PEORIA MAGAZINE December 2022

t hing less than total perfection. She doesn’t settle formediocre. And thatwas important in my office. The No. 1 philos ophy was taking care of issues for the constituents you represent. We solved many of those situations, which led tomy success of 14 terms, largely due to Linda.” Spain agrees. “Something I admire so much about Linda, she has such a proactive dedication to providing help and assistance to others,” said Spain. In many legislative districts, constituents call for help, they’re told where they can find the information they need, “and the scope of intervention stops there,” he said. “That’s not the Linda Daley philosophy. “With Linda, the problem of the constituent now becomes internalized as her problem… In a state government that has a large and sometimes slow bureaucracy, it’s easy for constituent services to get lost. They don’t get lost by Linda because she is constantly monitoring and reaching out until a solution is developed.” Even theCOVID-19 pandemic couldn’t slow Daley. “Imagine being a legislative chief of staff managing the day-to-day crisis of constituents and businesses navigating issues related to the pandemic,” said Spain. “All legislative offices were inundated with constituents seeking unemployment assistance. … Not only did Linda navigate all of it for our district, she led the way for other offices.” SCHOOLS, LIBRARIES, COUNTY SERVICES Daley first distinguished herself in the public arena after being elected to the Peoria Public Schools Board in 1986. She served for 10 years, with four terms as president. She is most proud of the construction of the Valeska Hinton Early Childhood Center on Peoria’s South Side during her tenure. In addition, both Snyder and Leitch say the district was left withmore than a $40 million rainy day surpluswhenDaley left office, an example of her commitment to responsible fiscal stewardship.

“I didn’t have a privileged upbringing. I worked very hard when I got to the U of I,” she said. “I encountered these other students who had taken AP (Advanced Placement) classes. The high school I went to wasn’t particularly academically advanced.” As a result of that personal experience, Daley worked to get accelerated classes offered in District 150. She then turned her attention to the Peoria Public Library Board, on which she served from 2004 to 2013. She helped to shepherd a $28 million build ing expansion referendum to passage and then, as chairwoman of its building committee, to steer the construction to completion. That work included im provements at the downtown location, at the Lincoln andMcClure branches, and the construction of the north branch. Daley paid attention to every detail, from furnishings to faucets, all of which came in on budget, she proudly says. “They hadn’t done anything to the libraries for 40 years. They weren’t particularly welcoming.” The payoff was immediate, with the libraries enjoying more than 700,000 visits. In 2019, Daley was appointed to the Peoria County Board following the death of the previous officeholder, Dr. Greg Adamson, andwas elected to a full term on Nov. 8. Spain marvels at her drive. “Imagine having the level of proactive discipline in your ‘real’ job and then, at the same time throughout the entirety of your career, you’ve had this additional commitment to public service,” he said. “It’s Linda Daley who decides she’s going to step up and serve the School Board or the Library Board and deliver long-overdue improvements … or now serve the County Board because there was a need for someone to step up to fill a vacancy.” HER PRIDE AND JOY Daley would rather talk about her children – Aaron, who lives in Virginia, and Adam and Alison, who call Houston home – than her accomplishments.

“They aremy greatest friends. There’s no one I’d rather spend time with than my children, their spouses and my four grandchildren,” she said. “I’m most proud about what fun, nice and generous people my children are.” But they do enjoy teasing theirmother. About two years before Leitch left office in 2017, Daley decided to retire. “My children gave me this elaborate party,” she recalled. “But I didn’t retire well. Two weeks later, I was back working. “What can I say, I’m a failed retiree,” said Daley, now 75. “I don’t have a lot of hobbies other than gardening and reading. You can’t garden in the winter and you can only read so much. My children never let me forget they had a party for me.” She’ ll walk off into the sunset eventually — “I mean, I can’t work ‘til I’m 100” – and when she does, traveling with her children will top her to-do list. ‘A GIFT TO BE PART OF HER LIFE’ Being recognized as a Women of Influence is not something Daley takes lightly. “I’m glad I’ve been able to make a contribution to this community and for other people and that I could do it with a sense of humor,” she said. Spain cal ls Daley’s unequaled dedication topublic service “a superhero power, really. It’s a sense of going above and beyond with a self-motivation to build a better state and community that I think is unprecedented.” Margaret Cousins served on the Library Board with Daley, whom she called “the very best of human beings. She is extremely modest, by nature, and yet if you are privileged enough to become part of her inner circle, then you recognize day in and day out what a gift it is to be part of her life.”

Lisa Coon is a Peoria native who had a long career in the newspaper industry before moving into marketing and communications

30 DECEMBER 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE