Spiess lauded as pillar of Elgin

There was a time when everybody in Elgin knew John Edward Spiess.

His reach into the community extended far beyond the walls of Joseph C. Spiess Co., the department store his father founded in 1920.

Spiess taught sixth-grade Sunday school at Church of the Redeemer and with his wife, Priscilla, ran the Larsen Middle School PTA. He served on the boards at the First National Bank of Elgin, the Elgin Chamber of Commerce and Elgin's United Way group and was a member of the Elgin Country Club.

“He was a pillar of the church; he was a pillar of the community,” said the Rev. Mary Harriss, deacon emeritus at Church of the Redeemer.

Harriss will officiate at a private service for Spiess, who moved to Naples, Fla., in 1978. Spiess died May 8 in Bonita Springs, Fla., two days shy of his 91st birthday.

His family will gather at the graveside in Bluff City Cemetery later this month to remember the man and his accomplishments.

“He had a wonderful, wonderful life,” his daughter Joan Julow said. “We should all be so lucky.”

She fondly recalls Sundays after church; her father worked in his office at the store while she and her siblings played in the toy department. Stores closed on Sundays back in the day, she reminds us.

She said he had been sick for some time but remained active and involved, driving his car into his 90th year, always opening doors for ladies and even writing his own obituary.

“He had everything organized,; that's the way he was,” Julow said.

Spiess was born in Elgin and graduated from Elgin Academy before attending Northwestern University in Evanston. He returned to Elgin as a buyer and merchandise manager at his father's store and eventually took over as president and CEO.

During his tenure the company grew from its flagship Elgin store to outposts in Mount Prospect, Crystal Lake and St. Charles. The Elgin store closed in 1983 and moved operations to nearby Spring Hill Mall in West Dundee in 1984.

Julow recalled her father as the kind of boss anyone would love to have. He gave jobs to single mothers who needed to support their children and reformed drug addicts looking for another chance. When someone got sick on the sidewalk outside the Elgin store, he was not above grabbing a mop and cleaning up the mess himself.

“He took a lot of chances on people,” Julow said. “He worked very hard.”

Spiess was preceded in death by his parents, his wife of 49 years, Priscilla, and their daughter, Sally West.

Survivors include three daughters, Anne (Neil) Levy of Los Angles, Calif., Mary (Douglas) Smith of Zionsville, Ind. and Joan (James) Julow of Bonita Springs, Fla.; as well as eight grandchildren.

Laird Funeral Home in Elgin is handling burial arrangements. Memorials may be sent to Church of the Redeemer, 40 Center St., Elgin. For information, call the funeral home at (847) 741-8800.