Carol Stream Park District remembers longest-serving board member

You normally wouldn't take a stretch limo for a trip to the neighborhood recreation center.

But this was no small occasion that Sunday afternoon, and the guest of honor, Robert Simkus, knew he had to arrive in style.

“Welcome, Mr. Simkus, to your building,” Barb O'Rahilly told him, not long after he stepped out of that limo during a ceremony to open the Simkus Recreation Center on March 25, 1990.

More than 25 years later, his namesake building remains the only brick-and-mortar facility in the Carol Stream Park District dedicated to a former commissioner.

Simkus also holds another singular distinction: serving 25 consecutive years on the park district board — the longest of any member.

“He was very, very active in his community,” O'Rahilly says.

Simkus, who lived in Carol Stream for more than five decades, died June 24. He was 79.

Services were held Wednesday.

“He was very sincere. He had a great sense of humor, and I think that people enjoyed being with him,” says O'Rahilly, who worked with Simkus as a former park district executive director and longtime employee.

Simkus was intimately involved with the park district since its inception. In a special election March 21, 1964, Carol Stream residents overwhelmingly supported the creation of a park district, with 266 voters in favor to 30 against it.

That same day, Simkus was elected to the board with four other commissioners: Fred Mitchell, who became the board president; W.H. Kent, the vice president; Gerald Walter, treasurer; and George Kostopoulos.

In his first term, Simkus was the board's secretary and later held the title of president. At the time, Carol Stream was an emerging community that was just 5 years old.

In 2009, village Trustee Rick Gieser interviewed Simkus, an avid golfer, and Walter about the challenges of developing recreational programming in a taped series celebrating Carol Stream's 50th anniversary.

“They were constantly trying to come up with new ideas,” Gieser said.

Simkus' unprecedented tenure on the board ran from 1964 to 1989. In between, the district experienced significant growth.

Nearly 20 parks and other facilities were purchased and dedicated when Simkus was a commissioner, including Armstrong Park.

“Many of them were major milestones,” Gieser said.

A $6.1 million project to build the Simkus Recreation Center and a water park (now Coral Cove) was approved by voters in 1988. The former was formally named after Simkus about two years later.

Today, it houses the park district's administrative offices, a gym and other amenities on Lies Road.

“He was very touched and very, very pleased and honored as we all were,” O'Rahilly said.

Simkus, a Navy veteran, is survived by his wife, five children and 12 grandchildren. Instead of flowers, donations can be made to the American Cancer Society.