Camelia LoPresti Bufalino, a beloved teacher at Mother Guerin High School in River Grove, died at age 93 on July 23. She taught at the school for more than 25 years, starting in 1964.
Her son Vince Bufalino remembers her as “great mom” and fierce advocate of education. Family friend Pam McDonough said she was a “teacher’s teacher,” well-liked by everyone who knew her at the school.
Mother Guerin was a private girls’ Catholic school at the time, and eventually merged with its counterpart school for boys, Holy Cross High School, to become Guerin College Preparatory. After 60 years, the school closed its doors permanently at the end of the 2019-2020 school year, citing financial troubles and low enrollment.
Bufalino’s father, Angelo LoPresti, was the one who instilled education as one of her core values, her son said. LoPresti was a tailor and raised his family in the Belmont and Central area of Chicago.
“Education, he preached to all the kids, to my brother, sister, and I heard it from him all the time,” Vince Bufalino said about his grandfather. “I know that he was preaching that to mom, every chance he got. And yet, she loved it.”
Camelia LoPresti Bufalino graduated from Mundelein College in 1948 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, then went on to complete a master’s degree in history at Loyola University of Chicago.
At the time, education, especially beyond undergraduate, was limited for women. Her son said he thinks she may have been one of only a few women in her classes. She loved teaching and studying U.S. history and government, and taught the first economics class at Mother Guerin, Vince Bufalino said. Bufalino influenced many young women through her career, her son said.
“She was always out there giving advice,” Vince Bufalino said. “She was the typical Italian mother, always telling you what to do, what not to do, etc. And it was to the point that, actually, the girls called her mom. Because those in her homeroom, she was like a second mother to many of them.”
The family lived in the nearby Norwood Park Township, and her son said that growing up, people in the community would tell him that his mother was their favorite teacher. As a cardiologist practicing in the community, people reached out to him wondering if she was his mother.
“After she passed, I mean, the number of condolences and sympathy cards, flowers … I mean, oh my goodness,” Vince Bufalino said. “It’s just been incredible in terms of the outreach, and a lot of them came from the Mother Guerin family.”
“She really had a way of reaching her students, and she always was around for activities associated with the school, sports and things like that,” said McDonough, a 1971 graduate of Mother Guerin who also served on the board.
Camelia LoPresti Bufalino also taught her children the value of education, her son said.
“She was relentless about getting an education with the three of us,” Vince Bufalino said, referring to his two siblings, Angelo Bufalino and Marietta Bufalino. “I mean, it was not an option. In fact, she used to say ‘if you don’t want to be a doctor, you can always dig ditches.'”
She required her kids to read 25 books each summer, which gave them some “discipline” over the break from school, Vince Bufalino said. She and her husband, Dominick Bufalino, were supportive of their kids’ efforts, as well as those of their eight grandchildren, and always cheered them on at their sports events. The pair have 14 great-grandchildren.
“They never missed the graduation ceremony, never missed one of our grad school activities,” her son said. “They were totally committed.”
Bufalino will also be remembered as a master chef, passing down recipes for red sauce and other traditional Italian foods. She was also a great baker, making more than 15 different kinds of cookies at Christmas time, Vince Bufalino said. As the kids worked on projects like parade floats, she’d bring out cream puffs for their friends to share.
“She would have two full-length folding tables at Christmas for just desserts,” her son said. “She would make blueberry pie for my brother, and lemon meringue pie for my grandfather, and cheesecake pie for my father. Everybody had their individual ‘this is my favorite’ kind of stuff.”
His father Dominick Bufalino owned a wine importing business, and his parents frequently traveled to Italy to visit family and vacation.
“She was just a great mom, wonderful lady, set an example around,” Vince Bufalino said. “For her, family was most important.”
A memorial to celebrate her life will be held in the future, the family said. The family asked that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the American Heart Association, 3816 Paysphere Circle, Chicago, IL 60674, www2.heart.org.
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