Local community activist Maria Bappert was among those honored when the City of Chicago Department on Aging held its 38th Annual Senior Citizen of the Year Awards Luncheon at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel, in conjunction with the Chicago Park District’s Senior Citizen of the Year presentations. Presenters were Mayor Richard M. Daley; Timothy Mitchell, General Superintendent of the Chicago Park District; and Joyce Gallagher, Commissioner of the Chicago Department on Aging.
Each year, seniors are recognized for making a positive response to the challenge of retirement, making use of the experience of a lifetime and in many instances acquiring new skills and careers. Each alderman recommends one senior in his Ward to be inducted into the Senior Citizen Hall of Fame.
Upon the recommendation of Ald. Gene Schulter (47th), Maria P. Bappert was nominated for the Class of 2005 based on her lifetime contributions to her community. As the mother of three boys, Maria became a volunteer in the schools they attended, working as home typist for St. John Berchman School, and home typist and teacher’s aide at Queen of Angels School.
Many of Maria’s volunteer activities were in Scouting. All three sons went through the Cub Scout and Boy Scout programs, and Maria started out as a den mother. She likes to comment that now the position has been renamed "den leader," but the pay remains the same. Her oldest son, Martin, became an Eagle Scout. Since getting involved in Scouting, Maria has received numerous awards for her leadership with Cub Scout Pack 3903 and Boy Scout Troop 903. She’s also been recognized on the District levels, where she served with membership drives, fundraising, leadership training, newsletter publication, programs, etc. For all of this service, she received the Award of Merit from the Chicago Area Council Boy Scouts of America in 1973 and the Silver Beaver Award for distinguished service to youth in 1977.
Other volunteer activities that both Frank and Maria Bappert enjoyed were their participation in choirs such as the German Choir of St. Alphonsus, Austrian Mixed Chorus and Queen of Angels Choir. Since 1994, Maria has directed the Mixed Chorus of the Society of Danube Swabians. She is active with organizations such as the Greater Rockwell Organization as membership chairman and public safety officer; the Kiwanis Club of Ravenswood which works with the Key Club members of Amundsen and Mather High Schools, etc.
She served as Secretary, Treasurer, Program Director and finally as Executive Director of the Lincoln Square Chamber of Commerce for 16 years. She retired from the Chamber in 2003, but continues her involvement in the Lincoln Square community as an Ambassador for the Chamber, especially in regard to the CAPS programs. She represents the Chamber on the 19th District (Belmont Avenue) Advisory Council where she is recording secretary, and beat facilitator of Beat 1911. She also continues to help publicize the special events of community organizations such as the Ravenswood Food Pantry, Prayer Vigils for Peace at Luther Memorial Church, Ravenswood Covenant Seniors, Queen of Angels events, and German Masses at St. Alphonsus Church, just to name a few. She continues to work part-time as Administrative Assistant for The Greek Star newspaper, where she has been for 25 years. |
