(gentle jazz music) - [Narrator] WTVP and Peoria Magazine congratulate the 2022 local legends.

We're proud of the people who've contributed to making central Illinois a great place to live and work.

Each of their contributions is legendary, their impact profound, and their influence continues to move the region forward.

This year's winners along with WTVP and Peoria Magazine hope to inspire others in contributing to the welfare and growth of our community.

(slow jazz music) - I think the moment I knew I wanted to be an educator occurred in seventh grade.

The science teacher divided all of the students up into four groups and assigned somebody as the teacher, and I was the teacher for my group and I worked hard designing all kinds of study guides and everything and we worked hard quizzing our group and every one of my students got an A.

And I think I knew then that's what I wanted to be.

- I started at Commercial National Bank which was a local bank and it was headquartered at 301 Southwest Adams and Commercial became First of America and First of America became National City and National City became PNC Bank.

So I spent nine years at PNC per se, but as I like to tell people, I spent 44 years in the same building on either the third or fourth floor.

- His boss at the time was Skip Snyder.

And Skip's wife, Sally, invited me to come and become a member of the Junior League.

And I really didn't know anything about this volunteer organization, but we went to this cocktail party and got to know people and I decided that I would join.

If I hadn't done that, I probably would've stayed a teacher at Germantown Hill School and devoted my time to that and family and may not have gotten to know this whole community of volunteers that exist here in Peoria.

- While it felt really good to be involved in these organizations, I will tell you, and I'm sure Vicky will as well that we each got much more out of our involvement than we put into it, either monetarily, time wise or otherwise.

- I remember when the kids were little and I worked part-time for just a few years, they'd wake up in the morning and they'd say, "Now, are we going to Women's Strength today or are we going?"

Because they knew that they were a part of my volunteer work.

- One of my close colleagues during the time I was at work was a guy by the name of Dave Leach, who was a state representative for many years and a good friend.

And one of the things he always started with when you're trying to solve a problem was put yourself in their shoes.

Why are they coming from where they're coming?

Why do they feel the way that they feel?

She's the glue that keeps us all together, keeps us focused and on a pretty regular basis, makes sure that I know what's important and what we need to be thinking about and where we need to be spending our time and things of that nature.

- We've been here for almost 50 years and we have so much gratitude in our hearts for being a part of this community.

It's a really wonderful community.

It's different from all the rest.

It's a bunch of caring people who want to make life better, not just for their own family but for everyone in the community, and that has made a big difference in our lives.

So we don't often get to thank everybody for all your contributions to the community but we want to take this moment to just say thanks.

You're doing a great job and this community is gonna be stronger than ever in the future so thank you.

(relaxed music) - I would say probably my sophomore year at Peoria High, I began to recognize that if I wanted to play, I had to find one thing I did exceptionally well.

But when I started my first year in college, I began to recognize that there are guys that are three and four inches taller than me that play at the same position that are bigger, faster, and stronger.

And so I really started to think about, well if I don't play basketball at the next level, what do I do next?

I'm where I am because there are a whole lot of folks that spoke into my life, invested time in me, that supported me, that encouraged me along the way.

And I had a professor named Dr. Bill Wiggins and he was another one of those people in my life that encouraged me academically, particularly early on in my college career as a freshman.

And when I started thinking about what it is that I want to do with the rest of my life, I thought about him.

And I remember saying to myself like it was last week that I want to do for a young person what Dr. Wiggins did for me.

And that's what I want to for my life's work.

And that's what I'm currently doing here at Bradley University, but I've been doing this for the last 20 something years because I'm so passionate about being able to influence a life in a very positive way through education.

What I really enjoy about being a part of this community is that it is a community and everybody in this community is pulling for us and they want the best for us.

And to be able to be here in my hometown makes it all the more special.

I left Peoria in 1989 to go off the college and I came back in 2015, so 25 years later, and having lived different places, I lived in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Lansing, Michigan when I worked at those places, Michigan State, Western Michigan University After law school, I worked at the NCAA in the Kansas City area.

Peoria is the best place I've ever lived.

This is the most connected place I've lived in.

People care in this community.

I was talking with somebody about the number of fundraisers and non-for-profit organizations in this town where people just want to help and that's very unique.

And unless you've lived different places, you really don't know that.

And unless you've been away for a long period of time and come back, it might be hard to really appreciate what we have here.

At the end of the day, Kurt, and I remind myself of this every day, the reason why I got into this business was to help our students.

And so that is what keeps me motivated.

And certainly, I'm gonna do everything I can with whatever influence I have to make sure that Bradley, and other one AAA institutions stay in the conversation in terms of being relevant on a national level and we'll continue to do everything we possibly can do.

And with that stated, we have to continue to keep an eye on making sure our student athletes are having the absolute best experience they can have on these campuses and that we're preparing them for life after Bradley.

(gentle jazz music) - My background is actually epidemiology which is a polite way of saying data nerd.

So I can get into a number and really get down into these details, but other individuals are not quantitative, they're more wanting that narrative and that storyline.

And so being adaptable in your communication helps you take a message and share it in a way that maybe you understand but the next person might need a different way of delivery.

It's a puzzle, almost like a detective, right?

I mean epidemiology, that's the kind of idea, like why does someone get ill and this person doesn't?

Like what are those risk factors that make them that way or make them in a situation that have better or poorer health?

Early in the pandemic, it was what I knew first thing in the morning when I came into the office was maybe 180 from when I left that afternoon.

So being able to make decisions and process information and then recognize that you have to give yourself that kind of grace of you know you know and it can change.

Likewise, I think the communication has always helped and it's not just for the pandemic, I think overall my career and just in life, not everyone understands information and processes things the same way you do.

There were days where you felt like you were in a hamster wheel and it can it can get to you over time.

But luckily, I have a very good work and personal family I say because we just kept each other sane, you know?

I met my husband when I was in college and he has been 100% supportive.

I feel like he is a, for me, he is the actual hero of this pandemic partly 'cause I have young children.

When the stay at home order started, I had a third grader and a preschooler.

And so then, it's pretty much everyone was at home working and doing school and I was in the office working.

Now as we're kind of coming back to some normalcy, kind of making sure that that balance skews more and more towards them because I want to make sure that, they're about to, she's about to go to middle school and so I want to sure I'm preparing her for that transition.

We really work to make sure that we eat dinner together.

We're that family that sits around and asks like, "What did you learn today?

What funny thing happened?"

And so it's nice to have that.

We live in the neighborhoods we serve right?

So some of our state officials who I think also went through a lot of the same harassment and a lot of the same concerns, there was a disconnect in terms of, you wouldn't see them necessarily in your neighborhood walking around or at a grocery store pickup or what have you, but for a lot of my peers and myself, because we serve our community, we were there, right?

So we took a little bit of that brunt of it.

Because one, you're serving your community.

Part of the role of a public health administrator is you're a steward for your public and you want to make sure that you are able to support and understand the concerns of your community and invest in it.

Likewise, just from my own personal and my husband's background, we believe in making sure that our community is thriving and supportive of it.

We want to make sure our kids live in a community that they're very proud of, that they appreciate, and that it's not just our kids, but every kid should have that type of opportunity.

And so a lot of the things that we support is looking at how we can either bring forward an issue or support the development of a project just so that it creates a thriving community 'cause when your community is thriving and healthy, then the people within it become healthier as well.

And so that's really how we've always seen it as a way to give back, and whether it's our time, our resources, we always feel that that's just something that's part of, ingrained in us.

Likewise, I have to say, this community has done a lot for me.

I feel like as much as this has been a challenging two years, I would not want to be a public health administrator anywhere else than in Peoria County.

I actually really do feel that Peoria is a great place to live and work because for a size of our community to have that many resources and services, and most importantly, people that care in one concentrated area, I don't think you're gonna find that anywhere else.

Andrew already mentioned equity and I want to just take an opportunity to talk a little bit about this because when I think about equity and what we can do in Peoria, it's impressive.

I always talk about a story, and some of you might have heard this, about my own two children.

My daughters share a bathroom and twice a day, they argue over who gets a little Ikea foot stool to brush their teeth because their mother's a public health professional so they brush their teeth twice a day, very good, great, but they make this argument, and I know whenever I say the story, people always say, "Well why don't you just buy another foot stool?"

And yes.

And perhaps though there is not enough foot stools to be bought and perhaps the bathroom can't fit another one.

And at the end of the day, I always talk about the fact that if my youngest who is slightly taller though, if she doesn't get the foot stool, what happens is toothpaste goes everywhere in my house because she's little and I then spend more time and energy cleaning up after her.

And that's what we talk about, equity.

When we talk about the work of groups such as like Heartland Health Services, the Health Department, United Way, all the agencies around here, they're working on equity because at the end of the day it is better to start that policy on the front side so we don't have to keep on continually working against it.

And so I just want to thank a community that has given me a lot.

I hope I am deserving of this, even though when they did tell me I made kindly a slightly comment of I still am pretty young I think but okay.

But I just have so much faith in this community and I am so excited to continue working in this community so thank you so much.

(audience applauding) (smooth jazz music) - It's very odd to be a legend and still be vertically breathing air.

There's really not much for me to say.

After Mike wrote the article, which you've all read I expect, and after Tom talked, what do I talk about, you know?

I'd like to thank a few people.

I'd like to thank (indistinct) for recruiting me, it was very kind of her to do that and for building the hospital, which she said if I helped her, she would do and she's a woman of her word so she did and we did and there you go.

I'd like to thank Bill Tusoma for helping us build JUMP!, which in fact is a world class simulation center, if you don't know that, you should.

I'd like to thank my wife who's not here for helping me do almost everything I did and keep me from making tragic mistakes many times 'cause she knows me better than anybody else.

And I could tell stories that you've read in the magazine so I won't do that, I'm not gonna give a long speech.

So I thought I'd just share one story that nobody knows.

And it's kind of a ridiculous story just kind of let you know that no matter how high you can get, you can go pretty low in doing stupid, ridiculous things.

So I was drafted in 1966 at the height of the Vietnam War.

I was at Fort Gordon, Georgia in Augusta and we were paid $77 a month, how ridiculous is that?

It was private.

So we got our first hours off and we went to this state fair in Augusta, Georgia.

And there was this orangutan in this cage and you could get paid $200 if you would go fight the orangutan.

And I thought, well, and you had to be able to stay in the cage for like X number of minutes.

And I was with like 15 other guys from my platoon and I thought, I said, "Boy, that doesn't sound too bad."

200 bucks, we were making $77.

And I said, "I might do that."

And they all said, "bet you wouldn't do it."

And I looked at all these guys and said, "How much do you want to bet?"

Long story short, they all put up more than the $200 to bet so I bet them that I would.

Long story short, the orangutan beat the crap out of me and I didn't make five minutes but I got all the money from my guys because (audience applauding) they bet that I wouldn't do it.

So they're a bunch of suckers, you know, I'm from New York, a sucker's born every minute, you know that.

So I got all the money and there you go.

So it just goes to show, no matter how high you go, you can be a ridiculous idiot at the same time, right?

So that's my story for tonight, I thought I'd tell you a story.

But anyhow, I loved every minute I spent at children's hospital, I did.

And the one story I would like to tell you is that no matter how hard I push now, how many things I tried to wrench in the system, 95% of the things I wanted to get done, I got done.

And not many surgeon and chiefs around the country could say that, they all complain, they bitch, they moan and so on and so forth.

But I'm not here to do that.

I will tell you they always have a good organization and the things I wanted to get done, they backed me.

What's wrong with that?

That's a good thing.

And it's a good organization and the university is a good organization.

If the two would work together a little more closely at times, I think that would help the city, but this is a good place to work and a good place to be a doctor and I was very successful here because the organization backed me and I thank them for that.

(gentle guitar music) - We had four biological kids first and then our first adoption was two boys that were brothers and those were local adoptions.

And then that followed were two girls that were sisters and those were also local.

Where the numbers really swelled was in 2001 when we adopted a sibling group of five from Brazil and then a second sibling group of five from Brazil followed, which brought the total to 18, right?

As I think back, we probably ate dinner together at least five times a week and that was part of our routine and ritual and that was an opportunity to reconnect and talk and spend really quality time together around the dinner table.

I coached wheelchair athletics at the Rehabilitation education center in Urbana and really got pretty intimately engaged with wheelchair athletes and really from there, just had a growing sense of this is where I wanted to make my career in helping people with disabilities and others to reach their full potential.

It was really the genesis of that I think was at the U of I.

What has driven my wife and I for 41 years of marriage is just the belief that children deserve the best and that every child should be afforded the opportunity to reach their full potential.

And a lot has changed in the not-profit sector in the healthcare sector and certainly at Easterseals over 40 plus years, but what has not changed and our passion for children remains as strong as ever.

Well, Easterseals has just grown so much in the last 40 years.

I can recall, I think the entire budget of Easterseals in the '80s was well under a million, it might have been even under $500,000.

And today, we are an organization with an annual operating budget of $14 million.

Philanthropy certainly has played a big role in Easterseal's success.

And we've been very blessed to have very large pool of caring and generous people that have come alongside to support our mission over the years.

And philanthropy can really drive change as well.

I mean I think there's so much that philanthropy can do and it's been a particular area that I've been drawn to because there's just a great joy in helping people.

Often time, I think it is called fundraising and we're raising money and we're asking, but ultimately, it's really about helping people do and something that they want to do in their heart.

It's important to them, helping them operationalize that, helping them find the right vehicle to truly make a gift that has measurable impact in the life of someone else.

And that continues to be a great joy of mine.

August 31 is the typical and regular annual meeting of Easterseals Board of Directors.

And so that's the date that I plan to retire and there's been a Leadership Planning Succession Committee actively engaged for many, many months, and I'm confident that the next CEO of Easterseals will be a visionary leader and one very capable of advancing the mission and enhancing our operations, our culture, our philanthropy, and Easterseals will continue to be a recognized and trusted expert for children and families far into the future.

- So that just about does it.

What a night.

I have to get home now.

Not because I'm old and it's past my bedtime but because I have to finish editing the August Peoria Magazine and you won't want to miss it.

So again, thank you to all of our sponsors and all who help make evenings like this possible.

Thank you again to our legends, a toast to all of you, you're wonderful people.

More than that because you are proof that great things are possible and you give the rest of us confidence to grow where we are planted.

(audience applauding) (gentle jazz music)