Click to join LSHS1973
I have created a Group in Yahoo Groups that acts as a bulk email service. If you are a mamber of the group, you just send email to one address (the group's email address) and your email is sent to everyone in the group!
I have done this in an effort to keep our scattered classmates in touch! I hope it works!
To join:
To subscribe to the mailing list (get emails only, do not join the group):
I wanted to pass on information about the formation of an Alumni association.
If you would like, please post this information on your Class web site. If you
have any question or comments please feel free to contact me.
Thank you,
Holly (Perkins) Smith, Class of 1982
630-816-9529 or LisleAlum@aol.com
Please pass this invitation on to any Lisle Alumni you know.
Our current database of alum is limited, everyone is welcome!
Brenda Christensen
Richard Deacon
Don Feely
Bob Krebs
Patti McKenna
John Nichols
Roger Nelson
Steve West
Kathy Yackle
Andrew Yender
Alan Zingre
Metra rider killed by train in Hinsdale
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Woman is struck crossing tracks
By Virginia Groark
Tribune staff reporter
November 25, 2003
A Clarendon Hills woman's weekly shopping routine turned tragic Sunday
afternoon when she was struck by a train while crossing the tracks in
Hinsdale.
Village police believe weather may have played a role in the 3:04 p.m.
accident that claimed the life of Patricia McKenna, 48, of the 100
block of Ann Street.
McKenna, an avid Cubs fan who grew up in Lisle and was the oldest of
eight children, most likely had taken the train to go shopping in
Hinsdale after her shift ended at Towne Kitchen in Clarendon Hills where she
had worked as a waitress for two or three years.
"She didn't say [why she was going] but her normal routine was she
would go to Hinsdale to buy her cigarettes on a Sunday afternoon," said
Eleni Zografos, who owns the restaurant with her husband.
McKenna had just disembarked from an eastbound Metra train when she was
struck by a westbound freight train while heading north on Washington
Street, said Deputy Police Chief Kevin Simpson.
Witnesses told police that McKenna had pulled the hood over her head to
shield herself from the heavy rain, which may have blocked her view of
the freight train as she walked around the passenger train, Simpson
said. Also, the Metra train partially blocked the crossing at Washington
Street, which also could have obstructed her, he added.
The Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight train was traveling about 45
m.p.h. and didn't have time to stop, Simpson said. "It was too late," he
added. "The engineer didn't see her until she walked out from behind
the train."
The freight train had blown its whistle, the crossing gates were down
and lights were flashing at the time of the accident, Simpson said. But
McKenna might have thought the warning signals were activated for the
train she had been riding on, rather than a passing freight train, he
said.
That is why it's important to heed the warning signals, said Tom
Miller, a Metra spokesman.
"It's a triple-track area," Miller said. "You really need to be
vigilant to make sure there are no trains in the vicinity."
McKenna was pronounced dead at the scene at 4:17 p.m., according to a
statement from the DuPage County coroner's office. A coroner's
spokeswoman said an autopsy will not be conducted, but an inquest will be held
in the coming weeks.
On Monday, relatives and friends remembered McKenna as a warm-hearted
and generous person who regularly put others' needs before her own.
"She was very much the motherly-type sibling to us," said Michael
McKenna, a brother. "She basically kind of martyred her own life to help the
rest of us."
Copyright (c) 2003, Chicago Tribune
She worked in medical technology and was a member of St. Joan of Arc Church in Lisle.
She is survived by two children, Denise and Anthony; her fiance, Mark DeLeo; her mother, Ann Peters; and four brothers, Kenneth, Dennis (wife Gwen), Ronald and Bruce.
She was preceded in death by her father, Raymond Peters.
Visitation took place Sunday, Jan. 25, at Blake-Lamb Funeral Home in Lisle.
A Mass of Christian burial was celebrated Monday, Jan. 26, at St. Joan of Arc Church.
Interment was private.
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Skydive operator dies in accident
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By Rick Jervis
Tribune staff reporter
June 8, 2003
A longtime skydiving instructor and former world champion whose company
had been criticized for its safety record died in a skydiving accident
Saturday.
Roger Nelson, owner of Ottawa-based Skydive Chicago who had recorded
more than 9,000 jumps, was skydiving with Todd Fey, a parachutist from
North Dakota, about 2:30 p.m. near Nelson's Skydive Chicago drop zone,
LaSalle County Sheriff's Sgt. Gregory Jacobson said. Fey drifted into
Nelson's parachute, collapsing the chute and crashing Nelson to the
ground, Jacobson said.
Nelson was taken to Community Hospital of Ottawa then airlifted to St.
Francis Medical Center in Peoria, where he was pronounced dead,
Jacobson said.
Fey was taken to Community Hospital in Ottawa. A hospital spokeswoman
would not disclose his condition.
No charges have been filed, and the case is under investigation, he
said.
Since 1993, 14 skydiving deaths have occurred at Skydive Chicago,
including Nelson's.
Nelson was captain of the U.S. Olympic skydiving team in 1982 and a
director at the United States Parachute Association.
In 1987 Nelson was sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading
guilty to running an international drug smuggling ring.
Copyright (c) 2003, Chicago Tribune
Last Update: 07 December 2006
Copyright © 1998-Present Bruce A. Holt