Vincent L. Gillon knew what he was talking about when he counseled troubled men and women at Carepoint Adult, Child and Family Association, the Evanston social services agency he started in 1998.
Mr. Gillon spent years as a heroin addict before he cleaned up, earned a master’s degree and had a second chance in life working with people suffering from a wide range of ills.
Mr. Gillon, 53, died of a heart attack on Monday, March 17, at his Evanston home, said his wife, Charisse.
Mr. Gillon was the executive director of Carepoint, which offers prevention and counseling programs to HIV/AIDS sufferers and those at risk for the disease, drug abusers, former prisoners working their way back into society and others.
Mr. Gillon grew up in the Gresham neighborhood and attended Calumet High School before a six-year Army hitch that included time in Vietnam, his wife said. For several years after his return to Chicago, Mr. Gillon was addicted to heroin and essentially lived on the streets, said Marcus Randle, program coordinator at Carepoint. He engaged in petty crime, including burglary, for which he was sentenced to a drug program in 1990, according to county records.
At around the same time, his sister, Lotus, died of a drug overdose, Mr. Gillon’s wife said. Mr. Gillon spent a year at a Lake County recovery center and set about pursuing a career helping those who were dealing with issues he understood all too well.
While taking classes at National-Louis University, he worked in the outpatient substance-abuse program at Chicago Lakeshore Hospital, the REST shelter in Uptown and at Better Existence with HIV in Evanston and Edgewater.
He received a bachelor’s degree in applied behavioral sciences in 2001 from National-Louis and a master’s degree in human services counseling in 2004.
At Carepoint in Evanston, the aim is not only to help those struggling with addictions or HIV/AIDS, but their families as well.
“A lot of times after they tear down the relationships with other people, they don’t get a second chance,” said Cassandra Smith, manager of the housing program at BEHIV.
Mr. Gillon knew “how it feels to come out of it and still have doors slammed in your face,” Smith said.
Mr. Gillon is also survived by a son, Parris Blake; three daughters, Simone, Victoria and Aliya; stepdaughters Ashley Lewis and Tierra Kinnard; his mother, Louise; a brother, Kurt; and a sister, Regina.
A visitation will begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday in St. Jerome Catholic Church, 1709 W. Lunt Ave., Chicago. A mass will be said in 11 a.m. Tuesday in the church.
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ttjensen@tribune.com
