• The economy and the heat took a toll on attendance at the Bourbonnais Friendship Festival. About 25,000 fewer attended this year than last.
• PONY baseball is an acronym for Protecting Our Nation’s Youth. Some local players have proven they are ready to protect our nation if and when the time comes. Find out more from Mike Frey in his column in today’s issue of your newspaper.
• Tyjuan Hagler returned to his alma mater, Bishop McNamara Catholic High School, on Saturday to teach football fundamentals at his third annual “Kidz-Kan-Do” youth football camp. Hagler, an Indianapolis Colts linebacker and Kankakee native, said the camp had a great turnout with around 150 participants despite Saturday’s heat.
Renee M. Coats, 33, of Bourbonnais, died Thursday (June 25, 2009) at Provena St. Mary’s Hospital in Kankakee.
Visitation will be from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday at the Kankakee Chapel of the Schreffler Funeral Homes, where a memorial service will be held 10 a.m. Tuesday. Rev. Larry Schreffler will officiate.
Burial will be in All Saints Cemetery in Bourbonnais.
Kim McLean — Lakeview, Ore.
Kim McLean, 57, of Lakeview, Ore., formerly of Kankakee, died Wednesday (June 24, 2009) in Lakeview. There will be no services at this time.
William Outsen — Kankakee
William I. “Bill” Outsen, 89, of Kankakee, died Thursday (June 25, 2009) at Riverside Medical Center, after a short illness. Cremation rites have been accorded. A memorial service will be held 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, June 30, for family and friends at the home of Greg and Stacy Outsen.
Merlin Legner — Dwight
Merlin Aloysious “Bud” Legner, 91, lifelong Dwight resident, died Thursday (June 25, 2009). Visitation will be from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday at the Hager Memorial Home in Dwight, where a memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Monday. The Rev. Betty Hornback will officiate.
Gladys Toelstede — Milford
Gladys M. Toelstede, 86, of Milford, died Friday (June 26, 2009) at Sheldon Health Care Center. Visitation will be from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday at the Knapp Funeral Home in Milford, and from 10 a.m. Monday at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Milford until the 11 a.m. funeral service. The Rev. Jason Wagner will officiate.
Richard Etzel — Bradley
Richard W. “Dick” Etzel, 72, of Bradley, died Saturday (June 20, 2009) at Metro South Hospital in Blue Island, following a short illness. Visitation will be from 9:30 a.m. Thursday at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Kankakee, until the 10 a.m. memorial Mass. Father Charles Wheeler will officiate.
Patricia Smith — Kankakee
Visitation for Patricia Ann “Pat” Smith, 50, of Kankakee, will be from 9 a.m. Tuesday until the 10 a.m. funeral service at the Jones Funeral Home, Kankakee. Pastor Tyler J. Prude will officiate.
Burial will be in Mound Grove Gardens. She died Wednesday (June 24, 2009) at Provena St. Mary’s Hospital.
Imogene Wadley — Bradley
Memorial visitation for Imogene Wadley, 89, of Bradley, will be from 3 p.m. Monday until the 4 p.m. memorial service at the Clancy-Gernon-Hertz Funeral Home, west Kankakee.
Cremation rites have been accorded by the Clancy-Gernon-Hertz Crematory, west Kankakee. Memorials may be made to Asbury United Methodist Church, where she was a member. She died Thursday (June 25, 2009) at Bradley Royale Health Care Center.
Note: This obituary notice has been posted in advance of the print edition. A complete version, which may include changes, will appear in a future edition of The Daily Journal.
Read more obituaries here.
Ralph J. “Jake” Sessions, 87, of Chicago, formerly of Kankakee, died Friday (June 19, 2009) in Chicago.
John Justin Sherwood, 92, of Arlington Heights, formerly of Momence, died Wednesday (June 24, 2009) at Church Creek Nursing Home in Arlington Heights.
Dennis Lee Salmon, 67, of Boulder, Colo., formerly of Watseka, died Saturday (June 20, 3009) in Boulder.
Marilyn D. Berry, 74, of Iroquois, died Wednesday (June 24, 2009) at Iroquois Memorial Resident Home in Watseka.
Dolores R. Ownbey-Garcia, 80, of Watseka, formerly of Kankakee County, died Thursday (June 25, 2009) at Watseka Rehab and Healthcare Center.
Suzanne Turk, 65, of Joliet, died Tuesday (June 23, 2009).
Eldon N. “Neal” Brown, 89, of Kankakee, died Wednesday (June 24, 2009) at Riverside Medical Center.
Marjorie Ann Pefferman, 83, of Louisville, Ky., formerly of Emington, died April 25, 2009, in Louisville.
Frances L. Peters, 86, of San Jacinto, Calif., and sister of area residents, died Saturday (June 20, 2009) at her home.
Ricky Lynn Green, 47, of Bradley, died Tuesday (June 16, 2009).
Kristian Lamar, 15-day-old daughter of Lakisha Taylor and Clifton Lamar, all of Kankakee, died June 17, 2009, at The University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital.
Ormi Jean Nelson, 77, of Stone Mountain, Ga., formerly of Kankakee, died Monday (June 22, 2009) at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Home, Atlanta, Ga.
Dorothy R. “Dottie” Martin-Alvarado, 53, of Watseka, died Thursday (June 25, 2009) at Iroquois Memorial Hospital, Watseka.
William Outsen, 89, of Kankakee, died Thursday (June 25, 2009) at Riverside Medical Center.
Patricia Ann Smith, 50, of Kankakee, died Wednesday (June 24, 2009) at Provena St. Mary’s Hospital.
Imogene Wadley, 89, of Bradley, died Thursday (June 25, 2009) at Bradley Royale Health Care Center.
• County board member Sam Nicholas is resigning. The announcement was made at an executive committee meeting by chair Mike Bossert. Nicholas said he is reluctantly leaving the position after taking a new job in Peoria.
• “You shouldn’t get paid extra if you didn’t finish your work.” That’s how State Rep Lisa Dugan, D-Bradley, characterized her decision to turn down pay and mileage reimbursement for the state’s Special Legislative Session. Illinois State Senator Toi Hutchinson, D-Olympia Fields, is also refusing payment. However, Careen Gordon, D-Coal City, said her personal budget would not allow taking a pass on the funds.
• Like almost every child growing up in the 1980s, Antonio Young admired the awesomeness that was Michael Jackson. He had the red leather jacket, the shiny silver glove and even saw Jackson in concert. Find out more in Young’s column in today’s issue of The Daily Journal.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Michael Jackson, the moonwalking former child star who became known the world over as the “King of Pop” before his life and career deteriorated in a freakish series of scandals, died Thursday, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press. He was 50.
(more…)
Earnestine Johnson — Frankfort, Ky.
Earnestine “Stine” Johnson, 62, of Frankfort, Ky., formerly of Kankakee, died Friday (June 19, 2009) in Lexington, Ky.
Bruce Eckle — Kankakee
Bruce W. Eckle, 76, of Kankakee, died Monday (June 22, 2009) at his home.
• Dan Futran has suffered with terrible nightmares since he was a young child, unaware for years that he desperately was repressing memories of abuse wrought against him during his youth. Now, he is rebuilding his life and is in a residential treatment program that may be cut due to lack of state funding.
• It’s a 61-year tradition of homesickness, sunburns and mosquito bites. And, for hundreds of youngsters, it’s the best week of the whole summer. Life at camp for a week can change a child’s outlook on the outdoors and Camp Shaw-Waw-Nas-See, near Kankakee River State Park, is no exception.
• Lawmakers adjourned their special legislative session Wednesday, leaving the state’s worrisome fiscal condition unfixed and the future of dozens of human service groups unsettled.
CHICAGO (AP) — The University of Illinois has raised tuition for freshman starting classes next fall by about 2.6 percent on each of its three campuses.
University trustees’ three-member executive committee voted at a meeting Wednesday to increase in-state tuition at the school’s flagship campus in Urbana-Champaign to $9,484 a year. Tuition at the Chicago campus will increase to $8,342 a year and at the Springfield campus incoming freshmen will pay $7,402.50 a year.
Under Illinois law, incoming freshmen will pay those rates for the next four years. Rates for current students won’t increase.
The committee decided against a 4 percent increase recommended by university President Joseph White.
BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa (AP) — United States upsets top-ranked Spain 2-0 in men’s soccer.
