Quality time shared among five generations of family

As 2007 drifts into the history books, the year will find a special place in the vault of the Samuelson family. And the date of Aug. 22 will carry an exclamation point.

"We have five generations of the family with us now, but the date of Aug. 22 has special meaning," said Elaine Samuelson, who lives in a home on the Riverwoods Christian Center property along the Fox River on the north side of St. Charles.

The family gathered at Batavia's Heritage Woods two weeks ago to visit the oldest member of the family, 100-year-old Nellie Blacksmith, who was born Aug. 22, 1907.

And 4-month-old Caden Lucarelli was among the visitors. And the date of her birthday? Of course, it was Aug. 22, 2007, marking a perfect span of 100 years and five generations in the family.

You might need a pencil and scorecard to keep along on this: Caden's mother is Beth Lucarelli of DeKalb.

Beth's father is Clayton Samuelson of Batavia.

Clayton's mother is Elaine Samuelson. Nellie Blacksmith is the aunt of Elaine's late husband, Dwight Samuelson.

Other family members who made the visit to Heritage Woods were Nancy Samuelson, who is Clayton's wife, and their daughters Jenny Samuelson and Jackie Samuelson and granddaughter Brianna Samuelson.

"Nellie enjoyed the visit from the family, and she's just wonderful," Elaine said. "She is still very sharp."

What we wished for:

Turning the calendar is that rare time in which we can dream about all of the things that would make our communities better in the coming year. Except this past year, the Tri-Cities already were hard at work on things we might normally wish for.

In Batavia, we need that Wilson Street bridge work done so other downtown plans can start to fall into place and the sparkling riverwalk area can become even more of a centerpiece.

In Geneva, work has unfolded to make the intersection of Kirk and Route 38 easier to swallow, and East State Street is getting much-needed paving to make that a smoother ride.

In St. Charles, the long battle to improve the Main and Randall intersection is at a point where businesses in that area actually may benefit, and the First Street redevelopment has everyone talking (see my column Wednesday, as this project has earned one of my special honors).

Hard to ruin:

This falls into the category of "something we'd like to see fixed" next year. As a recent editorial in the Daily Herald pointed out, coverage of prep sports in the paper has long been the best mechanism for promoting what these programs offer to a community.

As such, I'd certainly like to see someone associated with the Illinois High School Association come to their senses and inform their colleagues that they're shooting themselves in the foot by denying newspaper photographers access to state finals games because of a dispute over the rights to sell photographs from those events.

The IHSA is under contract with another company to handle such after-tournament sales, so we're seeing the almighty dollar start to come to the forefront in prep sports.

Luckily, no matter how the IHSA tries to muddle things in the future, it will be hard to ruin high school sports because it is still embraced by athletes and coaches who simply love the games. For them, it's not about money, which has tainted all other levels of sports. And no matter what, newspapers will continue to give their actions the coverage it deserves.

Not always big:

And a simple reminder that the "big" news stories of a year can sometimes be on a street corner right in your own neighborhood. It shows that the "small" stories can carry a lot of weight.

This story wouldn't get as much attention as those that affect your pocketbook, your health or your job.

But when two girls in Elburn -- 10-year-old Julia Lennon and 12-year-old Kelly Wallner -- set up a lemonade stand last summer to raise money for a family in their neighborhood whose teenage girl was injured in a car crash, it reminded us of what makes our communities strong.

The family of Melanie Carlson had $500,000 in medical bills to deal with, and the two young girls earned $30 at their lemonade stand that they personally delivered to Melanie.

It was a gesture that went far beyond "it's the thought that counts."

Let us all embrace such a notion for 2008, and we might be amazed at the things we can accomplish.

dheun@sbcglobal.net