The Rev. Louis J. Putz, C.S.C., Award - 2019: Joe ’52 and Jodie Adler

2019: Joe ’52 and Jodie Adler

For their lifetime of service to others, Joseph L. (Joe) Adler ’52, and Jodie (Joanne Biddle) Adler are recognized posthumously with this award.

Joe, the son of Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s graduates, married Jodie in 1952 as he was starting a two-year stint in the Air Force. The couple raised their children, five of whom survive, in Joliet, Illinois, where Joe managed the family business, Adler Roofing Company. Jodie died in 2014, and Joe passed away four years later.

Joe and Jodie happily spent their lives in service. They formed Young Christian Nurses and were regional directors of the Christian Family Movement, which convened biennially on the ND campus. They helped found and finance Joliet’s Spanish Center, which began as an aid to migrant workers and continues its mission to this day.

Joe and Jodie were active in the civil rights movement, and were honored when Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., gave them an autographed photo of him and of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. linking arms at a civil rights rally in Chicago.

The Adlers were part of the Catholic Jewish Dialogue of Chicago, and they promoted the Tip the Maids campaign. In addition, Joe served with a number of organizations, including the George Werden Boys and Girls Club of Joliet, the Will County Conference on Religion and Race, and the Notre Dame Club of Joliet. He was a charter member of Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish Retired Service Team and of the Will County Habitat for Humanity. 

The Adlers believed in the power of prayer. Joe’s was answered when he prayed at the Grotto for grace in finding his life’s mate. Jodie married him a few months later.