Community Corner
10 People You Should Remember From 2015
The people of the North Shore who had the most compelling stories of 2015.
Great stories are nothing without great people. For better or worse, it is the actions of people that make us compelled to open a book, do some research or even try to better ourselves.
Chicago’s North Shore has no shortage of good “people” stories, and us at Patch have been honored to share some of those with you.
Here are some of our most compelling “people” from 2015.
Ariel Dorfman, the Deerfield mom who came up with one of the best ideas for her two kids to celebrate their birthdays. Her oldest, Elana, had to come up with seven random acts of kindness to perform for people since she was turning seven in April. Jacob, who was turning four the same month, had to perform four. It was a brilliant way of teaching the kids to think of others before themselves and realize how fortunate they are.
Mindy Ugolini, a Highland Park woman who has been a cancer survivor for 13 years, told us how she has held it together through all the tough situations and now helps organize events that promote awareness and research.
Charles Greenstein, the village treasurer of Lincolnwood who has tallied quite a list of life accomplishments. As one of only a handful of living individuals who have seen the Chicago Cubs play in a World Series, Charles also served the United States overseas, has been to every Chicago Bears home opener over the last 50 years, led the bowling program at Loyola University for decades and bowled a 300 game himself.
Janice Weinstein, a Northbrook woman whose adult daughter has a disability, led an effort to team up with other parents in similar situations and form TotalLink2 Community, a non-profit with a goal of empowering adults with disabilities with possibilities of employment and in one case, help a client start his own company.
Melissa Calusinski, the woman convicted of killing a 16-month-old Deerfield boy six years ago, is fighting for her freedom. New evidence surfaced in 2015 showing the boy, Benjamin Kingan, did not suffer a fracture to the head, so Lake County Coroner Thomas Rudd changed the manner of death in the case to undetermined. Behind a legal team led by distinguished defense attorney Kathleen Zellner, Calusinski has filed a postconviction petition seeking to overturn her 2011 guilty verdict and has advanced to “Phase II” of that process.
Brody Criz, the Deerfield boy who created a viral bar mitzvah video that spoofed many of music’s biggest hits from the last few years as a way to invite guests. This year, we were briefly introduced to why the family decided to put this together, and how.
Jill Rivkin, a former journalist and public relations executive, realized her dream of writing a children’s book, and then made it happen. The Deerfield mother of two has now written books based on both her children: “Crazy Hair” and “It’s Just a Potato.”
Wayne Messmer, the well-known National Anthem singer for the Chicago Cubs and Chicago Wolves, is a Glenview resident and came through in a big way for another North Shore man, Jason Schwartz of Deerfield. Even though he had to be at a Wolves game in a few hours, Messmer showed up at Schwartz’ wedding, sang the Anthem and then chatted with the guests.
Callan McLaudrey, a 10-year-old from Highland Park, has done something even us well-planned travelers can only hope to do one day. That’s step foot in all 50 states. With a stop in southwest Michigan this summer, Callan had accomplished the feat just in time for his 10th birthday.
Seth Mohr, a 7-year-old Glenview boy with special needs, lives and breathes Six Flags Great America. He hopes to one day be an employee there overseeing the rides. So for Halloween, current employees of Chicagoland’s most popular theme park gave him a taste of what that would be like, full uniform included.
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