Rebecca Anderson Wilkins
Class of 1976Alumni Recognition Award, 2005
Becky Wilkins, born Rebecca Anderson, graduated from Naperville Central in 1976. An avid member of band, chorus, and jazz band, Becky managed to keep up with her studies, graduating with honors.
Attending Knox College from 1976-1977, Becky ventured back to Naperville and earned a bachelor's degree from North Central College in 1982, majoring in History, German, and Music. In 1981, she was awarded with the Richter Fellowship Grant Award.
Working since 1969, age eleven, Becky has accumulated a multitude of jobs. She is currently the co-owner of Anderson’s Books, Inc., Kester’s Drugs Inc.,—better known as Oswald’s Pharmacy—and W.W. Wickel Bookfairs, Incorporated. Becky also serves as a Marketing and Events Coordinator and a Children’s buyer.
While working her many jobs, Becky has accrued a mass of awards and holds numerous prestigious positions in Naperville and beyond:
- Naperville Chamber of Commerce Retail Business of the Year award, 2001
- Illinois Family Business of the Year award, 2001
- Pannell Award for Best Children’s Bookseller in nation, 2002
- Charles Haslam National Bookseller of the Year Award, 2002
- Illinois State Board of Education Exemplary Partnership Award
- District 203 and 204 Partnership Award
- President Great Lakes Booksellers Association
- American Booksellers Association Advisory Board Member
- American Booksellers Association Educational Task Force Member
- Association of Booksellers for Children Board Member
- Downtown Naperville Alliance Marketing Chair and Board Member
Not only has Becky done well for herself and her business ventures, she continues to give back to the community. She has co-founded Naperville Reads, which unites Anderson’s Bookshop, the Naperville Public Libraries, and Naperville’s school districts in a community reading program. Becky serves as a board member and founding partner of the Midwest Library Festival. She has also founded Andrea’s Angels, in memory of Andrea Racibozynski an NCHS graduate, a program in which new and gently used books are collected, sorted, and distributed to disadvantaged children and schools throughout Chicago and Northern Illinois—over 120,000 books have been donated and distributed. Rounding out her involvement with the community, Becky serves as a Naper Days marketing committee member and children’s committee member as well as a member of the Naperville Sunrise Rotary.
Six generations of Becky’s family members have graduated from Naperville High Schools. Married to Chuck Wilkins—an NCHS graduate (1974)—she has three children: Charlie (21)—a junior at Loyola University Chicago and a NNHS graduate (2002)—Sarah (20)—a sophomore at University of Vermont and a NNHS graduate (2003)—and Hallie (10)—currently a fourth grader at Beebe school.
Becky’s best memory of NCHS was, in addition to graduating, the AP U.S. History trip and debates in her history classes. A wilder memory of hers happened when her brother and future husband placed a 55-gallon drum on top of the flagpole in front of NCHS before they graduated in 1974.
NAME'S MESSAGE TO STUDENTS: “This is only the beginning; the best is yet to come. Keep your passions alive and never stop learning! And always be a reader!"
