Naperville resident named honorary consul to Slovakia

For more than 20 years, Naperville resident Rosemary Macko Wisnosky has quietly devoted time and energy to the betterment of the Slovak Republic.

Monday, for the first time, she was rewarded for her efforts.

Slovak Republic President Ivan Gasparovic and several other dignitaries and military officials traveled from the NATO summit to Lisle’s Benedictine University to open the Consulate of the Slovak Republic in Chicago and install Wisnosky as honorary consul.

Wisnosky, an 18-year Benedictine University trustee with great pride in her Slovak heritage, selected the campus for her installation to honor the university’s roots as an institution founded to educate immigrants from the former Czechoslovakian.

With the help of a translator, Gasparovic touted Slovakia’s strong economy and growth onto the world stage.

There was a time, he said, when no one would have even dreamed of Slovakia having a seat at the NATO table next to the United States and France, among others.

That growth, he said, is in part due to the work of Wisnosky and the 12 other Slovakia consuls in the U.S.

“It is a true honor to be here with you tonight to open the Chicago Consulate and install you as honorary consul,” Gasparovic said through a translator. “Thank you for all you do.”

In her new role of honorary consul, Wisnosky will help organize official Slovak visits; help develop Slovak commercial, economic and tourist events; extend assistance to scientists, artists, journalists, teachers, students and others; and assist citizens of the Slovak Republic abroad who find themselves in distress.

“Through the years I have developed wide networks of people in Slovakia and in the United States that have continued to enrich my understanding of the culture and history in the region,” Wisnosky said. “As honorary consul, my first interest is helping to develop economic ties between the two countries. I am truly honored to be given this opportunity.”

She was a founding member of the Slovak American Cultural Society of the Midwest in the late 1980s.

A few years later, late former Naperville Mayor Sam Macrane asked her to be on a task force to identify several cities within emerging Central and Eastern European democracies that would be good candidates to become a sister city.

The task force established 31 criteria and held competitions with several cities.

Nitra, Slovakia, was ultimately selected, and a partnership between the two cities was formalized in 1993. Wisnosky served on the Sister Cities Commission and was its second chair.

“Dennis and I were in Slovakia on the year of its birth. We worked diligently on the Naperville Sister City initiative and participated to delegations to Nitra on several occasions,” she said. “The sister city initiative has brought many Slovaks to the area and to be guests in our homes and, ultimately, friends in our hearts.”

Wisnosky has traveled to Slovakia on many occasions.

She went there in 1993 to ratify the Sister City agreement and visited again in 1996 in an official capacity.

In 1998 she returned to Slovakia as part of a delegation to celebrate the 750th anniversary of Nitra receiving a royal city charter.

Then, in 2000, she traveled to Slovakia to be named “Honored Citizen of Nitra.” It was the first time the award was given to anyone not born on Slovak soil.

The consular office is located at 34 S. Washington Street, Naperville.