Mary Ann Smith
For the Next Generation As a child visiting the Coronado Theatre, Mary Ann Smith fell in love with the magic of the stage. But by the 1990s, Rockford’s movie palace was looking like something “between the opulent Taj Mahal and a white elephant,” she says. Smith and her husband, Gordy, could see the deterioration firsthand…
Chris Linden
Tiana McCall
Like Mother, Like Daughter Tiana McCall credits her mother, Birdia Cooper, for instilling within her a passion for volunteer work. “My mother was a community advocate,” McCall says. “I remember every time it rained in the summertime, our streets would flood. And so I would hear my mother calling the alderman saying we deserved…
Lindsey Gapen Lukas