For those poetry buffs who know of Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem, “Ulysses,” the last line rings true for a trio of Oak Park and River Forest seniors: “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”
It is the spirit that made Oak Parkers F. David Boulanger, 75; his spouse, Philomena “Mena” (nee Parmeter) Boulanger, 74; and Sister Michelle Germanson, 71 of River Forest, the 2015 Ulyssean Award honorees.
The annual award was established in 2004 by the SCC Lifelong Learning Center (formerly known as the Senior Citizens Center of Oak Park-River Forest) to recognize the lifelong learning and community-driven achievements of individuals age 50-plus.
The Ulyssean Award will be presented at a 12th Annual dinner on Friday, Sept. 18 at Brookdale Plaza retirement facility (formerly Holly Court Terrace), 1111 Ontario St. Tickets are $65 per person, with all proceeds benefitting the group’s educational programming for seniors.
Sister Michelle Germanson has embodied the Ulyssean spirit through her leadership as president of Trinity High School in River Forest. In addition to overseeing the success of the all-girl Catholic school, this year she is celebrating her 50th year as a nun.
The Boulangers, both as a couple and individually, have a track record of giving back to their community, beginning when they chose to relocate their young family from Seattle, Washington to “progressive Oak Park” in 1973. Their move to a home on Humphrey Avenue on the east end of the village, said Mena, occurred when Oak Park was in the early stages of its emergence as a national model of diversity and integration.
“Mena, from the first year we were here, was raising our two children, and I was teaching at the University of Illinois Chicago and very busy. So she got involved with the political life right away, especially the League of Women Voters and the Democratic Party of Oak Park (DPOP),” said David, a military veteran, and former scholastic book publisher who holds a PhD in science education from the University of Washington.
A decade into their life here, David accepted a deanship at Triton Community College, taking early retirement from his post in 1996.
As a community volunteer, Mena’s political life took off when Sen. Phil Rock took office, when she stepped into the role of DPOP committeewoman, serving for 20 years.
She also returned to the work force in 1979 as director of development at Lincoln Park Zoo. In 1991 she became vice president of development and government affairs for the Chicago Zoological Society (aka Brookfield Zoo).
Upon her retirement in 2008, Senator Dick Durbin publicly read into the Congressional record that Mena (a breast cancer survivor) “is retiring after 30 years of raising public awareness of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County.”
Three years earlier in 2005, she joined the board of the Community Foundation of Oak Park-River Forest, lending her professional skillset to lead a capital campaign to raise $2 million for its Community Works programming.
Achieving the $2 million fundraising goal, she said, triggered a matching grant from the Grand Victoria Foundation. It enabled the board to create a $6 million pot of endowment money that “for future years to come will support the initiatives of PlanitGreen, Success For all Youth, Community Leadership, and Future Philanthropist programming, and I am very proud of being behind the scenes to make that happen,” she said.
In 1998, David, with support from Mena, scuttled early retirement to stage a campaign for the office of trustee of Oak Park Township and won. In 2002 he was elected township supervisor, a position he still holds today.
Looking back on his career with the township, he said his capstone achievement, and his legacy, is opening the Senior Services Center three years ago at 130 S. Oak Park Ave.
As active members of Third Unitarian Church in Chicago, the Boulangers have also engaged in volunteerism in the Austin community, said Mena, a self-described naturalist who is an avid gardener.
“When you are able to give back in your professional life, as well as in your personal life, that is really the blessing,” said David, who smiled as he recalled his early days as a high school physics teacher in Seattle.
“From that opportunity comes my responsibility — how I look at, and walk through, the world … to give back.”
To purchase tickets for the Ulyssean Awards dinner, call the Senior Citizens Center at 708-848-5251.