyone had the things we had.

“That is very impactful when you see that at a young age,” she says. “Seeing that and engaging us in other community activities gave us a sense of responsibility to take part in leadership within the community.”

She has done more than carry the family tradition forward, she has built upon it and made it her own, much of her efforts stemming from involvement in St. Kateri Parish, the Catholic Church in Gallatin County.

She founded the congregation’s Parish Nursing program which cares for the health, emotional and spiritual needs of people.

“We focus more on things like prevention and promo-

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tion of health,” she says, adding that given her background in pediatric and maternal nursing also led to the development of a ministry for those who have suffered a miscarriage.

“I know that a lot of times people feel very alone; they don’t realize that it has happened to anyone else. It is a very emotional time with a lot of decisions, so we try to help so that they are not so overwhelmed,” she says of the program, called Heaven’s Babies.

The ministry provides not only care, support and a compassionate sense of community for those who have suffered a loss, but also helps to arrange for free burials if families so desire and offers “Compassionate Miscarriage Bundles.”

Her outreach, however, goes far beyond the parish walls, and like taking toys to other children when she was little, she is impacting youth. For several years, the people of St. Kateri had been helping with a program that sends school children home with snack packs — healthy items to supplement families’ food supplies — but the service project only lasted during the school year.

“I realized we don’t have anything in the summer and I wondered how we could get out there and reach them during that 10 to 12-week gap when some of these kids might not get any food,” York recalls.

York’s solution was the establishment of the Peanut Butter and Jelly Mobile, a summer program utilizing a donated van which follows a regular route on Mondays, delivering food as well as personal hygiene items and books to children completely for free.

“We make the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on Sunday, right after church,” she explains. “Then on Monday mornings we’ll load up everything and we’ll go to New Haven, Ridgway, Old Shawneetown, Shawneetown and Equality. We start around 9:30 in the morning and finish at about 3 o’clock.”

York says the two-year-old PB&J mobile program served nearly 300 children and families this summer.

“People are very thankful. In some cases, we’re helping people who are living in extreme poverty. It’s a good day when kids aren’t hungry anymore,” she says.

Admittedly, York does a lot, but she’s always on the lookout for other ways to serve and contribute.

“When I was in school full-time trying to finish my doctorate, I had less time to focus on things, but since I’ve finished it, I’m going to work on some other projects a little more,” she says. “I believe you make time for what you value. I like to think about what else I can do and how to give back.”

It’s all part of her family tradition.

“It’s important to me. There is a sense of responsibility to give back and I become more alive when I’m out there doing and interacting. It changes your view of the world and you begin to see things a little differently.”

‌ mily York makes frequent trips to Edwardsville where she teaches future nurses in classrooms and clinical E settings. Along the way, she says she loves listening to podcasts, especially “Revisionist History” by Malcolm Gladwell. “It’s full of weird, quirky things that I never really thought about before,” she says.

Photo by Byron Hetzler, The Southern‌ Leaders Among Us | 2019

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A24 | Sunday, September 29, 2019

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