Female Citizen of the Year 2024 - Celia Chretien

Our Female Citizen of the Year originally comes from India and English is her second language.

Once in the States, Celia graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree as an Advanced Practice Nurse, and spent her career working as a nurse, retiring as an APN from the University of Illinois Chicago.  Since her retirement, she continues to use her nursing skills as she works with immigrants from India to help them acclimate to the States by introducing them to our health services and other resources.

After she moved to Bolingbrook in 2007, Celia wanted to serve the community in her retirement, so she became active in a number of organizations.  As a member of the board of Campfire Illinois, she was new to the world of non-profits, so she spent time taking advantage of the learning opportunities available from the Bolingbrook Chamber of Commerce, where she joined the Bolingbrook Area Networking Group (BANG) and attended the Small Business Coalition business development meetings.

Celia is also a member of the Bolingbrook Rotary Club, volunteers for H2O where she serves as Charity of Choice Coordinator for their Cheesy Pretzel 5k/run and is a member of the Bolingbrook Garden Club.  She has also served as a Bolingbrook Historic Preservation Commissioner since 2015.  In her “spare” time, she helps out with the library’s story time.  As an avid volunteer, Celia is also bringing up the next generation of community supporters by involving her granddaughter Jane in her volunteer activities.

The Bolingbrook community became richer when this woman moved to our town, so it is now my honor and privilege to name Celia Chretien as our 2024 Female Citizen of the Year!