Above / On June 25, 2019, Naperville American Legion Post 43 and Naperville Honor Guard held a flag raising ceremony at the Dan Shanower Sept. 11 Memorial adjacent to the Naperville Municipal Center to observe “Post 43 Day in Naperville,” as proclaimed by Mayor Steve Chirico. Last year marked the 100th anniversary of the American Legion. (PN File Photo)
When it’s springtime, members of the Naperville American Legion Post 43 follow traditions to select their annual scholarship recipients as well as annual Citizens of the Year, honorees that public relations chairman Jim Vahle always is happy to announce both for the press and during the annual dinner in their honor. For 2020, the dinner will not be held in compliance with the Stay at Home order.
“Two local high school students have been awarded $5000 scholarships by Naperville American Legion Post 43,” Vahle wrote recently. And he went on to highlight their high school achievements.
Grace Lee of Neuqua Valley High School
Grace Lee, a high honor student at Neuqua Valley High School, scored an almost perfect 35 on the ACT, a curriculum-based education and career planning tool for high school students that assesses their mastery of college readiness standards. She is a National Merit Finalist, Indian Prairie Scholar and an Illinois State Scholar; but her accomplishments are not limited to academics. She won first place in the Speech Contest at Illinois American Legion Auxiliary Girls State, holds the President’s Volunteer Service Award, Wildcat Pride Award, and ILMEA All-State Honors Band.
Lee also volunteers at Naper Settlement and interned with IL State Senator Laura Ellman. Her essay on the Responsibilities of Citizenship focuses on the responsibility to vote. In keeping with its title, Not a Spectator Sport, Grace voted in this year’s Illinois primary election and demonstrated her commitment to lead by her membership on the Executive Board of KA Voice, a nationwide volunteer organization that promotes Korean American civic awareness.
Claire Yu of Naperville Central High School
Claire Yu attends Naperville Central High School, where she carries a cumulative weighted grade point average of 4.7, and is the Student Ambassador to the District 203 Board of Education. An accomplished musician, she played a piano solo at the Weil Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
Yu’s musical interests go beyond being a soloist. As a member of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, she has collaborated in trio, quartet, and quintet settings to study the scores of Schumann and Beethoven, beyond what is written on the surface level.
Yu is very active in organizations at Naperville Central where she is Editor-in-Chief of Literary Magazine, President of the Urban Arts Club and of Junior State of America. Her essay on the Responsibilities of Citizenship discusses the need to recognize your weakness, but focus on your strengths, compromise, and give voice to those whose voices have been silenced.
To begin her college education, Yu has been accepted by her “dream school,” Stanford University.
Naperville American Legion names Citizens of the Year
Since 1986, Naperville American Legion Post 43 has annually recognized a Naperville citizen for extraordinary service. The program was expanded in 2014 to include multiple categories. This year, Vahle wrote, the organization is recognizing individuals in three service categories.
Service to Community: Wayne Klein
“Simply the most selfless person I have ever met” is the way one person described Wayne Klein, the 2020 recipient of Citizen of the Year for Service to the Community.
Another individual who said Klein stood by his family in a time of need, also praises his nominee’s compassion and service to others.
Klein’s service in the community is characterized by low key actions that don’t grab the spotlight. He’s known to give that most precious commodity—his time. He coaches kids athletic teams; organizes a memorial golf outing; works as a Cubmaster, Scoutmaster, suggests Eagle Scout projects; consults on obtaining required city permits, teaches Junior Achievement; offers his construction company to build an outdoor classroom at a local elementary school; and uses his plane to fly medical missions.
“Klein is the kind of guy who, seeing the tree trunk in your back yard, not only offers the use of his log-splitter, but also spends a couple hours helping you to split the wood,” wrote another supporter.
Klein is devoted to his family. He reaches out to friends in need and is there to support them. Klein is also involved in more formal service positions. Starting on the facilities committee at All Saints Academy, he became president of the School Board and now serves on the Board of Trustees. He also has served on multiple committees and projects at his church, St. Elizabeth Seton.
Service to Veterans: James Oftedal
Jim Oftedal is the Chaplain of Naperville VFW Post 3873 and Commander of the joint American Legion/Veterans of Foreign Wars Honor Guard (HG). He is a Vietnam veteran who lost three high school friends in that war. In early 2015, after attending his father-in-law’s funeral and military honors, he wondered why Naperville didn’t provide something similar to recognize the service and sacrifices made by the veteran, as well as to instill in the family and friends of the veteran, the appreciation of service and camaraderie of fellow veterans saluting him or her.
Oftedal didn’t just think, however, he acted. He solicited volunteers from Naperville’s two posts, starting the training, and then reached out to the Army National Guard for assistance and expertise. The Naperville Honor Guard received Department of Defense Certification, a significant achievement, in October 2015. Since that time, they have performed 235 Military Funeral Services (MFS) and numerous community service events.
While a MFS usually requires about three hours commitment for the members of the Honor Guard, every event requires a significant investment for the Commander. Tasks include coordination with the funeral home; notifying HG members and ensuring a sufficient number are available; coordinating with the military flag folding team (and to perform that task if a military unit is not available); arranging for a bugler if the internal HG bugler is not available; picking up, maintaining security and returning rifles to the armory; notifying the police department when and where the rifle fire will occur, so as not to alarm the community; commanding the ceremony and keeping the post commanders up-to-date on the units activities.
Perhaps the most demanding aspect of the command is always being available and in the rare instance where he must be out of town, arranging for someone to stand in for him.
Veteran Oftedal is recognized for his remarkable commitment to serve.
Service to Youth: Sherry Weinstein
More than 17 years ago Sherry Weinstein started a program for School Districts 203 and 204 parents called “Keeping Kids Safe.” The program addressed bullying and other social situations.
Over time, Keeping Kids Safe evolved to emphasize protecting children from online abuse such as cyber-bullying, sexting, sextortion and stalking. For many years, the program was presented by Naperville Police Department Internet Crimes Detective Rich Wistocki (now retired) in City Council Chambers and other locations. The presentation became so popular that it was turned into a seminar so parents unable to attend could access the important information online.
Detective Wistocki presented the seminar at the Exchange Club’s National Convention in 2017. The program was deemed so timely and urgent that the National Exchange Club posted the hour-long, professionally-produced video on its website for its nationwide audience.
To keep youth safe is the greatest service that can be performed, and the individuals who nominated Weinstein say she has fulfilled that service to not only her own family’s children, but also the children of parents everywhere. Weinstein is a true unsung hero for the prevention of child abuse.
Story submitted by Jim Vahle for the Naperville American Legion Post 43
Editor’s Note / In other and somewhat related news, Senior Vice Jennifer Sloan announced that Illinois Girls State has been canceled for this summer. Also, the American Legion Post 43 released results of its recent election of officers for 2020-21.
Commander – Jack Amberg
Senior Vice – Richard Karbarz
Junior Vice – Nadia Rios
Adjutant – Rose Porter (appointed by Commander)
Sgt at Arms – Glenn Granat
Finance Officer – Bob Colby
Service Officer – Mike Barbour
Chaplain – Dick Komarek
Judge Advocate – Don Hennessy (appointed by Commander)
Historian – Joe Strebel
Public Relations – Jim Vahle (appointed by Commander))
Trustee – Wayne Fischer (4 year term)
