Donna Vickroy

Following a group of singing nuns while they walk to Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris -- how could that not be one of the highlights of your year, columnist Donna Vickroy asks. (Donna Vickroy/Naperville Sun)

Donna Vickroy: Yes, 2025 was full of chaotic dissonance, but also moments of zen

January 10, 2026 at 2:09 p.m.

It may be a year she never wants to repeat, but 2025 was also full of happy and moving moments she won't forget, Donna Vickroy says.

Audrey Katnik of Harwood Heights made this angel ornament displayed at the Christmas in July event in Harwood Heights.

Donna Vickroy: A holiday miracle: Saved by a stranger on Christmas Eve

December 19, 2025 at 12:31 p.m.

A man trapped in a freight elevator assume he was going to freeze to death on Christmas Eve until an unseen savior intervened.

Nine butterfly pupa are packed up for their trip from Evergreen Park to Austin, Texas, where they emerged as monarchs and made their migration to Mexico. (Bob Erlich)

Donna Vickroy: Late-blooming monarchs get express trip to Mexico

December 10, 2025 at 5:12 p.m.

Nine monarch caterpillars that emerged late in the season would have faced certain death had an Evergreen Park man not stepped in.

The scene at Marshall Field's downtown Chicago store with four days until Christmas in 1979. (Chicago Tribune)

Donna Vickroy: Remembering how Marshall Field’s was a gift to beleaguered holiday shoppers

December 4, 2025 at 9:42 p.m.

In the days before cyber shopping, trips to malls were necessary to get gifts and Marshall Field's a luxurious break from the chaos.

Kevin Collinge speaks to filmmaker Charlie Minn about being the first paramedic on the scene at the Lane Bryant murders in 2008 as part of “The Tinley Park 5,” a documentary about the cold case that debuts Feb. 13, 2026. (Charlie Minn)

Donna Vickroy: Unsolved Lane Bryant murder case focus of new documentary

November 28, 2025 at 10:15 a.m.

Filmmaker Charlie Minn is making a documentary about the unsolved 2008 murder of five women at a Lane Bryant store in Tinley Park.

Government has reopened but Chicago area’s hunger crisis is far from over

November 21, 2025 at 8:58 a.m.

Hunger hit Chicago and its suburbs especially hard these past few weeks. And it’s only going to get worse. During the first half of November, unpaid federal workers, SNAP recipients...

A 1914 painting from Jennie A. Brownscombe depicts Pilgrims at their first Thanksgiving with American Indians at Plymouth in 1621. (Associated Press)

Donna Vickroy: Has Thanksgiving lost its glow this year?

November 14, 2025 at 2:00 p.m.

With all that's going on in the world, does anyone really feel like celebrating Thanksgiving?

The Rooney-Creen families participate in the recent ALS Walk for Life. In an unusual twist, ALS diagnoses has struck both sides of the family.(Sarah Rooney Chandler)

Donna Vickroy: One family hard hit by many ALS diagnoses refuses to give up hope

November 7, 2025 at 3:06 p.m.

No one knows the bittersweet mélange of hope and heartbreak of ALS better than Naperville resident Sarah Rooney Chandler's family.

No one likes the fear or discomfort of getting tested for things like breast cancer, but the alternative is much worse and the peace of mind that comes with knowing you're fine is worth it, columnist Donna Vickroy says. (AP)

Donna Vickroy: Medical testing is not looking for trouble, it’s hoping for peace of mind

October 31, 2025 at 10:44 a.m.

No one likes the fear of getting tested for things like breast cancer, but the peace of mind knowing you're OK is worth it.

Yes, Halloween scenes like this can be scary, but they're nothing compared to the thoughts that live inside our heads, especially those involving brushes with death and the questions of "what if" that accompany them, columnist Donna Vickroy says. (Donna Vickroy/for the Naperville Sun)

Donna Vickroy: Who needs fake scary when we have real life?

October 24, 2025 at 11:57 a.m.

Halloween can be scary, but it's nothing compared to the thoughts that live inside our heads, especially after brushes with death.

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