Beekeeper donates $25,000 to Carol Stream library

A Carol Stream volunteer beekeeper, Purple Heart recipient and philanthropist has donated $25,000 to the Carol Stream Public Library.

Lawrence DuBose, 92, is a well-known fixture at Kline Creek Farm in West Chicago, where he volunteers about 1,600 hours a year at the beekeeping center he helped establish with a $100,000 donation in 2010.

Carol Stream library officials recently announced DuBose's latest gift, which follows a donation he made in December in the same amount to the Wheaton Public Library.

DuBose, the former president of Carol Stream-based Testing Service Corporation, grew up in south Texas where he says his father, a school superintendent and principal, would often go with him to the school library to pick out books to read in the summer.

DuBose says he developed a “habit of reading” from a young age and it's something he'd like to pass on to younger generations.

“If I can encourage people to read instead of wasting time on television, maybe I can do some good,” he said.

DuBose found success in business through his engineering firm, established in 1958 and relocated to Carol Stream four years later. He retired about two decades ago, and the company has new ownership, though one of his sons still works in management there.

“I've had a fortunate life and been able to do things. Opportunities were there and I took advantage of them, but people were also there to help me along the way,” DuBose said.

He also provides endowed student scholarships at Texas A&M University, where he received his bachelor's and master's degrees and Ph.D. in civil engineering.

For students attending school today, he says, it “isn't cheap.”

In World War II, DuBose was an army lieutenant and rifle platoon leader who was shot in the stomach near Saarbrucken on Feb. 21, 1945. When he returned home, he married his wife, Wanda.

The couple established the beekeeping operation at Kline Creek Farm about 30 years ago. It's a place where DuBose still spends most days as a beekeeper and instructor. The 700-square-foot honey processing center was named in honor of his late wife.

“Some people think I live over there,” he said.

In fact, DuBose has lived at the Windsor Park retirement community in Carol Stream since 1989.

Carol Stream library Director Susan Westgate said DuBose will be honored with a resolution at the April 17 library board meeting. A brick also will be dedicated in his honor in front of the library.

Last week, DuBose hosted a program about beekeeping at the Wheaton library.

“It was very well-attended. (The patrons) loved it. He's very approachable,” said Wheaton Library Director Sarah Meisels. “He's one of these old-fashioned, kindly gentlemen.”

Westgate and Meisels said neither library has yet decided how DuBose's financial contributions will be spent.