Ex-Carpentersville fire chief put himself last

A first responder who started his career in Carpentersville before taking those skills to fire agencies down south, has died.

Ronald Lee Creek, former chief of what used to be the Carpentersville and Countryside Fire Protection District, died Wednesday at his home in Eagle Rock, Mo. He was 74 and had been battling emphysema, his oldest son, Steven, said.

“I loved him and I wished I could have kept him around a bit longer and learned a little bit more,” said the younger Creek, who also is a firefighter in Eagle Rock and wanted to one day fight a fire with his father.

In the 1960s, the former Carpentersville resident quit his job as a silk screen artist in Chicago to pursue his dream of becoming a firefighter.

He joined the Carpentersville district in 1966 as a volunteer firefighter and worked his way through the ranks to become a lieutenant and fire inspector, before retiring and moving to Arkansas in 1979. In 1980, he relocated to Louisiana where he worked as a paramedic. By this time, he had remarried to Carol Ronsonette, an emergency room technician he’d met and worked with at a hospital after the divorce, she said.

They returned to Carpentersville in 1991 where Creek became fire chief. Under his direction, the district purchased two new fire engines, Chief John Schuldt said.

Creek retired in 1997 soon after the village took over the district.

His firefighting career continued. After leaving Carpentersville, Creek headed to rural Eagle Rock, where he joined as a volunteer firefighter and became chief in 1998.

“He was a very caring individual and he strove to make life better for others,” said his youngest daughter, Ronda Reynolds. “And he was always concerned about making other peoples lives better before he was concerned about his own.”

That philosophy carried over into his final hours. The day before he died, Creek placed a phone call to Chief Schuldt to congratulate him on being named the 2011 Illinois Fire Chief of the Year. “It was kind of touching when I heard he passed,” Schuldt said.

Creek is survived by four children, his wife Carol, his previous wife, Phyllis Basara, 13 grandchildren and 26 great-grandchildren. Services will be held June 12 in Eagle Rock.