Longtime advocate for children dies at 88
A longtime Elk Grove Village resident who worked to bring social services to the area and consulted on a number of Northwest suburban agencies has passed away.
Alton Broten spent nearly 60 years in social work and social service administration, consulting as recently as two years ago for Lutheran Child & Family Services and Lutherbrook Child & Adolescent Center in Addison.
He died Nov. 8 after a long battle with prostate cancer. He was 88.
Mr. Broten's career seemed to come full circle. After serving in World War II, Mr. Broten first worked as a teacher at the former Kinderheim orphanage operated by Lutheran Child & Family Services in Addison. Officials there noticed his compassion for children and suggested he could accomplish more working in social work.
He completed his bachelor's degree at Valparaiso University and a master's degree in social service administration at the University of Chicago, before joining a number of Chicago area child service agencies as administrator.
Mr. Broten met his wife, Jane, at a speaking engagement at Valparaiso University. They married in 1954.
"Al came from a warm and supportive home, but at the time he started working with child care agencies they were mostly large orphanages," says his wife, a former staff member of Clearbrook in Arlington Heights.
"He thought children deserved to be in homes and communities," she added, "and he was very supportive of the group home concept."
As the executive director of the Mary Bartelme Homes in Chicago, a residential program for adolescent girls, Mr. Broten expanded their group homes from two to 10, as well as adding an independent living program.
When the couple moved to Elk Grove Village in 1961 to raise their family, they were surprised to find few social services available in the rapidly growing Northwest suburbs.
Consequently, Mr. Broten helped to start the Elk Grove Community Services board, which worked to identify human service needs in the community and find ways to address them.
"On the Elk Grove Community Services board, he was among people who were very forward thinking, in helping to plan for needed social services," Jane Broten added.
Paul Rettberg, who worked with Mr. Broten on the board back in the 1970s, said although he was quiet, "he put things in action."
He described how Mr. Broten was instrumental in putting together the nonprofit Elk Grove Schaumburg Township Mental Health Center, which later led to the Kenneth Young Center.
"He was very much on the forefront of that, of making mental health services to the community," Rettberg added.
Mr. Broten also was an early adviser to Shelter Inc., in Arlington Heights, a licensed child welfare agency serving the Northwest suburbs, as well as the Human Relations Commissions in Elk Grove, which promoted civil rights.
Besides his wife, Mr. Broten is survived by his children, Thomas (Kathryn) of Redondo Beach, Calif., Michael (Julie) of Honolulu, William (Sarah) of Frisco, Colo., Daniel of Chicago and Henning, Minn., and Nancy (Robert) Munson of Elk Grove; as well as four grandchildren.
Services were held in Minnesota, where Mr. Broten and his wife had retired two years ago. A memorial service is planned for 1 p.m. Jan. 16, 2010, at Lutheran Church of the Holy Spirit, 150 Lions Drive in Elk Grove Village.