WOOD RIVER - Mary Roberts, a lifelong Wood River is a candidate for the Wood River City Council.
Mary Roberts is the daughter of (late) Anthony and Rosemary Totora. Her only brother, Chris, was killed in Vietnam in 1967. The following year her parents had her sister, Patricia. Patricia lives in Florida with her husband, Max Penberthy, and their family.
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Mary Roberts raised all three of her children (Chris, Beth, and Tony) in Wood River and they all still live in the Riverbend area. She has been blessed with 10 grandkids and 4 great grandkids.
Mary Roberts was a Wood River Police Cadet for a short time. She worked at Amoco, Shell, and retired from ConocoPhillips, where she was an Operator/Offsites Supervisor. At Shell, Mary was on the board of the SRA (Shell Recreation Association), where she was responsible for the Annual Easter Egg Hunt.
She also started and coordinated the Adopt-the-Highway with the Refinery and Hartford. She served on the Emergency Response Team at the Refinery in several roles – she was an Incident Commander, as well as a member on the Fire Crew, Rescue, Hazmat, Medical, and CISM Teams. Mary has spent her time over the years advocating and serving individuals in the community in roles; such as, a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for children in Foster Care, OSF St. Anthony’s Hospice Volunteer, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southern Illinois, and S.I.U.E. Rape Crisis Counselor, as well as, the Wood River Women’s Club.
In addition to serving her community by advocating and serving others, Mary is a member of the Wood River Heritage Council, Community Advisory Panel (CAP) with Phillips 66, a member of the Wood River Refinery Museum/Retiree Board, serves on the Madison County Community Response Team, serves as Secretary on the Wood River Marine Corps League Ladies Auxiliary, and she is an active member of Holy Angels Parish in Wood River, where she serves as a Funeral Usher, a Mass/Funeral Server, and she takes Communion to Homebound area parishioners. She is a member of St. Vincent de Paul and the President of the St. Ann Altar Society.
Mary Roberts has a special place in her heart for our military veterans after losing her only brother in the Vietnam War. She continues to honor him as well as his good friends, Richard Bennett and James Stassi, all U.S. Marines who paid the ultimate sacrifice. She even petitioned the now retired Senator Haine to have a highway named in their honor - the highway runs from Phoebe Goldberg Overpass to Highway 255.
If elected, Mary Roberts would like to work with the Mayor and City Council regarding meeting protocols, having a more transparent government by making the monthly City Council itinerary for meetings readily available to all residents to view prior to all meetings. She would like to see all meetings video streamed for all residents to view. Mary Roberts believes that the Mayor and City Council should address all citizen complaints presented to them at a City Council Meeting.
Mary Roberts was on the “Save the Roundhouse” Committee and while she was collecting signatures, she became aware of the much-needed infrastructure issues in our City; such as, water lines, roads, sidewalks, and sewers. She will work with the City to get these issues addressed.
Mary Roberts would like to see our local schools and city government working together on local activities; such as, Memorial/Veteran’s Day Services. She would like to see more Community Events at Central Park; such as, Movie Night and concerts from local bands and the schools.
Mary Roberts is known around the community as someone who can be relied upon to get the job done. She will be assessable to all city residents. Mary would like the opportunity to serve her Community as a City Council Member and she would appreciate your support and vote.
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