The A+ Foundation for the West Aurora Schools will celebrate the Distinguished Alumni Hall of Honor. This year, Scott Whitlock (class of 1960), Johnny Lee Davenport (class of 1968), Susan Bartells Jacobson (class of 1974), Lauren Leimbach (class of 1974), Colonel John Becker (class of 1977), and Madison Whitt (class of 2009) will be inducted as the 2023 Distinguished Alumni honorees April 21 and 22.
The honorees will spend Friday, April 21, at their alma mater, West Aurora High School. The festivities will include a meet-and-greet breakfast, small group sessions with students, lunch prepared by culinary classes, and a plaque presentation in the official Hall of Honor hallway. Saturday, April 22, at 5 p.m., the public is invited to a banquet to be held at the Aurora Country Club, honoring these individuals with their families and friends. Dinner tickets are $75 per person. For more information about the banquet, or to purchase tickets online, visit www.cffrv.gives/HallofHonor or call Randi Ochsenschlager at 630-897-6785.
In addition to the Distinguished Alumni Hall of Honor weekend, Friday, April 21, the West Aurora Alumni Association is planning a kickoff event. This event will be held from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Oak Street Restaurant, at the corner of Randall Road & Oak Street in North Aurora. The purpose of the casual get-together is to bring together West Aurora High School alumni to celebrate the newly formed West Aurora/A+ Foundation Alumni Association. All alumni are invited! Light hors d’oeuvres will be served along with a cash bar.
• Scott Whitlock, class of 1960, led West Aurora High School’s varsity debate team to victory in five major tournaments, including the National Forensics League Tournament. Whitlock was graduated from Harvard Law School in 1967 and immediately joined the Vorys law firm in Columbus, Ohio. In 1969, he became one of the four founders of a nonprofit corporation which purchased and restored a derelict 1928 movie palace, the Ohio Theatre, now a national landmark. In 1984, Honda selected Whitlock was to manage its first automobile plant in America. Over the next 10 years, Whitlock assisted in leading the transformation of automobile manufacturing in America.
• Johnny Lee Davenport, class of 1968, is a professional member of Actor’s Equity Association for theatre and Screen Actors’ Guild American Federation of Television and Radio Artists for film, TV, and radio. Davenport was a theater major at Southern Illinois University in 1971, where he helped co-found that school’s first African-American acting company called the Kuntana Players. Since those early years, he appeared in more than 200 professional productions throughout the United States, Canada, Greece, and Ireland. He was involved in Shakespearean plays as his main focus, as well as contemporary and classic stage productions. Davenport performed at the Steppenwolf, Court, and Goodman Theatres.
• Susan Bartells Jacobson, class of 1974, is the lead landscape designer at the distinguished Morton Arboretum. She accomplished this goal while serving as president of the American Society of Landscape Architects. Currently, Jacobson is delivering podcasts on topics related to plantings in hopes of inspiring young students within the green industry. Jacobson collaborates across the globe with other arboretums. The focus on climate change, insects, regional trees, and global trees drives her continual discussion across nations.
• Lauren Leimbach, class of 1974, is the founder, former executive director, and current board member of Community Financial Resources, a strong leader of social equity for those of minimal wealth. Leimbach left the corporate world and took her financial acumen and created a nonprofit for those whose lives would be changed forever through understanding the world of money. Community Financial Resources has impacted more than 3,000 low-income households to receive economic stimulus funds through Community Financial Resources Focus cards.
• Colonel John A. Becker, class of 1977, retired after 25 years in the United States Army as a colonel. He led and commanded troops at the platoon, company and battalion levels. Becker had a weapons of mass destruction specialty and has been part of the XVIII Airborne Corps. Becker guided college students as an adjunct professor, served on a U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet admiral’s staff, spent a year in Iraq with a United Nations mission, and served the United States Special Operations Command and the Multi-National Corps in Iraq.
• Madison Whitt, class of 2009, works with SpaceX, optimizing rocket manufacturing to increase access to space. Madison developed a robotic system to increase production rates of rocket engines and lead a team of technicians to successfully transport human life to the space station through SpaceX’s Dragon 2 Demo-2 mission. Whitt is currently continuing her education as an MBA candidate at Harvard Business School.
—West Aurora School District 129