Geneva civil rights advocate receives prestigious Barth Award

If just being a good guy would help land the top volunteer award from TriCity Family Services, Loy Williams of Geneva would win without doing much of anything else.

But TCFS puts a lot more qualifying factors than that on its William D. Barth Award - and Williams passes that test. Even beyond his volunteer contributions focusing on children and the welfare of others, Williams is also the first, and maybe the only, person in the Tri-Cities I have known who requested a meeting with Martin Luther King Jr. in 1965 and got it.

Williams, a resident of Geneva, earned the Barth Award this week for, among other things, his work on behalf of children as a volunteer and leader of the Changing Children's Worlds Foundation of Geneva.

His work with that group resulted in becoming one of the first local certified facilitators of the International Child Development Program.

Two years ago, he was awarded the Changing Children Worlds Foundation Champion of Empathy Award for his dedication to the organization.

As a counselor and social worker for more than three decades, it should also be noted that Williams was the first paid executive director of TCFS from 1976 to 1981. Prior to that, the agency was called the TriCity Youth Project.

Williams was working in juvenile corrections in Iowa when a consultant from Chicago told him about the TCFS opening. He applied and got the job.

"William D. Barth, a founder of the organization, was on the board at that time and he was a good man and became a good friend," Williams said. "I am doubly honored to be receiving an award with his name on it."

He's been a school social worker for six districts in the Fox Valley area and has worked at a counseling practice in St. Charles for 42-plus years.

His volunteer work for the Geneva Rotary Club and Fox Valley Presbyterian, where he is a parish associate pastor, also indicates where this fellow's mindset has been most of his life.

As a student at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Williams became a civil rights advocate. As part of the Southern Leadership Christian Conference, Williams and others helped Martin Luther King's organization with voter registration in Dallas.

He was in Selma, Alabama, at the time of the infamous Bloody Sunday event.

"I was working with others there and set up a radio network to Dallas, reporting on what the daily events were in Selma," Williams said.

Not long after that, Williams got a telegram from King, encouraging him to bring as many people as he could to a civil rights rally in Montgomery, Alabama.

"I raised money and rented a couple of Greyhound buses and brought faculty and students from SMU to Montgomery in the spring of 1965," he said.

That fall, Williams said, he "got my courage up" and called the university president to request a meeting with Dr. King.

"I expected to really have to make my case, but he just said, OK," Williams said. "About six of us students got to meet Dr. King and ask how we could support his work. He was clearly the most charismatic person, in his own quiet way, I have ever met."

The message of caring for all people has been part of Williams' DNA ever since. He has been a civil rights advocate, reaching out to the Muslim community in Batavia and Latino community in Geneva through various programs.

"They are great and wonderful people, and I have enjoyed connecting with them," Williams added.

That's a statement that needs to find its way into a lot more minds and hearts these days.

50 years for Batavia:

Congratulations to the Batavia Park District, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary of serving the community.

The public is invited to attend a gala celebration set for 7 to 11 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 2, at Shannon Hall. Cost is $30 per person or $50 a couple.

Simply having a good time will be the order of that night, but it's possible some residents might quiz park district officials about the idea they are floating for a new recreational center in the community.

From early feedback, it seems most Batavians would like to see an upgrade to park district facilities. The park district lost on a community vote in 2010 to build a new facility in the retail strip along Island Avenue.

It's too late now to lament that loss, but we know the score with retail. Places will come and go and some spots will sit empty for months, or even years, at a time.

A new park district facility would have looked quite good in that spot right about now.

Stories behind the school:

When the site for a state-run complex for boys has been in a community for more than 100 years, there are quite a few stories to tell.

The St. Charles History Museum is taking on that task with its new exhibit providing details about the St. Charles Boys School, which sat on property along Route 38, west of Randall Road.

One of the first stories I did as a reporter in this region more than 40 years ago centered on an interview with a new manager at the facility. I can't recall the person's name, but I remember what it was like going into the complex and thanking my lucky stars I never had to spend time there.

It was built in 1902 as the Illinois State Home for Delinquent Boys, and still operates today as the Illinois Youth Center.

It promises to be a fascinating trip down memory lane based on one example the museum cites in its press release about one of the school's most notorious members. This was a guy who definitely didn't take to the rehab mission unfolding at the school.

Turns out, gangster "Baby Face Nelson" lived there in his teen years and ultimately went on to gain notoriety as Public Enemy No. 1.

An opening reception for the exhibit takes place from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 25, at the museum. The exhibit will be in place until the end of the year.

Those top pizzas:

A recent survey by the Daily Meal ranked the top pizzas in America, with Pequod's and Lou Malnati's Pizzeria being the two Illinois joints that cracked the top 10.

Pequod's was fourth and Malnati's ninth in the survey. We went to Pequod's a couple of times in Chicago when our son was at DePaul, and we came home raving about it each time.

But the list doesn't do much for me because it doesn't have any Tri-Cities area pizzerias on it - and those are the ones that matter.

So, let's just say any list of the best pizzas has to have Salerno's of St. Charles and Riverside Pizza, with spots in Batavia and St. Charles, on it. Aurelio's in Geneva would be looking to push its way into a top ranking as well.

dheun@sbcglobal.net