Faith, Duty, and The Blue Angel

    To insure some balance of justice administered, a portion of our society, who we owe our greatest respect and support, decide to make law enforcement their life and career.
    One such person is School Resource Officer Kellie Hesterberg—a five year member of our Chillicothe Police Dept. Kellie tells me her faith in Christianity is her compass in every life decision she makes and at age eight she knew what she wanted to do—catch and stop the bad guys and predators especially those who hurt children.
    She was born on February 1, 1989 in Kankakee to Debbie and Brad Kenser and at age three, her family moved to Lewistown, IL, then later to Cuba, IL. She was a three sport athlete for the Indians and Wildcats and excelled in softball.
    Her mom was a nurse and her dad was a school administrator. At Spoon River College she attained an Associates Degree and at  Western Illinois University she earned her Bachelors. She graduated from the Police Academy in March of 2013. During her five year career in Chillicothe she earned an Officer of the Year Award and also the Life Saving Award.
    Last summer, Kellie made a traffic stop. While completing some paper work, a nine month old child started choking on candy and after about eight back slaps, the youngster was out of danger thanks to the angel in blue. She also won the Chet Coffey Award which exemplifies a caring and can do attitude with dedication to students.
    To date, she has had a profound impact on many of our young students. Parents and grandparents alike are delighted at her results and the working relationships she creates in an effort to start our youth down the right path to success.
    To help lessen the fears, anxiety, and confusion of COVID, she created small lunch time activities for the kids, interesting games, competition, gifts, prizes and awards. With out of pocket money, she got discounts for materials from stores like Sweet Finds and others not to mention her time off the clock that she donated.
    Her goals are to be the best mother she can be to her two-year-old son, Isaac, and soon to be her new daughter who’s name is to be a surprise secret. Also to love and support her husband, Connor—a successful engineer, and the Lord will take care of the rest, says Kellie.
    Over the last five years, former SRO Tim Podobinski and Kellie have served students of all ages with a very high degree of safety and well-being. For Kellie’s contributions to our community and school system as an innovative and exemplary Resource Officer and police woman, we can rightfully declare her as a true Hero, and in the hearts and minds of many of our little people, she is an Angel in Blue. Kellie says she loves the support and backing of the police department from the public.
    There have been and always will be heroes and Hometown Heroes in Chillicothe of different walks, occupations, and stature and now Officer Kellie M. Hesterberg, one of Chillicothe’s finest, joins those ranks.

Thank you, Kellie.