The quiet public service that surrounds us every day

It is inspiring, or should be, to read about people like Gregory Sarlo of Des Plaines.

Sarlo, who served as president of the Des Plaines Public Library Board of Trustees for 13 of his 14 years on the board beginning in 2012, died last week at the age of 61. Senior Writer Russell Lissau described the community’s reaction to his death in a story published on Friday.

“Dr. Gregory Sarlo was the best of us. We are better off for his leadership and vision, and his loss leaves a hole in our community that will be difficult to fill,” said Des Plaines Mayor Andrew Goczkowski.

“Through visionary leadership, unwavering dedication and extraordinary service, Gregory has made a profound and lasting contribution to the betterment of the Des Plaines Public Library,” said Kristen Graack, the board’s vice president, in a prepared statement.

Sarlo led other board members and employees “to strive for excellence and meaningful impact,” said library Director Laurie Papadourakis.

Such comments are validations of a life of service well-lived. Such lives deserve our attention and our respect.

But they also should remind us of how much commitment to community, how much dedication to service, how much unheralded excellence describes the foundations of our public institutions throughout all of the suburbs.

Oh, Sarlo was surely an outlier in some respects. His labors did not exactly go unrecognized. The owner, along with husband and fellow psychologist Danny Brewer, of Psychological Consultations in Chicago and chief of psychology at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, he had achieved professional success, and he had achieved professional and personal distinction.

He was a co-chair of the hospital’s ethics committee. The Illinois Psychological Association recognized him with its inaugural Enduring Contributions Award. The Cook County Board declared this June to be Dr. Gregory Sarlo Pride Month, and the American Psychological Association is set to honor him posthumously with its Armand Cerbone Distinguished Lifetime Contribution Award.

But outside his professional circle and except for those people who closely follow library activities, his was not a household name. And, there are hundreds like him in countless diverse positions in our suburbs.

Lake County Forest Preserves Director Ken Jones was recently cited with a Professional Fellow Award by the National Association of County Park and Recreation Officials. Among his many accomplishments, Jones helped acquire nearly 750 acres, including two new forest preserves, in 2025, accounting for more than a third of the Lake board’s 10-year acquisition goal in a single year, according to a release from the preserves.

Not to be outdone, a volunteer for the board, Dale Shields, was honored by the same national body as its Outstanding Volunteer. Shields has been a volunteer with the Lake County agency for 37 years and created a 307-page Seed Collection Guide documenting 589 species of native plants in the county. He has been active in bumble bee monitoring and photographed more than 500 species of pollinators found in the preserves.

Citing his “quiet leadership, generosity of spirit and unwavering commitment to Glen Ellyn, reflecting the very best of our community,” the Glen Ellyn Chamber of Commerce recognized Leroy Boeckelman with its Scott Willsey Hometown Hero Award. The award acknowledges Boeckelman’s 16 years of volunteer service with gardening projects, but the chamber also notes his life’s experience as a tutor for English as a Second Language students, an election judge, precinct committeeman, ambassador for his church, and member of the League of Women Voters.

In St. Charles, retired teacher Mike Hill has served 21 years on the St. Charles Public Library board.

In Wheeling, the park board last month recognized retiring Executive Director Jan Buchs for 33 years of service with a resolution praising her for contributing “so very much toward enhancement of the district and the betterment of the quality of life in the community.”

The list could go on and on. We often cast about the phrase “public servant” with almost detached nonchalance, at times perhaps even disdain. And yet there are among us scores of Sarlos and Joneses and Shieldses and Hills and Boeckelmans and Buchses, quietly, persistently, selflessly toiling away on behalf of our communities every day. Some get their moments of recognition. Scores more simply serve until they can serve no more. They all deserve our respect and our thanks.

• Jim Slusher, jslusher@dailyherald.com, is managing editor for opinion at the Daily Herald. Follow him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/jim.slusher1 and on X at @JimSlusher. His book “To Nudge The World: Conversations, community and the role of the local newspaper” is available at eckhartzpress.com.