Wallace Busse, descendant of original Busse settlers, dies at 84
A member of one of the earliest families to settle in the Mount Prospect area has died.
Wallace Busse was a descendant of the original Busses, Friederich and Johanna, whose arrival in this area dates back to 1848, when they settled on a farm in Elk Grove Village. Many of their descendants settled in Mount Prospect and would become some of the most prominent members of the community for the next century.
Mr. Busse himself was born in one Mount Prospect's oldest houses, which his father Edwin built in 1910 on Emerson Street. Except for his years serving in World War II, Mr. Busse spent his entire life living on the same block.
He passed away Saturday at age 84.
It was in 1998, on the 150th anniversary of the Busses settling on the farm, that members of the sprawling family gathered for a reunion. Nearly 2,500 of them converged on the Lake County Fairgrounds for the event, and posed for a photo that stretches six-feet long to document all the family members present.
Mr. Busse and his clan wore orange T-shirts that day, signifying they were descended from Louis, one Friederich and Johanna Busse's children. Family members still cherish the Busse book published for the reunion, which sorts out all the different generations, and their contributions to the growth of the Northwest suburbs.
In Mr. Busse's case, he's remembered as the first mail carrier in Mount Prospect. His children describe how, when he returned from the war in the 1940s, his uncle Edward J. Busse served as postmaster and gave his nephew the job of delivering the first pieces of mail to area homes.
Up until then, all of the mail had been sorted in and picked up from boxes at the post office.
After a few years, Mr. Busse began working in the local grocery store his father had opened in 1925, known as Busse Foods, where Mr. Busse learned to be a butcher and would stay until 1960.
He then joined Annen & Busse Realtors as a broker, helping to develop the village during its boom years in the 1960s and '70s. By 1980, he had relocated to a Palatine office, before retiring in 1986.
From 1950 to 1970, Mr. Busse also served as a member of the Mount Prospect Volunteer Fire Department.
"He was involved in so many parts of the village," says his daughter, Vicki Miller of Cary. "He just loved the community."
Besides his daughter, Mr. Busse is survived by his son Gary, and another daughter, Bonnie (Brian) Eichhorst, all of Mount Prospect, as well as seven grandchildren.
Visitation will take place 4 to 9 p.m. today at Friedrich's Funeral Home, 320 W. Central Road. The funeral service will be at 11 a.m. Thursday, May 14, at St. Paul Lutheran Church, 100 S. School St., both in Mount Prospect.