A pioneer in shaping Naperville’s schools recently died – but left a lasting mark on our community.
Back in 1972, Wilma Reschke helped in bringing together elementary District 78 and high school District 107 to form what we now know as District 203, becoming their first school board president.
Years ago she shared with us how the state encouraged the consolidation, saying, “They offered extra money for anybody that would form a unit district. And we needed the money, and in the 1970’s we built seven schools in just a 10-year period, which is a lot, and added additions to two other schools.”
She was also instrumental in creating the land-cash donation ordinance, the practice of having new developers donate either land or money to the schools or park district for new school sites and parks – a model followed by communities throughout the state.
Wilma also helped establish the Nichols library and served as the first woman on the Harris bank board of directors. She was married to Dr. Bob Reschke for 65 years, and the two have four children. Wilma was 89 years old.
You can hear more of Wilma’s story about how our districts were shaped in the NCTV17 documentary “Modern Development”, which is on our website.
Naperville News 17’s Kim Pirc reports.
