Long-time West Suburban community leader R. Josephine “Jo” Means died peacefully on April 2, 2016 at her home at Plymouth Place Senior Living in LaGrange Park, Illinois, with several of her beloved family at her bedside. She was in her 99th year of an amazing life that spanned from World War I to the Digital Age. Jo was born at Chicago’s Norwegian-American Hospital to Jewel and Amelia Miller on July 26, 1917. As a child and youth, Jo lived with her parents and younger brother Bill on the Northwest side of Chicago. She attended William Penn Nixon Elementary School and Carl Schurz High School, where she graduated as salutatorian of her class in 1935. Her father Jewel was a Chicago childhood friend of the legendary Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne. At age eight, Jo first met the iconic coach, and along with her father, was invited to sit on the bench during a Fighting Irish game. Jo fondly remembered taking the streetcar to the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair numerous times as a teenager, where she particularly enjoyed seeing special exhibits of cutting-edge designs for homes and cars. She received a full scholarship to the University of Illinois, from which she graduated with honors in both French and Journalism in 1939. While attending a fraternity party as a sophomore at the University, Jo met freshman student Kenneth “Ken” Means, who soon thereafter became the love of her life. Jo was a proud member of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority and maintained life-long friendships with many sorority sisters. While in college, she also served as a reporter and eventually, an editor for the Daily Illini, the University’s student newspaper. In later years, Jo recalled her senior year in college as a time during which tensions were brewing with Germany and Japan. The mood on campus was one of growing fear and concern about the possibility of a Second World War and an eventual draft. Ken and Jo became lifetime supporters of the University of Illinois and its Alumni Association, on which Jo served as a member of the Board of Directors. Ken and Jo married on June 19, 1941, a deep and loving covenant that lasted almost 73 years, until Ken’s death in 2014. They were proud parents of four children, whom they lovingly referred to as “The Buckaroos”: Richard (Anne Rooney), James (Linda), Dexter (Lynne), and Margaret “Peggy” Newman (James). They lived first in Champaign, Illinois and then moved to Milwaukee, where Ken served in the Army Counter Intelligence Corps during World War II. In 1946, Ken and Jo and their growing young family built a new home in Western Springs, a time during which much of the surrounding land was still farm field. While Ken built a successful insurance practice, Jo skillfully managed the daily affairs of the family. Ken and Jo joined First Congregational Church in Western Springs and remained active members for 70 years. Jo served many leadership roles in her beloved congregation, including Moderator, Woman’s Society President, a 25-year Sunday school teacher, and a member of the Bell Choir. She became a Lifetime Trustee of the Chicago Theological Seminary. With other leaders of the United Church of Christ, Jo marched for civil rights in Washington D.C. in the 1970s, and for many years served as a volunteer high school tutor for the inner city Christian Action Ministry. Although she was petite in stature, no one would ever think to call Jo a “lightweight;” in fact, her sons affectionately nicknamed her “Sarge” for her take-charge and no-nonsense attitude. She was bold, direct, loyal, and honest, possessed of a razor-sharp intelligence and a keen curiosity. In the 1950s, Ken and Jo were named “Citizens of the Month” for Western Springs for their various community activities. Jo served on the Boards of the Western Springs Historical Society and the Community Family Service and Mental Health Center. She received an Outstanding Citizen Award from the American Association of University Women. In 1975, after receiving hundreds of submissions from across the country that proposed local celebrations for America’s Bicentennial the following year, the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission selected Western Springs as one of a handful of communities nationwide to serve as an official “Bicentennial Community.” A wide range of civic activities was planned throughout the bicentennial year, culminating in a re-enactment of a Revolutionary War battle before thousands of spectators in Spring Rock Park during the Fourth of July weekend in 1976. Ken and Jo served as Co-Chairs of the Western Springs Bicentennial Commission, one of their most memorable community leadership activities. One of the activities of the Bicentennial year was a voter registration drive, for which Jo and a team of volunteers went door-to-door to encourage eligible voters to register and then vote in the November 1976 elections. Jo was especially proud of Western Springs’ designation as the “Votingest City in America,” with 95% of all eligible voters registered and 93% of them going to the polls that November. Impressed by her civic leadership during the Bicentennial, in 1978 many of her fellow citizens encouraged Jo to campaign for State Representative supporting the Equal Rights Amendment. Although she ultimately lost the election by less than a hundred votes, Jo never lost her commitment to the democratic process and civic engagement. Ken and Jo were again tapped to co-chair the Western Springs Centennial celebrations in 1986. Both Ken and Jo were active supporters of Boy and Girl Scouting throughout their adult lives. Herself a Scout as a schoolgirl, in the 1950s Jo became a Girl Scout Troop Leader for daughter Peggy and her classmates. She received the prestigious Silver Fawn Award from the Boy Scouts for her leadership in scouting. For their support of international scouting, Ken and Jo were inducted as members of the Baden-Powell World Fellowship of the World Scout Foundation. Jo’s award was given by His Majesty Carl XVI Gustaf, King of Sweden, at a ceremony in Stockholm. In the 1980s, Ken and Jo met also Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom at a ceremony for international scouting at Buckingham Palace. Once their four children were grown, Ken and Jo enjoyed extensive travel throughout the United States, Europe, Latin America, and New Zealand. Wherever they traveled, whether exploring exotic wildlife on the Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador, or hiking the 33-mile Milford Track in New Zealand, Ken and Jo savored each trip. Their favorite travels were ones that involved all of their children and grandchildren, excursions that Jo fondly referred to as “Adventures in Togetherness.” Ken and Jo especially relished the family week spent aboard a 90-ft windjammer in the British Virgin Islands. Since her first visit there as a child in 1925, Jo delighted in summers spent at Eagle Lake near Bloomingdale, Michigan. In the early 1980s, Ken and Jo purchased a property on the lake where they spent many summers and often hosted family and friends. Jo’s love affair with Eagle Lake spanned more than 90 years.At age 46, Jo competed in the pre-Olympic trials in women’s fencing prior to the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, eventually losing to a fencer less than half her age. In her 50s, Jo learned to fly a Cessna plane that they co-owned, often flying with Ken to Champaign for a University of Illinois football game. She remained active and engaged in family, social, church, and community activities well into her 90s. She enjoyed playing the piano, sewing, quilting, and watercolor painting. In a life rich with many notable accomplishments, Jo considered her greatest treasure to be her family of four children, twelve grandchildren, and twenty-one great-grandchildren, to whom she was known and loved as “Grandma Bunny.” Included in Jo’s beloved family are her niece Merre Martha Putnam, nephew John Miller, and their families. Two years ago when she was asked to write her advice for successful parenting for her grandson and his wife who were expecting their first child, Jo wrote, “My best advice is to just ‘Be present’. You don’t need to hover or meddle, but just let your children know that you are there for them. Be interested in what they are interested in, whether it is scouting or music or arts or sports.” Jo lived a life of purpose, engagement, integrity, and most importantly, love. There is no doubt that she was ‘present’ in everything she undertook. It’s hard to imagine a better life.A public memorial service will be held for Josephine “Jo” Means on Saturday May 7 at 9:30 am at Plymouth Place Senior Living’s Dole Hall at 315 North LaGrange Road in LaGrange Park, Illinois. A second public memorial service will be held at 3:00 pm at First Congregational Church at 1106 Chestnut Street in Western Springs, Illinois. Interment services are private. Memorials may be made to First Congregational Church of Western Springs or to the Chicago Area Council of Boy Scouts of America, with a special notation for its Scout Reach program serving inner-city youth. Hallowell & James Funeral Home in Countryside is assisting the family. Service Info: (708) 352-6500