BG Rotary Club past president dies at 71

Wrandell "Ranny" Welborn will be remembered as an invaluable member of the Buffalo Grove community and, according to friends, "a regular guy who loved life."

Welborn, a longtime Rotarian who served as president of the club's Buffalo Grove chapter, died Tuesday at the age of 71.

"I met him at the Rotary Club," Buffalo Grove Police Chief Steve Balinski said Tuesday. "He was a kindhearted man who had very little worries and was always smiling,"

Besides serving as Rotary of Buffalo Grove president in 2001 and 2002, Welborn enjoyed working as the club's photographer and participating in the Buffalo Grove Days festival, friends said.

"He had an acerbic sense of humor," said John DuRocher, current Buffalo Grove Rotary president. "He had a very low-key style of leadership."

DuRocher said Welborn left the club about a year ago due to his ailing health.

One of the last projects he took part in was a trip to Guatemala where he helped put bat netting over the windows of a dormitory. The trip was important to him, DuRocher and Balinski said.

"Ranny contributed to the Guatemala mission not only as a photojournalist, but as a source of perpetual humor and fellowship," said Dan Wolf, past club president. "(His) enthusiasm for the Guatemala project helped to spark the continuing involvement of the Rotary Club of Buffalo Grove, which is preparing to send its fourth team in February 2011."

Welborn, a Buffalo Grove resident for 42 years, is survived by his wife, Maureen, two children and two grandchildren.

Visitation will be held from 2 to 8 p.m. Friday at Kolssak Funeral Home, 189 S. Milwaukee Ave. in Wheeling. A Life Celebration will be held at Kolssak at 10 a.m. on Saturday. In lieu of flowers, donations are encouraged to Rotary of Buffalo Grove Charitable Foundation, P.O. Box 5062, Buffalo Grove, IL 60089 for the Rotary Guatemala Project.