Roots Aurora honors three who share culture

Three Aurora residents who have enriched the city by sharing their cultural heritage were honored by the Roots Aurora festival on Sept. 1 in downtown Aurora.

Viola Moldovan is of Romanian descent and grew up in the heavily ethnic enclave of Pigeon Hill in Aurora. Still active with St. Michael Romanian Byzantine Church, where she volunteers as parish secretary, she was honored for her 40-year commitment to a public library program during the holidays.

One of the initial participants in the program, Moldovan has decorated a Christmas tree in the Romanian style since 1976. In later years, she has been assisted by her cousin, Darlene Ardelean. Moldovan also has played a pivotal role in the traditional bake sales and sausage sales of the Romanian community.

Josette Smith, who came to Aurora from France in the early 1960s as the bride of an American GI, distinguished herself as a cultural leader during the U.S. Bicentennial. She recruited acquaintances to set up a festival eatery named International Cafe during the city's summer festival, Aurorafest, and sewed traditional costumes of the French provinces for children in the Fourth of July parade.

Later that year, Smith persuaded the public library to begin a program called Christmas in Many Lands and organized representatives of seven countries to decorate trees in their native styles.

Today, 40 years later, the program is still flourishing and boasts more than 35 trees and exhibits. The French tree is now decorated by Smith's daughter, Crystal Smith Anderson, and granddaughter, Rhiannon Anderson.

Prakasam Tata is an environmental scientist from India who has spent a long career as a consultant on wastewater treatment and safe water. He has worked with the governments of dozens of countries, as well as the United Nations and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Tata was honored for his support of the Sri Annanacharya Project North America, an organization devoted to creating awareness of Indian classical arts, including literature, dance and music. The organization frequently presents artists at the Balaji Hindu temple in Aurora.