Meeting Minutes & More | Local flavor to 60th class of Lincoln Laureates

Feb. 23—PDF — This week's Meeting Minutes and More section

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CHICAGO — The 2024 class of Lincoln Laureates includes one-time residents of Champaign, Danville and the old Kappa Alpha Psi house on South Third Street. Here's more on the 60th group of proud Land of Lincoln natives, who'll be honored in an April ceremony at the Chicago History Museum.

RITA GARMAN

— Local connection: The Bronze Tablet-earning UI economics grad has a county courthouse named after her in Danville, a tribute to the trailblazer who went on to become Vermilion County's first female assistant state's attorney, then judge.

Married to a fellow attorney, she'd come a long way since 1968, when she was admitted to the bar, fresh out of Iowa law school. "The Illinois Bar Journal took our picture on the day and later ran the photo with the caption 'Mr. and Mrs. Gill Garman' were admitted to practice. I guess no one thought I had a first name," Garman says.

In 2001, Garman was appointed to the state Supreme Court. A dozen years later, she was sworn in as its chief justice, becoming the 119th jurist — but just the second woman — to hold that title.

When Garman retired from the state's highest court on July 7, 2022, she did so as the longest-serving judge in Illinois. Fittingly, she was succeeded by another barrier breaker — Lisa Holder White, the court's first Black woman.

ALISON KRAUSS

— Local connection: The inspiration for Champaign's Alison Krauss Way (the 400 block of West Hill Street) launched her bluegrass career here — forming her first band by age 10, recording her first track at 14 and releasing her first widely distributed album at 16.

— Claim to fame: The list of women who've won more Grammys than Krauss has one name on it — Beyonce's. With 27, Krauss has more than Aretha Franklin (18), Adele (16), Taylor Swift (14) and Lady Gaga (13).

The former Champaign Central Maroon has been awarded the National Medal of Arts, inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and lauded by critics for her collaborations with tour mate and former Led Zeppelin front man Robert Plant.

LEW COLLENS

— Local connection: Collens met his late wife, Marge, while the two were students at the University of Illinois. Before moving on to the University of Chicago for law school, he earned two degrees here — a bachelor's in accounting in 1960 and a master's in philosophy three years later.

— Claim to fame: He's credited with "the strategic revitalization and transformation of two major Chicago institutions" — the Illinois Institute of Technology, where he served as president from 1990-2007, and its Chicago-Kent College of Law, where he was dean from 1974-90.

Collens also co-founded the bar review company now known as BARBRI to help adequately prepare the next generation of lawyers, especially those with limited financial resources, to pass the bar.

LESTER McKEEVER JR.

— Local connection: Regrettably, the 1955 Gies College of Business grad's Campustown happy place is no more. The Kappa Alpha Psi house, home to a historically Black fraternity, "was fun, stimulating in so many ways, and the place where I met many of my lifelong friends," McKeever says. "One room in the house was called the 'dorm' — it had no heat and was extremely cold during the winter and we were challenged to sleep there."

— Claim to fame: The future chair Chicago Federal Reserve board became the county's 61st Black CPA when he joined Chicago's Washington & Pittman, working for Mary Washington, the first female African-American CPA. The firm now goes by Washington, Pittman & McKeever.

McKeever was presented with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants' Gold Medal Award of Distinction in 2018.

EVELYN BRANDT THOMAS

— Local connection: She and her late husband are the namesakes of the Gordon and Evelyn Brandt Thomas Scholarships, two $1,250 awards which go to UI College of ACES undergrads who've been 4-H members for at least four years and preferably were reared on a central Illinois farm.

— Claim to fame: Brandt Thomas, who has spent all 100 years of her life in Illinois, has been described by Farm World as "a pioneer who helped create an agricultural empire" with brother Glen.

Brandt Consolidated, which started as a small fertilizer side gig to supplement the family's farm income, grew into a big business, dedicated to helping farmers adopt new and profitable technologies to enable their success. Last year, it had sales in 80 countries and 49 states.

RAUL RAYMUNDO

— Local connection: None to speak of beyond partnering with 2015 UI Alumni Achievement Award winner and Latino Policy Forum CEO Sylvia Puente in a bid last year to "keep Chicago a sanctuary city."

— Claim to fame: With seed capital of $30,000 from six area parishes in 1990, he co-founded The Resurrection Project, which has gone on to leverage those funds into more than $640 million in community investments, benefiting nearly a quarter of a million people in Chicagoland.

As Raymundo's Lincoln Academy bio notes, The Resurrection Project "has created more than 800 affordable homes and developed a plethora of community facilities including early childhood centers, senior centers, community centers and a charter school serving thousands of families.

JIM THOME

— Local connection: The pride of Peoria, who's on the short list for the most accomplished central Illinois-bred athlete, was in Champaign just last summer, part of a star-studded cast brought in by Dick's for the grand opening of its House of Sport at Market Place Mall.

— Claim to fame: A first-ballot Baseball Hall of Famer, Thome's 612 home runs rank eighth on the all-time home run list (or sixth if you leave out the steroids users), trailing only Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, Willie Mays and Ken Griffey Jr.

In 22 MLB seasons, playing for six teams, the five-time All-Star drove in 1,699 runs (28th all-time), walked 1,747 times (seventh) and struck out 2,548 (second only to Reggie Jackson).