Waubonsee College community remembers former board member
Former board member Richard C. Bodie is being remembered by Waubonsee Community College officials as a trustee who was part of his family's 38-year legacy of supporting the institution.
Bodie, of Aurora, died Jan. 19. He was 97.
Bodie was a Korean War veteran who worked as a surgeon in the Aurora area until he retired in 1986, according to The Healy Chapel.
When his wife, Janet, died in 1997, Bodie was appointed to her seat on the Waubonsee Community College board of trustees. He was reelected to that position and served until his retirement in April 2019. Janet Bodie had been a board member since 1980.
The Bodies "were strong advocates for education, for Waubonsee Community College, and for Waubonsee students," College President Christine Sobek said.
Bodie, who served on the college board's policy committee, was Waubonsee's representative to the Illinois Community College Trustee Association, or ICCTA, and a member of the group's executive committee, according to the college. He was given three Trustee Educations Awards by the ICCTA and was awarded its Certificate of Merit last June.
In memory of his wife, Bodie established and funded the Janet Bodie Memorial Scholarship at Waubonsee. In 1992, the college's Bodie Hall was named in honor of Janet.
"Their service on our board of trustees, scholarship and countless other ways they have supported students for nearly 40 years demonstrated their belief in the power of education to change lives," Sobek said. "Their legacy will continue to support student success for years to come."
A 1943 graduate of Notre Dame University, Bodie served as a surgeon for a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital unit during the Korean War. He married Janet in 1947 and they had nine children. He was appointed as the first director of the Kane County Health Department when it was created in 1985.
Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 24, at The Healy Chapel, 370 Division Drive in Sugar Grove. Funeral services will be 10 a.m. Jan. 25, at the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, 801 Oak St. in North Aurora.