DuPage County's Faces of 2008

If you held up a mirror to review the past year in Naperville, Lisle and Aurora, the reflection almost certainly would include the faces on these pages.

Look closely and you will see the look of victory and achievement, the look of sadness and despair.

Look closely and you will see the faces of many who make our communities wonderful places to live and work. Look closely and you will see others who make us question just what in the world we are all doing here.

We have brought them all together for one day: a reflection of who we have been, who we are and, in many cases, who we can aspire to be.

These are our Faces of 2008:

Cpl. James Hale

The 23-year-old soldier who attended Naperville Central High School was killed Aug. 13 when his vehicle struck a roadside bomb in Baghdad. He was on his second tour of duty in Iraq.

Amy Berger

The Waubonsie Valley High School junior from Naperville launched her third Hearts for Heroes campaign in early 2008 with the ultimate goal of collecting 140,000 Valentine's Day cards for our troops serving overseas. Amy had collected 50,000 cards in 2007 to celebrate her 16th birthday.

Lance Cpl. Tony Mihalo

The 23-year-old Marine from Naperville served two tours of duty in Iraq before accepting a third tour, this time in Afghanistan. He was killed on duty in early August.

Diablo Cody

The former Benet Academy student - she was known as Brooke Busey then - won an Oscar for her first screenplay. The free spirit and former stripper penned surprise hit "Juno" and gave a tearful acceptance speech at the Academy Awards thanking her family for their support.

Evan Lysacek

The Neuqua Valley High School graduate won his second straight crown at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships Jan. 27 in Minneapolis - despite finishing with the same score as runner-up Johnny Weir.

Linda Kane

The Naperville Central teacher was fired from her job as adviser to the student newspaper after the Central Times ran a controversial series of articles about drug use at the high school. She continued to teach at the school.

Candace Parker

The Naperville Central grad and basketball superstar led the Tennessee Volunteers to their second straight NCAA women's basketball championship, won a gold medal in the Beijing Olympics and was the WNBA's No. 1 draft pick.

Eric Hanson

The 31-year-old Naperville man was convicted Feb. 20 of killing his parents, his sister and her husband in late September 2005 in a murderous rampage discovered in the affluent White Eagle subdivision on Aurora's far east side. He was sentenced to Death Row later that month.

Pomeranian puppy

The 2-month-old pooch was pilfered from a Naperville Petland store in March and then returned a few days later by an unidentified woman. Police wound up arresting three people, including two store employees, for their role in the ill-fated dognapping.

Jim Schmid

The Waubonsie Valley principal announced in late February that he would be stepping down in summer to become principal of Indian Prairie Unit District 204's new Metea Valley High School, which is scheduled to open in fall 2009.

Jim Caudill

The Naperville Central principal was embarrassed in late May when he admitted the speech he presented to seniors on the night before graduation had actually been penned a decade before by a former student who's now a teacher at the school. Naperville Unit District 203 was, too, and he was reassigned.

Patricia Wernet

The new superintendent of Lisle Unit District 202 started her new job during the summer armed with a three-year contract. She replaced Peter Lueck, who retired.

Elizabeth Brantner-Smith

The Naperville cop had a primary role in "Female Forces," which premiered in October on the Bio Channel. It's a reality TV series that features Naperville's 19 women police officers.

Doug Krieger

Naperville's finance director for the past five years was selected in late November as the new city manager to replace Peter Burchard, who abruptly left nearly a year earlier. Krieger is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy with an MBA in finance from the University of Chicago. His appointment was made official on Dec. 2.

Liese Hearth & Elliot

The schoolteacher from Aurora was inspired by her pooch Elliot's unique talent to write her first children's book: "My Dog Burps." It hit area bookstores in March.

Johnny Depp

The mega-movie star was in Aurora in early April filming scenes at the Paramount Theatre with director Michael Mann for "Public Enemies," a film about gangster John Dillinger and the creation of the FBI. Fans waited for hours to catch a glimpse of him and he obliged by chatting and shaking hands with many of them.

Wesley Gosselink

The Lisle resident got to come home in a sense when the Lisle Unit District 202 school board approved her appointment as principal of Tate Woods Elementary school and as the district's staff development coordinator. She most recently had served as an elementary principal in Burr Ridge.

Rabbi Marc Rudolph

The new rabbi at Naperville's Congregation Beth Shalom assumed his duties in September as head of the 340-family synagogue. The congregation selected him after a 14-month search.

Cori Hughes

The Naperville fourth-grader started a fundraising drive in May for the victims of the China earthquake. Adopted from China herself in 1999, she's now a student at Mill Street School.

John Wu

The Naperville fire chief was given an uncomfortable option in early April: quit or be fired. No one was saying exactly what Wu did wrong, but he was soon gone.

Mark Puknaitis

The deputy fire chief from Oak Park was named Naperville chief in late November after a lengthy search to replace Wu. One advantage: He already is a Naperville resident.

Waubonsie soccer team

The Waubonsie Valley High School girls soccer team defeated Belleville Althoff 3-0 on the last day of May to capture their second consecutive Class AA title at North Central College.

Daniel Betts

He became executive director of Naperville Park District in March after park board members conducted a nearly yearlong search. Four months later he went on an unexplained paid administrative leave and on Aug. 14 he announced he was voluntarily resigning - with more than two years left on his three-year contract.

Ray McGury

The former Naperville cop, who most recently served as chief of Bolingbrook's police department, was named Naperville Park District's executive director in August to replace Betts. He signed a one-year contract.

Revati Natesan

The Naperville woman founded the city's first monthlong Celebration of Peace in 2007 and brought it back in 2008 with a variety of activities in September and October.

William Powell

The 55-year-old Aurora police chief announced in February that he would retire on April 15, ending a 30-year run with the department and a 30-month tenure as chief. He said he had hand-picked his command staff and hoped one of them would be chosen for the position.

Greg Thomas

A veteran of 30 years with the Aurora Police Department, he was named chief in late April to replace the retired Powell. "We know we need to target violent crimes and street gangs," he said, "and that's what we're going to continue to do."

Kay Panabaker

The former Naperville teen returned to the city in September to talk to high school students about her experiences in show businesses as part of the city's inaugural Independent Film Festival. Panabaker has appeared in more than 30 films and TV shows and her next project is the remake of "Fame" due out next year.

William and Christian Chevalier

Marine Sgt. William Chevalier was serving in Iraq and had to watch via satellite link as his wife, Janelle, gave birth in December to Christian James Chevalier at Naperville's Edward Hospital. In late March, William finally got to come home to see his baby boy in person.

Shawn Collins

The environmental attorney helped lead a push by a parents group to prevent Indian Prairie Unit District 204 from building Metea Valley High School along Eola Road. The effort fell short and work is continuing on the new school that's scheduled to open in August 2009.

Laura and Jenna Bush

The first lady and her daughter came to Naperville in late April to read their children's book, "Read All About It," to Naperville Unit District 203 second-graders in the morning and adults in the evening.

Charles McLimans

He began volunteering two years ago at Naperville's Loaves & Fishes Community Pantry. In April the agency named him its executive director and less than two weeks later he was able to announce the pantry had purchased 2.6 acres where it plans to build a new facility.

Michael Cardamone

The former Aurora gymnastics coach was granted a second trial after a state appeals court overturned his conviction in March on charges of fondling seven young gymnasts. Cardamone said in a May interview that he remains adamant about clearing his name.

Alan Leis

The Naperville Unit District 203 superintendent announced in early August what school board members apparently knew for months: He's retiring after the 2008-09 school year. Leis, 60, came to Naperville in 2003 when the district was battling severe inner turmoil and largely righted the ship in terms of board relations, teacher contracts and passing a referendum to renovate Naperville Central High School.

Stephanie Miller

The 2003 Neuqua Valley High School graduate from Naperville narrowly missed qualifying for the Beijing Olympics in archery. She's been involved in the sport for 16 years and has traveled the world honing her skills.

John Rosales

The 23-year-old Naperville man was shot to death in the early morning hours of April 1 at his townhouse on Sheehan Drive during an apparent drug deal gone bad. Five people were arrested in connection with the slaying.

Kristine Marchiando & Bob McBride

The two new high school principals both started work in August - Marchiando at Waubonsie Valley and McBride at Neuqua Valley.

North cross country

The Naperville North Huskies won their first state title in cross country in early November when they edged York by a single point.

Thomas "Tim" White

The Benet Academy teacher celebrated his 50th consecutive year teaching at the Lisle school - and he's only missed one day in all that time.

Nichole Gruneisen and Michael Lyons

The two Waubonsie Valley juniors from Naperville were upset by the disrespect they felt some people in Indian Prairie Unit District 204 showed their school. So they created a "Proud to be a Warrior Day" at their Aurora school to demonstrate how much Waubonsie has to offer.

Locksley Creary

The former Naperville resident was found innocent in October of fatally beating his infant daughter four years ago. A DuPage judge cited uncertain medical evidence, lack of motive and the fact it took more than two years to charge Creary.

Tony Michelassi

When the 23-year-old grocery store photo clerk from Aurora announced his candidacy for the DuPage County Board, he figured it would be a way to gain some experience and get his name before the public. Instead, he was one of three Democrats to win seats in November on the county board.

Ron Gibson

The former Naperville Unit District 203 associate superintendent was feted in November when the district dedicated Steeple Run Elementary in his honor. Gibson, who joined the district in 1966, is viewed as its "institutional memory."

Mary Tillman

The mother of Pat Tillman, the NFL star-turned-soldier who was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan, came to Naperville in May to discuss her book, "Boots on the Ground by Dusk." The book recounts her efforts to find out what happened to her son despite efforts by the military and government to hide it.

Michael Nilles

The Aurora police officer was honored in November as the International Association of Chiefs of Police and Parade Magazine's 2008 Police Officer of the Year. He was chosen from among hundreds of nominees nationwide for his work on a multiagency investigation dubbed "First Degree Burn" that resulted in 179 counts of first-degree murder charges against v31 gang members.

Patricia Smith

The longtime volunteer in Indian Prairie Unit District 204 and the city was named Aurora's 2008 Volunteer of the Year in December. Her efforts include four years leading a parents support group for families of children with Down syndrome; holding various positions on parent-teacher organizations; and volunteering to support three referendum proposals since 1997.

Bill Wiesbrook

The assistant principal at Naperville Central High School for the past three years took over the top spot to replace Jim Caudill, who was reassigned. Wiesbrook said he was eager to start the new year, but uncertain whether he wanted to pursue the job on a permanent basis.

Robert Kennedy Jr.

The nephew of former President John Kennedy spoke to hundreds of Naperville fifth-graders in October about his love of history and his latest book, "Robert Smalls: The Boat Thief."

Martin Luther King III

The son of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. came to Naperville in October to spread his message of freedom, justice and equality as part of the Think Global Arts Foundation's Celebration of Peace.

Ted Turner

The media mogul came to Naperville in mid-November to plug his new book: "Call Me Ted," in a freewheeling discussion at North Central College.