Harold Warren was a pillar of St. Charles community

If it was a school, church or business, Harold Warren could build it.

If it was a service club targeting the prevention of child abuse or promoting patriotism, Harold Warren could build it.

If it was friendship, trust and loyalty, Harold Warren could build it.

Harold Warren, 88, of St. Charles, a former National Exchange Club president, and member of the Tri-Cities, Naperville and Aurora exchange clubs, died last Thursday from liver cancer. He also had coped with Parkinson's disease and other complications for the past several years.

To his family and friends, Warren was known as a man who championed the cause of child-abuse prevention by helping build the Tri-Cities Exchange Club and the Naperville Exchange Club, which became one of the largest of its kind in the country and created the popular Ribfest celebration.

"Exchange was an important part of his life," said Ruth Warren, his wife of 55 years. "He loved it not only for serving his community, but also for the many great friendships he developed."

Warren spent 40 years designing and constructing buildings as a civil engineer, many of those with Warren Bros. Construction in Aurora.

More than 50 years ago, he became involved with the Aurora Exchange Club and spent the rest of his life devoted to building more clubs and pushing the causes of child-abuse prevention and promotion of American patriotism.

He was named the National President of Exchange in 1982, and carried its mission and messages to the local level - mostly in the form of getting new members and promoting the club in the community.

"Harold was Mr. Exchange," said Rev. William Beckman of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Batavia, a fellow charter member of the Tri-Cities club, which Warren helped create in 1979. "He lived and breathed the club and the purposes for why it existed."

His love of his service club rubbed off on his son, Scot Warren of Plainfield, who was president of the Lincolnland District of Exchange Club last year.

"Dad probably enjoyed my involvement in Exchange as much as I have," Scot Warren said.

After graduating from York High School in Elmhurst in 1940, Warren attended Purdue University for three years before joining the Army Corps of Engineers and overseeing operations at a German POW camp in Alizay, France.

In a lifetime exemplified by the act of building, it was ironic that the only time his life was seriously threatened was when a structure collapsed.

In an interview from 1997, Warren recalled his escape from a near-fatal accident at a Purdue basketball game.

He had returned to Purdue after the war ended and while at that game, he dropped his jacket, which fell below the bleachers. Warren and three other students were under the bleachers when he went to retrieve his jacket and, at that moment, the bleachers collapsed. It left him with multiple injuries, but killed the three other students.

"I spent the rest of that year in the hospital," Warren said. "The university president came to visit me often, because I think he was afraid I was going to sue him.

"I told him I was mostly worried about graduating, and he told me not to worry about that," Warren added. "I got teased a lot about it being the only reason I graduated."

After leaving Purdue, Warren began his career in civil engineering with Swift and Co., before starting his own business, which was involved in numerous Fox Valley projects, including many schools and churches.

He later served as a trustee and board chairman for the Carpenters Welfare and Pension Funds of Illinois; president of the Fox Valley General Contractors Association; director of the Aurora Chamber of Commerce; and many other municipal, community and church organizations.

"He was a true gentleman," said Wade Weisman, a friend and fellow Exchange member. "He was the type of person who you felt better by knowing him because he was always there to support everything you did."

Despite health issues that slowed him down, Warren continued attending weekly morning meetings of the Tri-Cities Exchange Club.

He was the "caretaker" of the Freedom Shrine his club erected along the Freedom Walk in St. Charles, and he was the master of ceremonies at many club functions.

But he always had time for his family and his numerous hobbies of following Purdue sports, researching Civil War history, playing golf, skiing, working in the yard or playing bridge and cribbage.

"He was one of the smartest men I've ever known," said granddaughter Allison Gering. "From politics to sports, he had it all covered."

Visitation for Warren will be held from 3 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Yurs Funeral Home, 405 E. Main St., St. Charles. Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Thursday at Congregational Church of St. Charles, 40W451 Fox Mill Blvd. A private burial will be held Thursday at Union Cemetery in St. Charles.