Profiles

Iovino a local legend on the accordion

\ Playing the accordion for hospital patients. Working as a crossing guard. Dog sitting for 30 clients. At age 71, Linda Iovino likes to keep busy, never forgetting a quote she read at the bookstore when she was in high school: “It takes 12 muscles to smile and 72 muscles to frown.” While the numbers may or may not be accurate, the underlying message exemplifies how Iovino continues to live her life. “With what is going on in our world today, people are having a hard time getting through the day,” she says. “We all need to do things that …

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Krause brings language learning to life

Italian language teacher Lauren Krause loves to bring food and cultural items into the classroom to make the learning experience more vivid for her students. “Most recently, students tried 100% extra virgin authentic olive oil, which many had never tried in their lives,” says Krause, a 7th and 8th grade Italian teacher at Indian Trail Junior High School in Addison, Illinois. “It was so fun seeing their reactions.” Krause has taught for 13 years at Indian Trail, where she currently teaches six sections of Italian to around 100 students each day. Her Italian level 1 course takes place over two …

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Pechulis helps fill urgent health-care need

Westlake Urgent Care is a labor of love and source of pride for Shellye Pechulis, a nurse with more than four decades of experience who was integral to its creation in 2021. Pechulis, 71, currently works as nurse administrator at the non-profit urgent care facility in Melrose Park, which was created by her and a team of doctors, nurses and medical professionals who banded together to meet the needs of the community. “When we opened up everybody laughed at us and said we’d never make it,” she recalls. “Well, here we are.” Pechulis, whose father was born in Foggia, Italy, …

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Mueller keeps linguistic flame burning brightly

Now in his 7th year as a high school Italian-language teacher, Cody Mueller can’t imagine a career better suited for him. At one point, however, he came close to giving up on his dream. “It was a bumpy road there for a while,” the 30-year-old says. “Right out of college, I felt very enthusiastic about everything. I was working part-time but I had a hard time nailing down a full-time position, and I got a little bit exhausted. I started to lose faith in being able to find that stability and I even left teaching for two years.” A lifelong …

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Schiro pours passion for heritage into OSDIA role

Being Italian has always been central to Frank Schiro’s identity, and for decades he has devoted himself to highlighting the accomplishments and contributions of the community in the United States. An experienced litigator and trial attorney in Milwaukee, Schiro recently was elected president of the Order Sons and Daughters of Italy in America, Grand Lodge of Illinois and Wisconsin. He is the founder of the former Filippo Mazzei Greater Milwaukee Lodge, which in 2009 merged with the Chicago Lodge to become the current Grand Lodge. Joining Schiro as Grand Lodge officers are Immediate Past President Marie Marsalli, Orator James LasCola, …

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Cabrini film a miracle in the making

The seed for “Cabrini,” the soon-to-be-released biopic of America’s first saint, was planted nearly seven decades ago by a young man in a small church in Philadelphia. The year was 1955 and J. Eustace Wolfington was just starting out in business. Born and raised in the City of Brotherly Love, he was 23 years old at the time. A devout Catholic, Wolfington was hoping to fit in an early-morning Mass before the start of a long workday. By chance, he chose St. Donato Church, where he encountered a statue of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, who founded the parish’s school in …

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Air Force Chief Master Sergeant Ernest “Skip” Dalle Molle

Over the course of a 28-year career as an administrator for the Air Force, Ernest “Skip” Dalle Molle came to realize the key role that helping people played in so many of his job descriptions. One of five children, Ernest “Skip” Dalle Molle was born in Evergreen Park to Ernest and Mary (Bertoletti) Dalle Molle. He grew up in the Roseland neighborhood of Chicago surrounded by his large, extended family: Some were down the block, his maternal grandparents were four blocks away and others lived within eight miles. Dalle Molle’s paternal grandparents emigrated from Lugo di Vincenza, and his maternal …

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Sportscaster Maria Marino

A veteran sportscaster at the age of 34, Maria Marino is forever broadening her skills and expanding her horizons in the profession. Multimedia on-air personality Maria Marino has a clear philosophy: Take advantage of any opportunity for growth. “I want to keep pushing boundaries,” the 34-year-old New Jersey native says. “It can be a hard path, but I think it’s rewarding when you keep challenging yourself and putting yourself in situations where you’re going to learn and grow.” For the past year, Marino has worked for the sports media company Action Network, where she hosts the Monday-through-Friday podcast “Green Dot …

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Philly Museum founder Michael Bonasera

A native of Brooklyn, Michael Bonasera has invested countless volunteer hours in the creation and running of the History of Italian Immigration Museum in Philadelphia. Michael Bonasera is the designer, builder and curator of the History of Italian Immigration Museum in Philadelphia. A mechanical engineer by trade, Bonasera, 69, has poured thousands of volunteer hours into the museum, which is part of Filitalia International, a nonprofit that promotes and preserves Italian heritage, language and customs throughout the world. He spoke with Fra Noi about how he started the museum, its mission and how it has evolved over the last decade. …

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Cooperation in classroom is key for Suraci

Italian teacher Francesca Tinnirello Suraci says the key to being an effective educator is to let your passion show. “You have to show how passionate you are about something, through your energy and your love for the subject,” Suraci says. “Those are the teachers that made the most impact on me.” Her Italian high school teacher, Dorina Spiering, was a great inspiration, says Suraci, a board member for the Midwest Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of Italian. “She was such a passionate, bubbly person. I had never seen such a passion in a person,” she says, adding the …

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