Political Quotes

“earlier this month, we mourned the loss of a wonderful public servant in Illinois. Naperville's mayor emeritus, Arthur George Pradel, passed away at the age of 80. He was a soldier, a policeman, a mayor, father, and friend. To some, George was ``Officer Friendly.'' Local radio called him the Nicest Mayor in the World. I just was honored to be one of his friends--but so was everyone around him. He had a supernatural ability to know everyone and always have time to say hi. George was Naperville's longest serving mayor, with a tenure of 20 years. When George was a small child, his family packed up from Chicago's Hyde Park and moved to Naperville in 1939. The town had just 4,500 people at the time. When George finished his tenure as mayor in 2015, Naperville had grown to a population of 142,000. George graduated from Naperville Community High School in 1955 and served in the Marines as two of his uncles had done during World War II. After 3 years in the Marines, George came home to Naperville. George's dream job was to be the head of an orphanage, but in the 1950s, the orphanage system had changed. Smaller group or children's homes and foster care had replaced much of it. George was in a bit of a quandary. A friend of his encouraged him to consider police work. When an opportunity at the Naperville Police Department came up in 1966, he applied immediately. It was a beginning of a 29-year career with the Naperville Police Department.…”