After 25 years working for the Village of Forest Park, nearly two decades of those at the Howard Mohr Community Center, Karen Dylewski retired at the end of January from her role as the center’s director.
At the Jan. 26 council meeting, Village Administrator Rachell Entler honored Dylewski by reading a proclamation. It thanked Dylewski for ensuring the community center is a welcoming, inclusive space that provides vital resources for residents of all ages.
Under Dylewski’s leadership, the community center has provided services for seniors, hosted daily childcare programs with enrichment activities and homework help, and given food, clothing and other resource donations to local families. Dylewski also opened the center as a voting precinct and meeting place for area organizations.
“Karen Dylewski is recognized for her lasting impact on the Village of Forest Park and for truly being the center of the community, leaving a legacy of service that will continue to benefit generations to come,” the proclamation said.
Dylewski wasn’t present at the meeting but later told the Review that she’s looking forward to traveling and being a stay-at-home grandparent with her husband, who also recently retired.
“We were born and raised here, got married at 21, raised our kids here, and now we get to be spending some time together,” Dylewski said.
But she’s going to miss everything about the community center, from the staff — “They’re like family,” Dylewski said. “They’re always there to have your back, anytime you need anything — to the clientele. “The people who we serve have become fast friends,” she said of local residents and seniors.
“I couldn’t do it without everybody working at the village,” Dylewski added of her success at the community center. “It’s my place. I feel like it’s my home.”
After the proclamation was read, commissioners shared how Dylewski has impacted them.
“My first favorite thing about her is that she never gets tied up in meetings, bureaucracy and talking about how to fix a problem ad nauseam. She sees a problem, and she goes out and she fixes the problem. If there’s a person that needs help, she helps them,” Commissioner Maria Maxham said. “She never says no to anybody. I’ve never, ever heard her say, ‘That’s not my job.’ She goes out and does things that most of us wouldn’t even dream about doing, cleans out houses and helps people in situations that are unbelievable, and never asks for credit. In fact, asks not to be mentioned for things.”
Maxham recalls her time as editor of the Review and wanting to interview Dylewski about certain things she’d accomplished for the community, and she’d say, “‘Maria, please don’t write that story. I don’t want that kind of recognition. Instead, why don’t you write about this and tell people how they can help with this problem.’”
This reporter has experienced the same selfless reaction from Dylewski the few times I’ve interviewed her. And the first time I met her, she gave me a big hug.
“Karen is truly a model of humility,” Commissioner Ryan Nero said. “I wish her health and happiness in her retirement.”
“I think many of us have a Karen Dylewski story of how she helped us in our time of need or know somebody who has been helped at the community center,” said Commissioner Michelle Melin-Rogovin. “She has creative, loving, positive energy and thinks of ways to help people that they themselves couldn’t identify, but then improves their lives in a way that is long lasting and substantial. She’s helped so many generations of families in our community, and I’m just in awe of the energy that she’s brought to the community center and the example that she has instilled in the generations of kids who have been working at the community center.”
“Karen Dylewski is a force,” Commissioner Jessica Voogd said. “She is so proud of her kids at the community center and so supportive of her colleagues and everyone in the community. She will certainly be missed here. She has touched so many lives in Forest Park and beyond, and I think we’ll be eternally grateful to her for that.”
Mayor Rory Hoskins thanked Dylewski for her hard work and putting in the time to get things done.
“She’s personally touched my family. My wife and I have sent all four of our kids to the community center, so she’s watched all of them. She hired my daughter to be a counselor,” Hoskins said. And he appreciates working with her professionally, since he started as a commissioner. “We’ve all grown together. We got through Covid together.”
During her administrator’s report at the end of the council meeting, Entler shared how grateful she was for Dylewski’s support when Entler had cancer.
“There are not enough words for me to express to her the impact that she has had on my family and myself,” Entler said. “I’m sure that sentiment resounds with a lot of people in this community.”