Friends and family remember Lake in the Hills trustee

Friends and family of Joseph Murawski on Saturday remembered the Lake in the Hills village trustee as a warm and funny man who cared deeply for his family and for the community he served.

"It's both unfortunate and appropriate that we're having this funeral on Father's Day weekend," said Murawski's son, Joseph Murawski Jr.

The elder Murawski was 75 when he died June 11. Loved ones said farewell during a viewing and funeral Mass at St. Margaret Mary Church in Algonquin.

Murawski, a retired truck driver and Air Force veteran, was driven by the need to serve others, said the Rev. Michael Tierney, pastor of St. Margaret Mary.

It was that need that led him into local politics, Tierney said. Murawski served on the village board from 1991 to 1999, then again from 2003 until his passing. In between he served a short time as village president.

He also served on other local government bodies before that.

Murawski's first stint on the board was a particularly acrimonious time for village government, but Murawski managed to stay above the fray, Tierney said.

"Even amid turbulence, he was a sound voice - a voice of reason, a voice of care," he said.

Murawski's son, Joseph Jr., talked about his father's love of jokes and laughter, and his deep commitment to the Boy Scouts of America, an organization he served for more than 40 years.

Struggling with tears, the younger Murawski remembered the day he told his father he wanted to quit the Scouts. He thought his father would feel compelled to quit, too, but that was not the case.

"He said he wanted to be a father figure to all the kids who didn't have one of their own," Joseph Murawski Jr. said. "That's what was important to him."