Bill McLean

TOP RUNG

Go ahead, call Andy Rick a hero. The 17-year veteran of the Lake Forest Fire Department will thank you but he’ll also kindly disagree with you. “Some calls turned into cool stories,” recalls Rick, sworn in as chief of the department in January after serving it as a firefighter/paramedic, lieutenant, battalion chief, and deputy chief.

GIVING COUSINS

The philanthropy baton is in good hands with siblings Charlie and John Fleming. Their cousins James and Katie Gildersleeve of Lake Forest handed it to them earlier this year. “Our cousins built an amazing foundation, and we are excited to continue the mission while add- ing new ideas and our personal touch to connect local

THE RIDES OF HER LIFE

More than six decades ago, Juanita Wood Kennedy’s cousin babysat for a woman who lived near the ocean in Massachusetts. It led to Kennedy’s lifelong passion for sitting—in the saddle. “The woman was eccentric and owned two Arabian horses, one named Flame and the other Sieme,” recalls Kennedy, now 76 and a Barrington Hills resident

THAT’S PAINTER-TAINMENT

Ever wondered what you’d get if you crossed a pair of expert painters with two storytelling comrades? You’d get Ravinia District residents and longtime friends Joe Bednarski and Phil Gayter in an art gallery before a rapt and excited audience, creating paintings while exchanging gentle gibes and inviting attendees to participate in their delightful journey

BOUNTE ON HIS MIND

Steve Sinclair was 4 years old and sitting on the living room floor when he played with a Fisher Price toy phone for the first time. Seconds later, after rotating the spring-loaded dial clockwise, he attacked the phone. “I had to,” recalls the 52-year-old Sinclair, who grew up in Winnetka. “I had to take it

RUN TO GLORY

Nearly two decades before running and placing second in his age group at the 2024 Pumpkin Chase 5K in Lake Bluff, Phillip Howell—then Student Ministries Pastor of Calvary Bible Church in Bourbonnais—delivered his first sermon. “Running the race,” he says, referring to the theme of his address that had nothing to do with passing other

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Bill McLean

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