Roast gives way to tribute to retiring Schaumburg business group prez
Family, friends and decades of professional colleagues gathered Wednesday at the Chicago Marriott Schaumburg to wish Schaumburg Business Association President Laurie Stone a happy retirement.
Organizers of the bash largely stayed true to their aim to make it a lively roast of Stone, but the warm feelings grew more unshielded as the evening progressed.
But Stone's longtime sparring partner when she led the Greater O'Hare Association - Elk Grove Village President Craig Johnson - turned out to be the night's "surprise guest" and provided the greatest amount of acerbic wit.
Johnson was a leader in the fight against airport expansion when Stone's Greater O'Hare Association was among its strongest advocates.
As the theme from "Rocky" began playing over the loudspeakers, former SBA board Chairman Jeff Miller announced a "rematch." A spotlight picked up Johnson bouncing into the room wearing boxing gloves and shadowboxing his way to the podium.
Johnson told a long, complicated joke that ended up being at Stone's expense. He then appeared to grow more sentimental - recalling the memory of his late mother who told him never to speak anything but good of people - before leaving the stage after a moment of silence.
He then greeted Stone in the audience to make it clear he was only kidding.
Stone's son, David Kahan, told of his "different" childhood in which his mother taught him to adopt not the sportsmanship but the self-defensive fighting strategies of Chicago Blackhawks.
And Stone's daughter and longtime co-worker, Andrea Biwer, spoke of her own ever-changing strategies of both acknowledging and concealing that Stone was her mother.
SBA founder Brian Burke recalled how Stone talked him out of hiring Biwer to head the new organization so that she could have a new start herself.
"The idea that she would talk to me about this little fledgling chamber was both amazing and exciting," Burke said. "I remember saying, 'I can deliver Laurie Stone, but I need more money.'"
Stone closed the night herself with words of gratitude and inspiration.
"I wish for every person to find a career that they love," she said. "When that becomes part of your life, you can't help but succeed."