HP_020719

22 | February 7, 2019 | The highland park landmark faith
hplandmark.com
Faith Briefs
Christ Church (1713 Green Bay Road,
Highland Park)
Weeknight Service
7-8 p.m. Thursdays,
church coffee bar. Weeknight
service is a place to
come, stay awhile, meet
people and then go make
a difference. For more
information, call (847)
234-1001 or email Brad at
bcoleman@cclf.org.
Men’s Breakfast Group
6:30-7:30 a.m. Tuesdays.
Panera Bread, 1211
Half Day Road, Bannockburn.
For more information,
contact Sean at seansmith797@gmail.com.
Trinity Episcopal (425 Laurel Avenue,
Highland Park)
Sunday Schedule
8 a.m. – Holy Eucharist,
St. Michael’s Chapel
8:45 a.m. – Fellowship
10 a.m. – Holy Eucharist
with music, Main Sanctuary
10 a.m. Sunday School
(on the 1st and 3rd
Sundays)
11 a.m. – Fellowship
Wednesday Service
9:30 a.m. – Holy Eucharist
with healing, St.
Michael’s Chapel
A Safe Place
6 p.m. Thursdays - Guild
Room
North Suburban Synagogue Beth El
(1175 Sheridan Road, Highland Park)
Open Conversational
Hebrew
10-11 a.m. Sundays.
Practice Hebrew conversation
and reading informally
with other participants.
Free. For information,
contact Judy Farby at
judyfarby@yahoo.com.
Submit information for The
Landmark’s Faith page to
Erin Yarnall at erin@hplandmark.com.
The deadline is
noon on Thursdays. Questions?
Call (847) 272-4565
In Memoriam
Regina Maximovna
Rabinovich
Regina Maximovna
Rabinovich (nee Dinnerstein)
85, of Highland
Park, Illinois passed
away peacefully on January
26th, 2019. She was
born to the late Maxim
Grigorievich (Mendel
Girshevich) Dinnerstein
and Inna Platonovna in
Moscow, Soviet Union
on September 17th, 1933
and was preceded in death
by her beloved husband,
Gennadiy Rabinovich.
She is survived by her
son, Yuri, and her three
grandsons, Mark, Max
and Matthew.
During World War II,
Regina’s family evacuated
to Uzbekistan as a result
of the invasion of the
Soviet Union. After the
war, she finished school
and went on to study Road
Transport Engineering at
the USSR Road Transport
Institute. She eventually
went on to work as a foreman
and later manager at
the Ministry of Technical
Machine-Building Industry
of the USSR. Her
career spanned over 40
years.
Regina married the love
of her life, Gennadiy in
June 1956, and they later
had a son, Yuri, born 1957.
They explored the country
and later the world together.
In 2007, Regina moved
the United States to be
closer to her son. She
loved her newfound country,
and was always ready
for the next event in life.
She had an adventurous,
curious, and accepting appreciation
for the world
and its people, and an
absolute love of life.
Neil Ament
If freelance photographer
Neil Ament was offered
an assignment by
the Highland Park Landmark
on a Saturday afternoon
when the University
of Wisconsin had a home
football game the answer
always was “No, thank
you.”
Although Ament liked
shooting sports photos for
the Landmark very much,
when he took pictures at
football, basketball and
hockey games at his alma
mater, he loved it with a
passion.
Sadly, late last year the
Landmark and the Wisconsin
Badgers lost a photographer
who was in a class
by himself when Ament
died in his sleep at age 57
at his home in Highland
Park.
Ament didn’t make his
living as a photographer.
“He was a lawyer who
mostly did real estate
work,” said his 28-yearold
daughter Melissa, who
lives in San Mateo, California.
“That was his day
job.
“Photography was his
passion.”
“Neil has been a freelance
photographer for
a handful of years,” said
Joe Coughlin, publisher
of 22nd Century Media
newspapers, including
The Highland Park
Landmark. “His work
was often captivating
and always impressive,
and Neil was nothing but
courteous and professional
with our team. He
captured joy, community
and action with such talent.
We miss him and
our thoughts are with his
family.”
Ament had working
press credentials for the
Wisconsin home games
and his work appeared on
Badgers websites.
“He was a huge Badger
fan,” Melissa said. “That
definitely was a major
part of his life. He was
at every football game,
some hockey games and
some basketball games.
He loved the Badgers so
much.”
When the word came
out that Ament had died
suddenly the response was
spontaneous: hundreds
of heartfelt tributes were
posted on Buckyville.
Among them:
Southfew — “I believe
we live on in the lives and
hearts of those we meet,
in their memories of us
and in the way we treated
them. Neil’s scorecard
in that regard is off the
charts.”
Buckballsandpucks —
“Neil had a way to make
even virtual strangers
know that he genuinely
cared for them. Simply
put, as good a dude as
I’ve had the pleasure to
meet over my 63 years.”
Badgergirl101—“I
never met Neil but I always
loved looking at his
photos. He was a great
photographer and going
by everyone’s comments a
better human being.”
LakevilleBadger—
“RIP, Neil. I will never
again attend a Badger
sporting event without
thinking of you.”
Wisconsin’s coaches
also knew and respected
Ament and appreciated
his work.”
He took a picture of the
accomplished former basketball
coach, Bo Ryan,
cutting down the net in
exultation after Wisconsin
knocked off Michigan
State in the 2010 Big Ten
Tournament semi-finals
and asked a mutual friend
if he could have Ryan sign
the photo.
Ryan’s reply to the request:
“I’ll sign it on one
condition. You need to get
me a copy because I really
like it.”
The former coach liked
it so much that when
Ament forwarded a copy
he had it framed and put
it on a bookshelf behind
his desk.
Ament, who was born
in Skokie and moved to
Highland Park when he
was a boy, began his love
affair with the Wisconsin
Badgers when he went to
college in Madison and
was a sports photographer
for the school newspaper,
The Daily Cardinal.
After receiving his
undergraduate degree,
Ament came back to the
Chicago area and enrolled
at John Marshall Law
School. He received his
Juris Doctorate and began
working for a downtown
law firm. Then, he
started his own practice.
At the time of his death,
he had an office in Northbrook.
According to Melissa,
“The bulk of what he did
was real estate law, and (in
addition to going to his office)
he would do a lot of
the work out of his home
in Highland Park. He did
a lot of pro bono work and
heavily discounted work
for his friends.”
While the Wisconsin
Badgers were the team
nearest and dearest to his
heart, Ament also was a
diehard fan of the Cubs,
Bears and Blackhawks.
Growing up in Highland
Park, he loved playing
hockey and he continued
playing as an adult.
Melissa was told that
the day she was born he
was playing in a hockey
game and her mother had
to call him. During his
adult life, he also enjoyed
skiing, biking, hiking,
fishing and camping.
Music was another
“huge, huge part of his
life,” Melissa said. “He
loved the Grateful Dead
and the Allman Brothers.
Last year he went with
some friends to a Dead
& Co. festival at Riviera
Maya in Mexico. Dead &
Co. has some members of
the Grateful Dead with a
few more people.
“He enjoyed it so much
he bought a ticket again
this year and was planning
to go back with his friends
in January. He had hotel
reservations.
“I decided to use the
ticket and hotel room and
go with his friends. There
were close to 10 of us and
I was there for six days.
It was nice being with his
friends and hearing stories
about him. I knew him as
my dad; they knew him as
their friend.”
At the time of his death
Ament was single. Both
of his marriages ended in
divorce but Melissa said
he was on good terms
with her mother, Debbi,
and “very, very close”
with his second wife’s
stepson, Jared Silber, who
lives in South Africa and
was planning to return for
a visit with him this year.
“This past September
we went on our first family
vacation in 24 years,”
reminisced Melissa. “We
went to Madison and we
all stayed in a hotel. He
went to the football game
to take pictures and my
mom and I were in the
stands watching him do
what he loved.”
Melissa said what her
father enjoyed most about
freelancing for the Landmark
was “the community
aspect—he very much enjoyed
taking pictures in
the community.”
“If he had friends who
had kids in sports he often
would go out and take pictures
on his own and give
them to the parents,” she
added. “The other thing
he would often do is send
his pictures to the people
he photographed—even if
he didn’t know them.”
Donations honoring
Ament’s memory can be
sent to the UW-Madison
Athletics Scholarship
Fund: supportthebadgers.
athletics.wisc.edu.
Reporting by Neil Milbert,
Freelance Reporter.