Joliet woman loved the Packers, politics

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

At first glance, it might not seem that local politics, the Packers, sewing and giraffes have much in common, unless you knew Emma Bianchi of Joliet.

Emma had an eclectic mix of interests, was quite passionate about them and freely expressed her opinions, but that’s why she was so much fun, said Emma’s daughter, Laureen Crotteau of Shorewood.

“I miss calling her and asking, ‘Hey did you see the news?’ because I knew what would get her going,” Laureen said. “I was heartbroken that she wasn’t here for the Super Bowl. She would have had a ball because she just got so into it. She probably had something to do with that game.”

Part of Laureen’s childhood memories includes attending city council meetings with her mother. Because Emma was a member of the Citizen’s Action Council, she regularly brought up issues the council thought needed addressing. Emma also wrote frequent Herald-News Letters to the Editor. She often called former morning host Frank O’Leary at Joliet radio station WJOL AM 1340 to comment on current events.

In the early 1970s, Emma even ran for city council.

“She didn’t win, but she came very close,” Laureen said. “I was about 11 or 12 and we had lots of fun going door to door passing out my mom’s literature. It was cool sitting around the dining room table making calls reminding people to vote. I always regretted that she never ran when I was old enough to vote. It would have been fun to vote for her.”

But Emma had other projects to keep her busy and one of them was sewing. Emma sewed doll clothes and Halloween costumes for her children and grandchildren, but her creativity blossomed with concrete geese. Once people saw Emma’s designs, they wanted Emma to make clothes for their geese, too.

These included London Bobbies, any sports team, fish, bride and groom, Gulf War uniforms and school events. “You name it, she made it,” Laureen said. “She didn’t just sew them. She put a lot of love and detail into them.”

However, during football season, Emma’s main décor was Packers. Every week before the game, Emma decorated her house inside and out with Packers paraphernalia. Every week after the football games, Emma took it all down.

“Her house was green and yellow from top to bottom,” Laureen said. “She had sewn banners and a cut-out jersey for her favorite player in the yard. At every touchdown, the cowbell was rung. When her legs got bad, she couldn’t go out and do it all herself. We’d take it down quickly before the Bears people drove by.”

When Emma died Dec. 11 at the age of 86, the family lost a diehard fantasy football player. Eleven years ago, Laureen’s then-sixth grade son started a fantasy football team and asked Emma to join it. At first, Emma didn’t quite understand the logistics and selected her players based on “He’s got such a nice German name,” or “He works so hard for his community.”

The following year, Emma went online to study statistics, chart and plot. It paid off. She won first place. Emma was champ again for the 2009-2010 season. “She kept everyone on their toes,” Laureen said. “She knew about players we hadn’t heard of.”

Emma freely gave away nuts from her buckeye tree for good luck and collected giraffes: stuffed, plastic and even giraffe picture frames. “She always that their size and necks made them look awkward, but that they always moved gracefully,” Laureen said.

Contact Denise M. Baran-Unland at 815-467-5249 or artemis279@aol.com.