Longtime Brookfield residents Salvatore J. and Joan M. De Cola will celebrate their 65th wedding anniversary on Jan. 6, 2015 and will celebrate the occasion with an exchange of wedding vows on Jan. 10 at 5 p.m. at St. Barbara Church in Brookfield.
Salvatore married Joan M. Scully on Jan. 6, 1950. He was a truck driver for Yellow Freight Systems for 31 years. Joan was a homemaker who raised 11 children: Salvatore Jr., Joan, Charles, Louis, Joseph, Michael, William, James, Vincent, Catherine and Anthony.
In 1971, the family moved from Chicago to Brookfield, where they have been longtime members of St. Barbara Parish.
Mr. De Cola is a member of the Masonic Lodge and Mrs. De Cola is a member of the Order of the Eastern Star and White Shrines.
Hail to the chiefs
Spencer Kimura, Riverside’s fire chief, and Matthew Buckley, Riverside’s deputy fire chief, have been awarded their chief fire officer certificates, the highest level of certification awarded by the Illinois State Fire Marshal.
The top two officials in the Riverside Fire Department received his certification at a ceremony held Oct. 14 in Peoria.
Township officials attend conference
Ann Dynako Kubiczky, Wayne Gieseman and Mary Rob Clarke, all Riverside Township trustees, were among approximately 1,000 township officials who participated in the 2014 Annual Education Conference sponsored by the Township Officials of Illinois in Springfield on Nov. 9-11.
The conference is held to keep township officials up to date with the latest developments in local government management, fiscal practices, general assistance and other topics.
At the conference Riverside Township again received an award for completing a minimum of 70 hours of educational credit by its officials during the last fiscal year.
Police officer honored
Riverside Police Officer Isaac Hamilton was honored with an Award of Merit for his exceptional attitude, attendance, work ethic and professionalism serving the resident of Riverside.
Police Chief Thomas Weitzel, who nominated Hamilton for the award, said Hamilton “has continuously demonstrated his commitment to serving the residents of Riverside with compassion and professionalism.”
The award was presented at Moraine Valley Community College on Nov. 12.
On campus
Sean Pruett-Jones, of Riverside, a member of the St. Olaf Viking Chorus, performed in the annual St. Olaf College (Northfield, Minnesota) Christmas festival, which was broadcast nationwide on public television and radio.
Pruett-Jones, a theater major, is the son of Stephen and Melinda Pruett-Jones and a graduate of Riverside-Brookfield High School.
Several Riverside-Brookfield High School student musicians were selected for the Illinois Music Educators Association District 1 Music Festival, which was held Nov. 22 at Lincoln-Way West High School.
Among those performing were choir members Annabelle Daily, Dylan Dreilich, Moira Dunn, Louis Grigoletti, Ugne Jurgaityte, Ben Longo, Coco Murray, Kathryn Nadkarni, Abigail Schwarz, Jessica Van Winkle and Dean Zigulich; band member Andrew Lemesurier; and orchestra members Amelia Haugland, Eleni Collis and Luke Dickerson.
In November, Riverside-Brookfield High School celebrated American Education Week with an essay contest, “What I Like Best about RBHS.” The three winners were Johanna Bilek, Addy Haage and Kirsten Chapman.
Danielle Sievers, a Brookfield resident who is a junior at Lyons Township High School, was one of 14 LTHS Speech Team medal winners at the Prospect Speechapalooza novice/JV tournament.
Sievers took home a fifth-place medal in Poetry Reading.
Nazareth Academy in LaGrange Park announced that the several students were named to the first-quarter honor rolls for the 2014-14 school year.
Named to the A Honor Roll were Brookfield residents Gloria Corona, Jeremy Kolasa, Rebecca Letcher, Brittany Schneider and Robert Schneider; North Riverside residents Guillermo Arroyo, Connor O’Neill, Emylee Zdarsky and Danny Zontos; and Riverside residents Schylar Rokicki and Hana Sedivy.
Named to the B Honor Roll were Brookfield residents Jocelyn Contini, Gina Crisanti and Francesca Moran; North Riverside resident Calixto Arroyo; and Riverside resident Gregory Bernasek.
Cantata resident marks 100th birthday
Lucille Jeffries, a resident of Woodlands Assisted Living at Cantata Adult Life Services in Brookfield, celebrated her 100th birthday on Dec. 3. For 63 years Jeffries lived in Westchester, where she raised two boys after she was widowed.
She moved to The Woodlands in 2013 and participates in the Connection Club. On hand to help celebrate her birthday on Dec. 3 was Westchester Mayor Sam Pulia.
Brookfield police help teach kids Internet safety
Brookfield Police Sgt. Terry Schreiber and Kathleen McGowan, of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Internet Crimes Against Children task force visited St. Paul Lutheran School in Brookfield on Nov. 26 to teach children about Internet safety.
Schreiber and McGowan made two presentations, one to students in grades K through 3 and one to student in grades four through eight.
Topics covered included making sure to safeguard personal information, cyberbullying and sharing information and pictures on social networking sites.
