Silver Cross and Village of New Lenox Dedicate Main Campus Thoroughfare to Former President & CEO Ruth Colby

Silver Cross Hospital history was made July 23 when New Lenox Mayor Timothy Baldermann and other New Lenox officials joined members of the Silver Cross Hospital staff to honorarily rename Silver Cross Boulevard to Honorary Ruth Colby Boulevard in her memory.

Ruth Colby served as the hospital’s President and Chief Executive Officer from Oct. 1, 2017, until her untimely passing Oct. 15, 2023. Prior to that, she served as the hospital’s Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, beginning in 2005 until she assumed the role of President. 

Also present at the special dedication ceremony were Ruth's husband Don DeFrank and son David Chodak.

The ceremony, held near the southeast intersection of Route 6 and Silver Cross Boulevard, opened with a welcome from Scott Paddock, Silver Cross Senior Vice President of External Affairs, who shared how the special day came about.  

“This spring, the Silver Cross Medical Executive Committee was looking for impactful ways to honor our former President and CEO Ruth Colby on our New Lenox Campus, and one of the ideas that surfaced was a street renaming in her honor,” he said. “The committee authored a letter to Mayor Baldermann and the Village of New Lenox expressing this desire on behalf of the 1,200 physicians and advanced practice providers on our Medical Staff. And here we are just a short time later gathering for this significant moment in our Silver Cross history.”

Michael Mutterer, RN, MA, LCPC, CADC, LNHA, Silver Cross President and Chief Executive Officer, thanked Mayor Baldermann, the Village of New Lenox, the New Lenox Board of Trustees and New Lenox Public Works for making the special tribute possible.

“Mayor Baldermann and the Village of New Lenox are truly great friends of Silver Cross. And it is that friendship that Ruth treasured and nurtured for many, many years. You have my pledge that I will continue that relationship moving forward,” he said. “This very busy intersection serves as the main entrance to our bustling hospital campus, but it is also much more than that. Honorary Ruth Colby Boulevard signifies health, hope and healing to all who pass this way.”

He added, “Ruth’s visionary leadership touched every corner of Silver Cross Hospital as well as our beautiful campus from the time she joined the organization in 2005 until her untimely passing last October. Honorary Ruth Colby Boulevard will be a visual reminder that Ruth’s wisdom and guidance transformed what was once a community hospital into a regional medical center and nationally recognized healthcare brand. She helped bring world-class healthcare close to home for the tens of thousands of people that Silver Cross serves in its community.”

Prior to unveiling the new sign, Mayor Baldermann spoke fondly of Colby, whom he called friend and colleague.

“Ruth was a woman of incredible integrity,” Mayor Baldermann said. “She never hesitated to pick up the phone and call when it was something that she wanted to do for others. In all the time that I talked to Ruth, not one time did she ever ask for anything for herself. It was always for the hospital, somebody in need, for her staff, for the community.”

“There’s a lot of streets throughout the suburbs that have honorary boulevards. I’ve traveled through such places and always wondered who those people are,” he added. “But it will be a long time before there’s somebody who says, ‘who was Ruth Colby?’ I promise you that 100 years from now when someone is driving down this street and they see Ruth Colby Boulevard, they will see her legacy. They may not have known who she was personally; they may not have even ever heard of her name before, but everything that you see before you and everything that will come from this point forward, is due in large part to her hard work, her effort and her commitment to people.”