John Kieken

Luchini celebrates 100th birthday

What do you do when you turn 100? You throw a party, of course! That’s exactly what Lea Luchini did on Feb. 18 when family and friends gathered in celebration at Papa Joe’s in Orland Park. A Facebook campaign by her eldest grandson yielded more than 200 birthday cards, which Luchini presented to Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau at a village board meeting on Feb. 20. Lea was born on Feb. 15, 1923, to Emil and Adele Tonelli in Gragnola, a mountain hamlet in Northern Tuscany. When she was 2, she moved to the Roseland neighborhood of Chicago with her …

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