Never Forgotten Arlington Heights remembers fallen heroes 20 years post-9/11 Twenty years later, the Arlington Heights community remembers September 11, 2001, and those Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries around the globe since 9/11. Portrait of a Soldier, an exhibit honoring these fallen heroes, debuts at the library Saturday, September 11, 2021, through Thursday, September 30. Its opening will be proceeded by a Remembrance Ceremony at First Presbyterian Church at 10:30 a.m., including live music and a reading of the names of Illinois’s fallen heroes. This collection of more than 300 hand-drawn graphite portraits were created by artists Cameron Schilling and Donald and Kiana Jeremiah, who are father and daughter. Schilling drew his first portrait in 2004 of Army SPC Charles Neeley, of Mattoon, Illinois. Schilling was working at Schilling Funeral Home on the day of Neeley’s funeral. “I was so moved by the community’s reaction and the way they came together to support the Neeley family, and I just wanted to support them as well,” Schilling said. “I decided I was going to draw a picture for his family because I just felt like I wanted to do something.” Schilling gave the portrait to the Neeley family and decided afterwards that he wanted to continue creating portraits for Gold Star Families, a title bestowed to immediate family members of soldiers who have died in the line of duty. Schilling had trouble finding contact information for Illinois families and sought help from Operation Homefront, a nonprofit that provides support for military families. This introduced him to Former Gov. Pat Quinn, who was involved in the nonprofit. That one portrait led to more than 100, and Quinn came up with the idea to turn it into a travelling exhibition, that made its debut at the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago in 2006. “It was moving,” Schilling said as he described seeing all his portraits on display for the first time. “It makes me a little bit emotional because the families, you don’t know what to say to them … I wanted to show them people cared about their sacrifice.” “There’s a profound saying in the military … that is a soldier can die twice – first when he falls on the battlefield and second when his name is no longer spoken,” said Greg Padovani, Chairman of the Veterans Memorial Committee of Arlington Heights. “Bringing this exhibit to Arlington Heights is another way we can honor and remember these young men and women and let the families know that their loved ones will never be forgotten.”
18 ARLINGTON HEIGHTS MEMORIAL LIBRARY
SEPTEMBER 2021
