Mama Ray to be honored with art

JOLIET -- The Forest Park Community Center will host a celebration to unveil a Louise Ray Mosaic on Thursday.

The public is invited to the event, which takes place at noon at the center located at 1017 Woodruff Road. The celebration honors Ray, who died in January and was the founder of the Forest Park Community Center. She was a community activist motivated to provide services for young people after her son Willie was shot to death in 1987.

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Workers install a mosaic honoring Louise Ray, affectionately known as "Mama Ray." She was the founder and former executive director of the Forest Park Community Center before dying this year.
(Submitted/Forest Park Community Center)

Known affectionately as "Mama Ray," she has been credited with helping hundreds of young men and women find options for a second chance in life while also working to improve the Forest Park community in Joliet. The Joliet Township High School band will perform at the unveiling ceremony.

The mosaic was designed by the Joliet-based Friends of Community Public Art. Young people were employed to create the mosaic through the Workforce Services Division of Will County and were supervised by artists from Friends of Community Public Art.

The labor for installing the mosaic was donated by apprentices from Local 21 of the Ceramic Tile and Terrazo Trades, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers.

Others involved in the project included Silver Cross Hospital and the Illinois Arts Council.

For more information about the ceremony, call 815-722-4140 and 815-727-7898.