Those who made a difference

As the year comes to an end, we offer a partial list to mark the passing of some of those who helped make our villages what they are:

Scott Gaalaas, 65, former West Cook YMCA CEO

Franklin McMahon, 90, artist-reporter for Chicago newspapers

Marie Wackrow, 86, mental health advocate

Henry Walshon Jr., 89, loved dancing at public concerts

Norman Carroll, 82, Dominican University professor and provost

Bob Kwas, 73, artist who taught at the Oak Park Art League, model train enthusiast

Mary Clark, 56, advocate for the hearing impaired

Harold McPheron, 37, Oak Park Public Library assistant

John Philbin, 89, former village trustee and president, director of Archdiocesan cemeteries

Redd Griffin, 73, teacher, former state representative, co-founder of Wright and Hemingway foundations

Paul Grotelueschen, 84, Concordia professor, River Forest resident

Edith Crabbe, 101, past president of Zonta International

Raymond LeFevour, 81, former president of Wright Jr. College

Robert Baldauf, 82, former District 97 superintendent

Kay McGee, 91, founder of the National Association for Down Syndrome

Paula Zyto Banks, 85, daycare provider, Holocaust survivor

John Trilik, 82, architect, caterer, opera singer

Gil Sorber, 87, inventor, anti-hunger activist

Gary, 77, and Susie Zwicky, 73, musicians, died two weeks apart

Donald Peaselee, 85, hardware store owner, intellectual

Ralph, 96, and Beta Balgemann, 94, died two months apart

Catherine Krickl, 87, longtime Seguin volunteer

William Conroy, 90, operatic tenor, former choir director at St. Catherine/St. Lucy Church

Rev. John Lynch, 70, former pastor, St. Catherine/St. Lucy Parish

Rev. Joe Ruiz, 73, former pastor, St. Edmund Parish

Jane Lare, 76, District 97 school psychologist

Eleanor Rapp, 91, former OPRF High School "lunch lady"

Paula Starkey, 91, first director of the Wright Home & Studio Foundation

Judy Southwick, 73, social justice activist

Stephen Schmidt, 79, Lutheran educator and author, River Forest resident

Rose Sugden, 97, educator, wife of former District 90 superintendent Wallace Sugden

Carol Lydecker Dwyer, 57, dancer, actor, choreographer

Lee Atkins, 24, National Guardsman

Iris Lozeau, 86, longtime Oak Park Township staff member, coordinator of Day in Our Village