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player ready...Frank Bottigliero dedicated seven decades of his life to serving his fellow military veterans.
Bottigliero, a Chicago native, served in the U.S. Air Force’s 368th Bomb Squadron during World War II, and was honorably discharged after he was injured during fighting.
Immediately after he was discharged, he returned to Chicago and embarked upon what became a lifelong mission to help others who had served their country, wrote Greg Ignoffo, Leyden Township Administrator, in an email.
Bottigliero, 96, died from congestive heart failure on Aug. 6, according to his daughter, Gail Lepore.
Under the GI Bill of Rights, Bottigliero attended DePaul Law School and during that time trained in two local congressmen’s offices, including Rep. Roland Victor Libonati, who represented Illinois’ 11th District between 1957 and 1965.
“Congressman Libonati took a real liking to my dad,” Lepore said. “He was like a second father.”
Libonati, she said, fought for veterans’ rights in Washington, D.C., and Bottigliero joined him in that effort.
“My dad just became his partner and they worked tirelessly for the veterans,” she said.
Bottigliero eventually became the director of the Illinois Office of Veterans’ Affairs before moving on to work for the Chicago office of the federal Veterans Affairs department until his retirement.
At the request of a former supervisor of Leyden Township, Bottigliero, who moved to Norridge from Chicago roughly five decades ago, continued to serve veterans in the area even after his retirement.
“The major part of my life is helping vets into programs and seeing the joy and happiness when a vet gets his first check for free hospitalization,” Bottigliero told the Franklin Park Herald-Journal in 2008.
Ignoffo described Bottigliero as a caring and gentle person who helped countless veterans, their spouses and families.
“Frank was also a private individual who never wanted any accolades for himself, but accepted them when he knew it brought joy to those around him,” Ignoffo wrote in an email.
Bottigliero eventually retired from his post as Veterans Affairs Officer at Leyden Township in March of last year.
Family brought the greatest joy to the last several years of his life, Lepore said. Bottigliero was husband to the late Elvita, a father to both Lepore and her late brother, Ronald, grandfather to Lepore’s son, Michael, and a great-grandfather of two.
Services have been held.
Lee V. Gaines is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.