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'Lea Luchini Day': WWII bride honored on her 100th birthday
Lea Luchini was awarded her own day by the village of Orland Park to celebrate her 100th birthday.
ORLAND PARK, Ill. - A World War II bride was honored on Monday in Orland Park.
Lea Luchini was awarded her own day by the village to celebrate her 100th birthday.
Mayor Keith Pecau declared Wednesday, February 15, as "Lea Luchini Day". The centenarian has called Orland Park her home for 50 years.
She was born in Italy in 1923, and moved to Chicago’s Roseland neighborhood with her mother at the age of two. In 1943, she met an active-duty Navy Seaman and the two were married nine months later. They have three daughters.
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At the village board meeting Monday night, the mayor handed Luchini a microphone after giving her the proclamation.
"Thank you everybody for honoring me, really, I don't deserve it," she said. The mayor replied, "Sure you do!" to cheers and applause.
Luchini’s eldest grandson started a Facebook campaign for her birthday, urging everyone he knew to send his grandmother a birthday card. Two-hundred were sent and Luchini retrieved every one of them with delight.