Arlene Hawks spent 32 years at East Aurora High School teaching theater and something else.
“I always said, be proud of who you are, and make sure you know who you are,” she said.
On Friday, the celebration in downtown Aurora was about who she is. She was honored as the city celebrated its Italian-American community, and Hawks was one of those who received recognition from the city as a person of Italian heritage.
The Italian flag was raised in what has been dubbed One Aurora Plaza in front of North Island Center, where flag-raising has become a regular recognition of different communities within the city.
This was the first time the Italian flag has been raised, which gave city officials a chance to honor several well-known Italian-Americans, including Hawks.
In addition to her 32 years at East Aurora, Hawks also taught at Simmons Junior High School and Aurora University, and directed the Fox Valley Park District’s summer state productions from 1983 to 2017. The auditorium at East Aurora was named for her after she retired.
Awards also went to Ald. Carl Franco, 5th, the only Italian-American on the City Council, city attorney Rick Veenstra, and Alex Minnella, a member of the city’s Economic Development division and himself a first generation emigre from Italy.
Minnella helped arrange an exchange between Aurora and the Italian cities of Bergamo and Rimini, a city-to-city effort stressing urban innovation and sustainable development that was sponsored by the European Union’s International Urban and Regional Cooperation program.
Minnella called Italians “a country of people and passion.”
The event also featured a visit from Ron Onesti, the Chicago area entertainment mogul who is president of the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans, and Stephanie Corona, a North Aurora resident who is part of the Queens Court for the 2024 Columbus Day Parade in Chicago.
Onesti said the civic committee represents more than 500,000 Italian-Americans in and around Chicago, and helps organize the Columbus Day parade in Chicago each year.
He said this year’s parade will feature a cooperative of Native American groups marching as a show of healing and unity. And he praised the flag raising in Aurora as an event that not only honors contributions, but “opens up our hearts and minds and souls to learn about each other’s cultures and customs.”
In accepting his award, Franco talked about how both his grandfather and grandmother came to America from Italy — one through Ellis Island in New York and the other through New Orleans. They met and married and began raising a family in Chicago.
He talked about how important family is in the Italian community.
“My family was very proud to be Italian-Americans,” he said.
slord@tribpub.com