'She Lit Up Our Day': Margaret 'Rone' Leja Remembered

ORLAND PARK, IL — Friends and past co-workers are remembering fondly Mrs. Margaret "Rone" Leja, the St. Michael School teacher who was killed in a hit-and-run last week in Orland Park. Leja was 61.

"I have many fond memories of Rone," Celine Lisikiewicz said in the teacher's obituary tribute wall. "Going to see her favorite artist Joe Cocker. Spending time with her and Janet at my cabin in Door County and her sister's cabin in Michigan. Rone loved nature and was a wonderful photographer."

Friends remembered her during a visitation Monday night and a mass of Christian burial was scheduled for 12:15 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 10 at St. Michael Church, 14327 Highland Ave. in Orland Park.

Leja, who most recently lived in Tinley Park, taught in the south suburbs for many years. Before St. Michael, she taught at the high school level at Marian Catholic, Crete-Monee and Mount Assisi high schools according to a Daily Southtown report.

"She lit up our day, always saying hello, walking into classrooms, fixing the smart boards, helping any way she could," St. Michael Principal Paul Smith told the Southtown. "She always had a smile. And no matter what you did and no matter how much you messed up that Chromebook, she always had a smile."

Before she was a teacher, Leja had a career as a forensic analyst. After growing up in Oak Lawn and graduating high school in three years, she went to the University of Illinois-Chicago and then worked at the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office and Illinois Racing Board.

Her career switched to teaching while in her 40s, the Southtown reported.

"She was incredible dedicated, very-hard worked and cared very passionately about the kids," Marian Catholic Principal Steve Tortorello, who worked with Leja for six years, said of her in the Southtown article.