Broadcast community, city say goodbye to Randy Salerno

In life, family and friends said, Randy Salerno brought people together to laugh.

And in death, about 250 relatives and friends Wednesday filled Immanuel Lutheran Church in Crystal Lake, to share laughter and tears in remembering the Emmy Award-winning CBS 2 anchorman, who died Jan. 24 in a snowmobiling crash in northern Wisconsin.

An overflow crowd of hundreds more gathered in the school's gymnasium to watch the service on a projector screen.

Former colleagues there included co-anchor Roseanne Tellez - who worked with Salerno both at WGN-TV Channel 9 and WBBM - and WGN meteorologist Tom Skilling.

Salerno was a member of the WGN news staff for 11 years before moving to CBS 2 in 2004.

Family and friends recalled Salerno's quick wit and humor.

"He was a tall, gangly kid with a mouthful of braces," said childhood friend Tony Peters, who remembered Salerno during his days at Crystal Lake South High School. "But when those braces came off, he couldn't keep his mouth shut."

Peters, who attended grade school, high school and college with Salerno, said his friend was voted "Most Likely to Get Punched for Mouthing Off" in high school.

Maureen Kopec, Salerno's younger sister, said she and brother Jeff were Salerno's "shadows" and recalled the numerous tricks and pranks their older sibling played.

"We just wanted to be around him and everything he did," Kopec said.

Even if that meant acting as targets while Salerno pitched crabapples at her.

"I remember him telling me, 'If you cry, you can't play,'" Kopec said. "That's my life motto."

In the third grade, Kopec said she even shaved her arms and legs because Salerno kept calling her "a hairy monkey."

But most of all, Salerno was remembered as a dedicated family man - father of three children; Haley, 13; Slone, 9; and Charlie, 7.

"Beyond the credentials and the experience was that special something that touched all of us," said CBS 2 President and General Manager Joe Ahern. "Underneath the wit, the irreverent sarcasm and that wonderful sense of humor was a real humanity. Randy was Randy. He loved his family, his kids, his friends."

His wife, Irene, painted a portrait of a dedicated family man who scheduled time off work to coincide with his kids' school holidays and coached Little League and basketball teams in the evenings, though it cut into his sleep time.

"He was the one who played hide and go seek, made home movies with the kids, anything to spend time with them," she said. "All he wanted was to see the children when they came home from school at 4 o'clock. In fact, if they had a play date scheduled, he would get upset because he wouldn't see them until it was almost time for him to go to bed.

"Randy was all about family."

Salerno was killed when the snowmobile piloted by friend Scott Hirschey crashed into trees on Plum Lake near Eagle Creek, Wis.

Police said Hirschey, 44, of Crystal Lake, was thrown from the snowmobile, while Salerno took the full impact of the crash and died of multiple blunt force trauma.

Hirschey, who was released Wednesday from St. Joseph's Hospital in Marshfield, Wis., was formally charged Tuesday with homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle and faces a Feb. 11 court date.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources also cited Hirschey for operating a snowmobile while intoxicated.