Post by title1parent on Dec 27, 2008 7:32:42 GMT -5
www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/news/1350796,2_1_AU27_FRY_S1.article
'Quiet' leader in education and business
December 27, 2008
By SUSAN FRICK CARLMAN scarlman@scn1.com
Laurabelle Fry wasn't one to cause a big splash. That quality, interestingly, might have had the effect of drawing people to her.
Alan Fry, her son, still hears people say they remember her as a highly effective educator.
"She was a very quiet, kind of behind-the-scenes person," he said. "I was always surprised that she was such a successful teacher because she never called attention to herself."
She was one of three teachers who made up the faculty at Wheatland Elementary School at Route 59 and 103rd Street when it opened in 1950 with an enrollment of 62 students. Alan said he thinks her "quiet strength" commanded respect in the classroom.
Fry Elementary School, which the Indian Prairie School District opened in Naperville in 2001, is named in honor of Laurabelle Fry and her six-generation Naperville family. Her husband, John, and two of his brothers developed 1,600 acres flanking Route 59 in southwest Naperville, including the present sites of Neuqua Valley High School and Fry Elementary.
When she passed away Dec. 19 at age 89, she left behind her business colleague and husband of 65 years, two sons and assorted other family.
In the offices of Fry Properties, the family's land-development company, as in the classroom, she had a low-key but powerful presence as she worked alongside her spouse.
"They were marriage partners and they were business partners," said Alan, noting that his mom continued to attend company meetings when she was into her 80s. "She knew everything that was going on."
Members of the Church of the Brethren in Naperville for about 50 years, the Frys moved to Knox Presbyterian Church in the early 1990s, Alan said. All through his childhood, his mother saw to it that he and his brothers went to Sunday school every week.
She also walked the walk, he said.
"She told us, 'If you can't say anything nice about another person, don't say anything at all,'" Alan said. "And she practiced that herself, all through her life."
'Quiet' leader in education and business
December 27, 2008
By SUSAN FRICK CARLMAN scarlman@scn1.com
Laurabelle Fry wasn't one to cause a big splash. That quality, interestingly, might have had the effect of drawing people to her.
Alan Fry, her son, still hears people say they remember her as a highly effective educator.
"She was a very quiet, kind of behind-the-scenes person," he said. "I was always surprised that she was such a successful teacher because she never called attention to herself."
She was one of three teachers who made up the faculty at Wheatland Elementary School at Route 59 and 103rd Street when it opened in 1950 with an enrollment of 62 students. Alan said he thinks her "quiet strength" commanded respect in the classroom.
Fry Elementary School, which the Indian Prairie School District opened in Naperville in 2001, is named in honor of Laurabelle Fry and her six-generation Naperville family. Her husband, John, and two of his brothers developed 1,600 acres flanking Route 59 in southwest Naperville, including the present sites of Neuqua Valley High School and Fry Elementary.
When she passed away Dec. 19 at age 89, she left behind her business colleague and husband of 65 years, two sons and assorted other family.
In the offices of Fry Properties, the family's land-development company, as in the classroom, she had a low-key but powerful presence as she worked alongside her spouse.
"They were marriage partners and they were business partners," said Alan, noting that his mom continued to attend company meetings when she was into her 80s. "She knew everything that was going on."
Members of the Church of the Brethren in Naperville for about 50 years, the Frys moved to Knox Presbyterian Church in the early 1990s, Alan said. All through his childhood, his mother saw to it that he and his brothers went to Sunday school every week.
She also walked the walk, he said.
"She told us, 'If you can't say anything nice about another person, don't say anything at all,'" Alan said. "And she practiced that herself, all through her life."