2024 FCPS Teacher of the Year, from Urbana Elementary, dies of cancer
The former Urbana Elementary School teacher was diagnosed in the spring of 2024.
Her son, Anthony Taboas, watched her surprise celebration last year when she won the Teacher of the Year award.
'It was a beautiful ceremony,' he said in an interview on April 24. 'It was just fantastic to see her recognized for the hard work that she's put into herself, into the community and into the school system.'
Ivette Taboas grew up in Miami, Fla., and in 2009, moved to Urbana with her husband, Willie Taboas, and three children — Anthony, Frank and Anais.
She taught at Hillcrest Elementary from 2009 to 2013; at Centerville Elementary from 2013 to 2018; and at Urbana Elementary since 2020 as the multilingual education program teacher.
Ivette Taboas was also an FCPS Itinerant Multilingual Education teacher for four schools from 2018 to 2019.
Anthony Taboas said she spoke English and Spanish, and 'had a huge passion for kids with language barriers.'
'That was something that always drove her,' he said. 'She was always an advocate for that. Always an advocate for diversity and inclusion, and making sure that voices that otherwise wouldn't be heard were heard.'
In April 2024, Ivette Taboas was surprised at Urbana Elementary with the FCPS Teacher of the Year Award.
Tracy Hilliard, the principal of Urbana Elementary School, said in an interview that nominating Ivette Taboas for the award at the school level was 'an easy choice.'
Hilliard added that she was 'sure it wasn't difficult for' FCPS to choose Ivette Taboas as the Teacher of the Year districtwide.
'She always went above and beyond and never had to ask. It was just what she did,' she said. 'You never had to ask, or even if you did ask her, [she would say] 'Absolutely. I can take care of that.''
Hilliard said Ivette Taboas was intermittently working at the school for the past three months, and has been absent for the past three weeks.
On April 25, Urbana Elementary celebrated Disney Day as a tribute to Ivette Taboas' love for Disney. Staff members and students were also invited to wear sandals to school, which Hilliard said was Ivette Taboas' 'daily uniform.'
Hilliard said 'it can be 2 degrees outside' or be 'four feet of snow on the ground,' and the Florida native would still be wearing sandals.
Noemy Merlos, a literacy specialist at Urbana Elementary, worked with Ivette Taboas at Hillcrest, Centerville and Urbana elementary schools.
Merlos said that when she and Ivette Taboas, whom she called a colleague, a friend and family, were at Centerville as multilingual learner program teachers, enough students tested out of the program and numbers 'lowered so much that it didn't warrant two positions anymore.'
'We were doing our job so well, and now we're being separated,' she said.
Merlos said she and Ivette Taboas became co-workers again at Urbana Elementary during the COVID pandemic.
'Once again, we were back together again,' Merlos said. 'It's great when you come to work and you love the people you work with.'
She said Ivette Taboas' Teacher of the Year celebration 'was such a joyous day.' Merlos said she and other teachers helped to decorate Mickey Mouse ears and a sash using a Disney font for Ivette Taboas' special day.
'She always said that we all won that award with her,' Merlos said. 'She was like, 'I don't do this job by myself. I have a team, and you're part of my team.''
Anthony Taboas said the family received Ivette Taboas' diagnosis in the spring of 2024. She had stage 4 pancreatic, endometrial and potentially lung cancer.
Anthony Taboas said that in mid-April, Ivette Taboas was in the chapel at Johns Hopkins Hospital in a wheelchair.
He said there was a woman in the chapel crying after receiving a cancer diagnosis.
'My mom found the strength to get out of her wheelchair, approach this stranger that she doesn't know and wrapped her arms around her and embraced this stranger,' Anthony Taboas recalled. 'She's very much a person that [needed] consoling, and my mom found it in her to pour into that woman.'
He said Ivette Taboas 'was always an advocate and a champion for those around her, whether she knows you or not, to be a level of support, even if she's the one that needs it.'
FCPS Superintendent Cheryl Dyson wrote in a statement that she was 'struck by [Ivette Taboas'] passion for helping children and families who are new to our community and, in many cases, just beginning to learn the English language.'
'Through her empathy, her humility and her kindness, Ms. Taboas helped Urbana Elementary students build the confidence and skills that will lead them to success,' Dyson wrote.
Merlos said Ivette Taboas' impact is 'going to be with us forever.'
'She made such an impression on all of us in a positive way,' she said. 'Her love for life and her love for her profession and her students, it was just amazing.'
Hilliard said Ivette Taboas was instrumental in engaging the parents of multilingual learners at the school and created an initiative called 'Day in the Life of a Multilingual Education Student.'
The initiative is to walk parents through what a day in their child's life would look like at Urbana Elementary.
Hilliard said Ivette Taboas 'was the one that opened that door for us.'
'A light will be missing here at our school. I miss her already,' she said. 'Her spirit and compassion was great, and it's going to be missed but she left a great mark on our staff and our students that were here and got to experience who she was.'
Anthony Taboas said Ivette Taboas had a 'relentless determination for those around her.'
'Everyone in her life that has been touched by her presence is a better person because of it, and that's something that I would very strongly say,' he said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Chicago Tribune
9 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
Worship news: Outdoor service and missionary conference
Bulldog Park: 183 S West St. — This year's Awaken NWI event will take place at 4 p.m. September 14 at Bulldog Park. The event is a night of worship. For more information, visit: CrossPoint Church: 214 Court St. — CrossPoint Church will have an outdoor service at Bulldog Park beginning at 10:30 a.m. August 16. After the service, there will be bounce houses and outdoor games for recreation. Attendees should feel free to pack and lunch to picnic with friends and family. Cathedral of the Holy Angels: 640 Tyler St. — The church will hold a Mass for Youth and Young Adults, ranging from middle school to adults up to age 39, at 2 p.m. on Sunday. The mass will be followed by a cookout. To register, visit Marquette Park United Methodist Church: 215 N. Grand Blvd. — All are welcome to worship at 11:15 a.m. Sundays at Marquette Park United Methodist Church. There will be refreshments to follow in the Fellowship Hall. St. Timothy Unity Church: 1600 W. 25th Ave. — The church will have Gospel Extravaganza, presented by Urban League of Northwest Indiana, at 4 p.m. Sept. 14. VIP tickets are $75, and general tickets are $25. For more information, call 219-887-9621 or visit Eventbrite: St. Peter Lutheran Church: 6540 Central Ave. — The church is hosting a rummage sale through August 2. The sale will be held 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on August 2. Services are held every Sunday at 10 a.m. Porter County Expo Center: 215 E. Division Rd. — The Diocese of Gary will host Emmaus, a Missionary Discipleship conference, on Aug. 9 at the Porter County Expo Center in Valparaiso. Breakout sessions are available in English and Spanish. To register, visit Valparaiso Baptist Church: 612 Emmettsburg St. — Valparaiso Baptist Church will have a family night at 6 p.m. August 6. There will be a 'teens of truth' session and a 'team kid session' at 6 p.m., with an adult Bible study at 7 p.m.
Chicago Tribune
a day ago
- Chicago Tribune
Social justice advocate Sister Pat left legacy of defiant compassion: ‘She lived for others'
Sister Patricia Murphy took risks for love. That's how the Rev. Larry Dowling described her Thursday morning to hundreds of people who gathered at a church in Mercy Circle Senior Living Center in Mount Greenwood to honor her life and commitment to social justice and immigration advocacy. The 96-year-old nun — known as Sister Pat — was diminutive but bold. She was rarely seen without her closest collaborator, Sister JoAnn Persch, with whom she was inseparable in action and purpose. They worked in sync until the day Sister Pat died, July 21, in her home in south suburban Alsip, surrounded by loved ones. Together, the activist nuns were arrested four times at different demonstrations over the years. They pushed to pass state legislation allowing religious workers to visit people in detention processing centers in Illinois. Their impact was recognized at the highest levels, from being entered into the Congressional Record for Women's History Month in 2018 to receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award — a prestigious honor recognizing dedication to community leadership and issues like immigration —from Chicago's Cardinal Blase Cupich in 2023. 'We've done the stuff that other people didn't feel OK with, and that's fine, because not everybody's called to the same thing,' Sister Pat told the Tribune in January. Thursday's tributes to Sister Pat also served as a call to action. Yogi Wess, who did social work in Chicago with her at Little Brothers – Friends of the Elderly for nearly 50 years, said that if Sister Pat had been in the building that day, she would have likely told people in the audience to stand up for 'the forgotten, the unnoticed, the undocumented and unseen.' 'She was a modern-day saint. She lived for others,' said Wess, 68, who noted that Sister Pat went to great lengths to help her plan her wedding, for which she remains grateful to this day. Sister Pat was born in Chicago, one of five children, to Frank J. and Thelma Murphy. She graduated from high school in 1947 and joined the Sisters of Mercy. She admitted that she'd always wanted to be a nurse, but became a teacher instead. She met Sister JoAnn at an elementary school in Wisconsin. Then, in 1960, the Sisters of Mercy community put out a call for a volunteer to go on a mission in Sicuani, Peru. 'I filled out the form, ran across campus, and put it into the mail slot,' she recounted to the Tribune in January. She lived there for eight years, in what she called a 'house for the houseless' with no running water. In remembering her life there, she focused on the beautiful aspects — the lady who owned the house, named Isabel, who would cook soups and traditional Peruvian dishes, and how the smell would drift through the rafters. Pat picked up Spanish and the local dialect of the region. Photos of her from that time were pinned onto a poster board at Mercy Circle. She is smiling and wearing a habit. James Connelly, 67, said his great-aunt went and visited her while she was in South America and brought him back a llama fur vest. 'Now, I can't really fit in it,' he joked. Connelly admitted that he was a little afraid of the traditional nun garb as a kid, but said he always admired her compassion and dedication. 'She set an example as a strong, female leader,' he said. 'And she passed that on to all the children she taught.' Indeed, when she returned from her time abroad, she reunited with Sister JoAnn and the two trailblazers took advantage of a burgeoning movement in American Catholicism, where many nuns moved from traditional roles to activism. Sister Pat did stints at Mercy Hospital, Little Brothers – Friends of the Elderly and Austin Career Education Center, helping teen dropouts and adults prepare for the GED. But in her later life, shaped by her experiences in Peru, Sister Pat prioritized helping immigrants. She and Sister JoAnn in the 1980s and '90s opened Su Casa Catholic Worker House, a home for survivors of torture from Central America, on the South Side of Chicago. Several years later, they started praying outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center in Broadview. And they collaborated with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights to successfully pass a bill allowing religious workers to enter immigrant detention centers. They spent long hours with immigrants in detention. Pat warmed up the guards with homemade cookies and wrapped candy canes. Because she could speak Spanish, she was able to help detainees connect with family members. 'They just loved her,' Sister JoAnn said in January. 'Imagine how much of a help she was to them, speaking Spanish like she did.' The sisters stopped visiting immigrants in detention during the pandemic. And under the current Donald Trump administration, ICE has been unwilling to let anyone — even elected officials — inside, said Fred Tsao, senior policy counsel at ICIRR, who attended the funeral. 'Sister Pat always used a particular word to describe the immigration detention system: demonic,' said Tsao. The sisters meant to retire after the pandemic, they said, but felt called to step in and help the tens of thousands of migrants who were bused to Chicago from the southern border by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. They founded a nonprofit called Catherine's Caring Cause to help asylum-seekers settle, opening 17 apartments to house 100 people. They shifted to provide 'Know Your Rights' information to their tenants when Trump was elected. In a final essay that Sister Pat co-authored with Sister JoAnn, they wrote about one Venezuelan family assisted by their nonprofit, who they said was recently deported to Costa Rica. 'The parents and their five children were seized at a local ICE office when they reported for a routine check-in as required by law,' the essay reads. 'ICE officials accused the husband of having a criminal background, which he denied. He never had a chance to present his case in court.' On Thursday morning, a migrant family lingered a little longer in the hallway outside the church sanctuary after her casket was brought out. They said they were blessed to be connected to Sister Pat through a nonprofit in El Paso, Texas. Their family of four was staying in one of the apartments the sisters rented. 'Pat was our angel,' said Jose Ramos, 37, whose daughter is disabled and needs extra support. 'She called us all the time to check in.' His wife, Victoria Naranjo, 34, said Sister Pat often encouraged her to write a book about her migrant journey. 'It's not easy being a migrant,' Naranjo said. 'She thought more people should know that.' Ramos said he thinks he might have been one of the last to speak to her before she could no longer use her voice.
Epoch Times
a day ago
- Epoch Times
Nocino: The Spiced Liqueur Hiding in Your Backyard Walnut Tree
In many parts of the United States, you're likely to find some sort of walnut tree. Several species are indigenous to North America, and they seem especially ubiquitous in the Midwest and East Coast. The variety in the grocery store is the English or Persian walnut—a softer-shelled walnut with a milder taste. But someone with a black walnut tree is unlikely to harvest the nuts because it takes enormous effort to get them open and their flavor is stronger and less delicate.
