Freyda Libman Focuses on Following her Passions

From teaching at a local college to opening a bridal shop, Freyda Libman has done it all.

The 62-year-old resident reflected last week on the time she's spent in —a 30-year road she said had lots of curves and U-turns she never expected. A renown city girl, Libman moved to Naperville from Chicago during her first of two marriages. She was more than eight months pregnant with her oldest child.

"There was no civilization," she said, of Naperville at that time. "I knew no one. … There was nothing to do, nothing to see, no one to know."

Libman eventually made neighborhood friends who she both raised her kids with and started . Libman's family was among the original five matriarchs of the local synagogue.

"It kind of started in our basements," she said, noting that it was formed in 1972. "It was a series of events. We eventually were given space in … and later bought a little church off Ogden for our first synagogue."
 
While Libman cherishes the part she played in forming the congregation, her journey was taking on another form during that time.

When her oldest daughter was a toddler, she tripped down the stairs and broke her foot. It was that incident that acted as a catalyst for her to make a change in her life.

"It doesn't sound like a monumental event, but it was a trigger for me," she said.

Libman was determined to seek out the hobbies she loved, she said, and began teaching English at the College of DuPage. She eventually accepted a tenured position and was a full-time teacher there from 1985-2008.

"When I first went out (to the college), it was very primitive and now it's like an empire," she said. "The very fact that is was so simple gave us a tremendous amount of freedom to build curriculum."

She developed specialized courses including one focused on Holocaust literature, another on literature of oppression and one on international genocide, among others. In 2000, she was selected from 350 faculty members by students to receive the Outstanding Faculty Award.

After all, she has always been happiest in the classroom, she said.

"If you do it right, teaching is never the same any moment in time," Libman said. "You're always responding to the individual in the moment. I love students because most need encouragement and inspiration and I like to give them that. Especially, if they meet you halfway. There is a tremendous relationship that develops."

Libman embarked on a very different adventure after her retirement from teaching. While making arrangements for her second wedding, she said that she "wasn't thrilled with how I was treated in some bridal shops."

So she opened her own.

"It started in my home with 10 dresses and one closet," she said. " … By the time I took my business out of my house, I had about 150 high-end, designer gowns in the house and 20 appointments a week. My house was no longer my house. I couldn't take it."

opened its doors near the intersection of Naper Boulevard and Ogden Avenue in Dec. 2004. It became highly reputable; even earning praise from national wedding planning Website, The Knot.

The career took her all over the world including Italy, France, Spain, Las Vegas, Nev., and New York.

Libman was married in Jerusalem during that time to her current husband, Joe Ritt. It was he who helped inspire one of her other endeavors—writing a book.

"I would come home and ultimately be ecstatic or crying and he'd say, 'Write it down.' So I'm writing it down," she said, adding that she's now searching for a publisher.

She describes the novel as an insiders look at a bride's world.

"It's a very interesting world," Libman said. "A little humorous, a little poignant."

She eventually sold to her most treasured employee on Dec. 31, 2010.

She now hopes to spend time traveling with her husband. One day, she aspires to teach at the Illinois Holocaust Museum in Skokie. Life is big, she said.

"You know, you have to follow your passions," Libman said. "That's what used to tell my students. Don't worry about how much money you're going to make … if you're doing what you love and you're good at it, you will make enough to live on. It's only when you follow another person's agenda for your life that you get into trouble."