20 | December 8, 2016 | The highland park landmark faith hplandmark.com Faith Briefs Christ Church (1713 Green Bay Road, Highland Park) Men’s Fraternity: Discipleship These ongoing men’s small groups equip men looking to go deeper in their spiritual journey of following Christ with a focus on spiritual formation, small group relationships and provides opportunities for leadership development and training. These meetings are 6-7:30 a.m. every Friday morning. HOGS Serving Day HOGS, “Hands Of God Serving,” is a practical acts of service ministry where we will clean, paint, haul stuff and perform light plumbing, electrical and carpentry repairs to serve the elderly, single moms and those in need. HOGS meets every third Saturday of the month from 8 a.m.- noon. Contact Phil Manley at phil@ manleydevelopment.com for more information. MOPS at Highland Park Campus MOPS stands for “Mothers of Preschoolers.” MOPS is about meeting the needs of every mom of a child from conception through kindergarten with local groups of moms. Every first and third Friday of the month from 9:15-11:15 a.m, MOPS is a place for moms of young children, ages 0-5, to connect and develop friendships with women in the same season of life. This class costs $10 per meeting, with the first meeting free. Scholarships are available. For more information, contact Danielle Maccabe at (864) 901-3498 or by email at mopscchp@yahoo.com. Congregation Solel (1301 Clavey Road, Highland Park) Torah Study From 9:15-10:15 a.m. every Saturday morning there will be a Torah study at Congregation Solel. You can come in the morning to kick off your weekend with a Torah study and then stay throughout the morning at Solel for subsequent activities and fun. For more information, go to www.solel. org, or call (847) 433-3555. North Suburban Synagogue Beth El (1175 Sheridan Road, Highland Park) Job Network Meeting Beth El Job Network is in business. The Network meets every Friday morning at 9 a.m. in the library. If you are unemployed, under-employed, changing jobs, entering or re-entering the work force please join us. For more information, call Dr. Eli Krumbein at (847) 432-6994 or email JoAnne Blumberg at JoAnneB1729@gmail.com. Two Faiths, One Roof Two-FOR is a group for Jewish- Christian families for learning and fellowship. Childcare is provided so parents can engage in their own learning and conversation, while children can hear a story and make a craft for their own experience. For more information, contact Rabbi Ari at arim@interfaithfamily.com. Submit information for The Landmark’s Faith page to Courtney Jacquin at courtney@hplandmark.com. The deadline is noon on Thursday. Questions? Call (847) 272-4565 ext. 34. In memoriam Dominic M. Venturi Dominic M. Venturi Sr., 95, life-long resident of Highland Park, passed away. Faithful and “lucky” husband to the late Marie “Dolly” Venturi; proud father to Joseph, Veronica (Don) Boyajian, Tina (Patrick) Walsh, Dominic Jr. (Tammy) and Bridget (Mike) Veenama; special Nonno to seven grandchildren and three greatgrandchildren and loved uncle of many. Venturi was a 77-year member of the Modenese Society and life-long parishioner of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Dominic’s name to Modenese Society, P.O. Box 245 Highwood, IL 60040. Jill Rohde Jill Nathanson Rohde, 74, formerly of Highland Park, passed away Nov. 29 after a long battle with breast cancer. She was a long time restaurant critic for Chicago Magazine, teacher and political activist. She was born in Minneapolis, grew up in Highland Park and graduated from Mills College in Oakland, Calif. She met her husband and received her master’s degree at Roosevelt University. In 1976, she and her husband, Ron, wrote the “The good (but cheap) Chicago Restaurant Book”, a popular guide to inexpensive ethnic restaurants in Chicagoland. Rohde helped found and for many years served on the board of the nonprofit Changing Worlds. She was also a board member of the Crossroads Fund, and Family Care Services of Metropolitan Chicago. Besides her loving husband, she is survived by brothers Marc (Jane) and Greg (Teresa) Nathanson, both of Los Angeles; brother and sisters in law: Judy Rohde Cormack, Ed and Georgette Rohde, Donna Rohde of Boulder and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins, and of course, their dog, Howie. In lieu of flowers, please make any donation to Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, 70 E. Lake St., suite 720, Chicago, IL 60601; Greater Chicago Food Depository, 4100 W. Ann Lurie Place, Chicago, IL 60632; or Crossroads Fund, 3411 W. Diversey Ave. #20, Chicago, Il 60647. A memorial service for Jill Nathanson Rohde is being planned in early 2017 in Chicago. Rocco Peter Dawson Rocco Peter Dawson, 81, of Harvard, formerly of Highland Park, passed away Nov. 26 with his wife by his side. He was born on Oct. 30, 1935 in Highland Park, the son of the late Joseph Edward and Marie G. (Petite) Dawson. Dawson worked as an Operating Engineer for the Local 150 until retirement. He served in the United States Army. On Nov. 26, 1964, Dawson married Margaret E. Hirons in Arlington Heights. Dawson was a member of St. Joseph Catholic Church and the Knights of Columbus. He enjoyed spending time with his family and friends. Survivors include his wife of 52 years Margaret; children, Peter (Karen) Dawson of Frisco, Texas, Paul (Paula) Dawson of Doylestown, Pennsylvania and Theresa Dawson of Grapevine, Texas; daughterin-law, Tina Dawson Scott (Brian Scott) of Harvard; six grandchildren, Luke Dawson, Devon Dawson, Grace Dawson, Tate Dawson, Kailey Haron and Phoebe Haron; one brother, Frank Dawson. He was preceded in death by one son, Mark Dawson; and two brothers, Joseph and Kenneth Dawson. In lieu of flowers, donation may be given to JourneyCare Hospice, 405 Lake Zurich Road, Barrington, IL 60010. Have someone’s life you’d like to honor? Email courtney@hplandmark.com with information about a loved one who was part of the Highland Park/Highwood community. Bitter From Page 19 one who has that kind of power and position and a really good job, and they hate it. I like that cynical, kind of dark sense of humor.” In the past two decades, the original comedy troupe has expanded into multiple companies, all under the Bitter Jester brand. Bitter Jester Studios is the production company, which created the pieces nominated for this year’s Emmys. Bitter Jester Creative Development is a writing and development company, and Bitter Jester Foundation for the Arts is a non-profit, which is now home to the sketch comedy troupe as well as the Bitter Jester Battle of the Bands, which happens annually in Highland Park. While Bitter Jester is rooted in comedy, it doesn’t mean they can’t tackle serious subjects. One of the Emmy-nominated pieces they produced this year is a video for Cal’s Angels, a nonprofit based out of St. Charles, that grants wishes to children with pediatric cancer. “(The video) was exactly what I had hoped for because we worked so hard to grow the foundation and to educate,” Cal’s Angels co-founder Stacey Sutter said. “When you bring awareness to anything, you’re going to end up raising more dollars. More dollars is going to create more research and more research will hopefully someday lead to a cure.” The video is nominated for Outstanding Achievement for Human Interest Programming — Program/Special/Series/ Segment as well as a directing nomination for DeGrazia for Outstanding Crafts Achievement Off-Air — Directing. Sutter was so pleased with the awareness Cal’s Angels received from the nominations she decided to pay it forward — becoming the platinum sponsor for the awards. “I’m a believer in giving back when people help us,” Sutter said about the sponsorship. While DeGrazia is very happy with the work Bitter Jester has done so far, he has further dreams to grow the companies in the future — potentially including a brewery. “Bitter Jester is a great name for a beer,” DeGrazia said. “I don’t ever expect that to become a multi-million dollar business, but it would be a cool way for us to give Christmas presents to people and have a local brew that’s maybe stocked in a couple of places.” Even with the future plans, he still sees his many companies being rooted in Highland Park. “I couldn’t find a better community to have (my companies) in to be quite honest,” DeGrazia said. “I feel very artistically free and creatively able here. I just love it here.”
hplandmark.com highland park the highland park landmark | December 8, 2016 | 21 “THE 8TH WONDER OF THE WORLD. ...” —Joe Heard, former White House photographer Connecting Heaven and Earth “ ALL-NEW 2017 SHOW WITH LIVE ORCHESTRA I’ve reviewed about 4,000 shows. None can compare to what I saw tonight.” —Richard Connema, renowned Broadway critic “Absolutely the No.1 show in the world. No other company or of any style can match this!” — Kenn Wells, former lead dancer of the English National Ballet “Absolutely the greatest of the great! It must be experienced.” —Christine Walevska, “goddess of the cello”, watched Shen Yun 5 times “This is the highest and best of what humans can produce.” —Oleva Brown-Klahn, singer and musician “AWE-INSPIRING!” — “I just wish there is a way that I could cry out to mankinds, they owe it to themselves to experience Shen Yun.” —Jim Crill, veteran producer, watched Shen Yun 4 times Early Bird code: Early17 Get best seats, waive service & facility fee by Dec.31 SECURE YOUR BEST SEATS TODAY! Tickets sold out in many cities across north America! FEB 7-8 University Park Center for Performing Arts FEB 11-19 Chicago Harris Theater MAR 10 -12 Rosemont Rosemont Theatre Tickets ShenYun.com/Chicago 888-99-SHOWS (74697)
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