Schoene takes next big step along volunteer path

Phyllis Colonna Schoene has been a member of the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans for 60 years and was part of its all-volunteer staff for nearly a decade before being invited to asked to fill a big pair of shoes. That call came after Jo Ann Serpico, the organization’s beloved, longtime executive director, passed away last April.

“We miss her, she was our leader,” Schoene says. “She was well loved in the community and continues to be.”

Schoene says she is truly honored that JCCIA President Ron Onesti chose her to succeed Serpico, and is grateful for the opportunity to continue Serpico’s work.

No stranger to service or the JCCIA, Schoene attend a JCCIA Man of the Year dinner honoring her family’s attorney, Peter Scalise, when she was a senior in high school. She was so impressed with the event and the camaraderie of her fellow Italian Americans she decided to get involved.

“I just felt that I wanted to have this as part of my life,” she says.

She joined the JCCIA’s Women’s Division in 1968, the year it was formed by then-Congressman Frank Annunzio. She became the president of the Women’s Division in 1978 and chair its Italian Heritage Ball and Cotillion the same year. Since 1993, Schoene and Judy Guzaldo have chaired the biannual impresa Awards, which honor outstanding Chicago-area Italian American women in a variety of fields.

Schoene estimates that the Women’s Division has bestowed more than half a million dollars in scholarship to young Italian American women over the last several decades. The presentations are made at the division’s annual fashion, show which has been spearheaded by Women’s Division President Rose Mary Ranallo and Chairperson Carmella Capriati.

Schoene indefatigable volunteer spirit has led her to become involved in the larger community as well. Most notably, she was the president of the Auxiliary of Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove from 1994 through 1996. She also served as a board member of the American Lebanese Christian Society. She is still a member of the Glen Ellyn Women’s Club and held offices with the group for quite some time.

She says volunteering has been in many ways her life’s journey.

“Up until the kids left for college I was a stay-at-home mom, but it never felt like it because of all I did as a volunteer,” Schoene says. “I just love doing it, I love being a leader. Sometimes I joke that I’m an unpaid party planner but I do it because I love it.”

When her children Justine and John left the nest, she joined her husband Harold Arno Schoene at the family business, the Bardach-Schoene Prosthetic Lab, Artificial Limbs in Elmwood Park. The enterprise was established in 1936 by his uncle Waldemar Schoene, a pioneer in the field of prosthetics. Phyllis served as the company’s business manager.

When Harold husband passed away in 2015, Phyllis became part of the JCCIA’s all-volunteer staff under Serpico, becoming the organization’s bookkeeper in 2022.

“That’s been my main responsibility,” Schoene says. “It’s not a chore at all because I really like doing it.”

Schoene is thankful that she’s had an extremely supportive family throughout all her years of volunteering.

“God willing, I’ll continue in this wonderful journey,” she says.

She also sings the praises of the women she has worked alongside for all these decades.

“My journey with the JCCIA has been deeply enriched by the dedication and expertise of the great ladies of the Women’s Division,” says.