Ranee Sudkamp says her grandparents lived in Forest View before it was a village. Now her name is going on a street sign, the first honorary sign in village history.
Trustee Jim Nitka honored Sudkamp, a retired nurse, during a presentation at the Forest View Board of Trustees meeting Oct. 27. The blue sign will read “Honorary Ranee Sudkamp Way” and is planned for 45th and Clinton. No date has been set for it to go up.
“She’ll help anyone,” Nitka said during the presentation.
“I know firsthand she helped my mother and father a lot when my mother was sick,” he said. “She didn’t ask for anything in return, nothing, and she did not expect anything in return either.”
“This is a small token as to what our village can thank you, for everything you’ve done for us,” Nitka told Sudkamp.
Those at the meeting congratulated Sudkamp, calling the honor well deserved.
“Oh, my God, I’m really honored,” Sudkamp said after the meeting.
Sudkamp, 76, grew up in Forest View and remembers the generations before her. Her parents were very involved in the community, she said.
“My grandparents were here before it was the Village of Forest View,” she said. “My parents and grandparents would be very proud.”
She described a town built after World War II, settled largely by veterans, where “people volunteered for the fire department and the police department.”
Sudkamp said her work helping people started as soon as she finished nursing school. The father of a classmate had a brain tumor, and the man’s wife asked Sudkamp to give him IV medicine at home.
“And I said, I will, but if you tell anybody, you know, I’m going to deny it,” she said. “I’ll lose my license.”
There were no plastic syringes then, she said. “I had to boil the needle and the syringe,” she said.
She also described checking on an older neighbor across the street twice a day, on the block where she grew up, so his daughter could go to work without worrying. “So she could work and not worry about him,” Sudkamp said.
Her service has been recognized before. In 2023, Sudkamp was selected for the Governor’s Volunteer Service Award in the Business (Volunteer Work) category. Then-Mayor Nancy Miller nominated her.
Nitka brought the idea of honorary street signs to the board. He said he had been thinking about it “over the last 6 to 9 months” and worked with Village Administrator Zachary Creer on designs.
Nitka said Sudkamp was his choice for the first sign.
“I’ve known her since I was 5 years old,” he said.
Sudkamp said many others in town could earn the same recognition.
“You know, 10 years from now, they’ll forget my name,” she said. “But I know, I know all the people that came before me.”
“So, I really feel honored,” she said. “I really do.”