Elgin Riverside Club honors longtime bartender Jane Culver
The Elgin Riverside Club, 21 Lincoln Ave., will be hosting an open house to celebrate longtime bartender Jane Culver and her years of service from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday, April 7.
A breakfast buffet with Mimosas will be provided with a cash bar and Bloody Mary bar (Janie's favorite). The club invites those that would like to stop by to share memories or help honor her 26 years of service to do so.
Culver has been offering exemplary service to the members of the Elgin Riverside Club since 1993 after tending bar at the Owls Club for 4 years. She tested the waters in 1992 when she filled in for a Man of the Year recipient, Leo Leichter.
One year later, she came to work at the club for another Man of the Year, Clay Boyd. Since then she has attended and worked each annual Man of the Year celebration - not missing one.
Culver is an integral part of the Elgin Riverside Club bartender team; so much so, her fellow co-workers initiated this well deserved honor. Culver is energetic while she sets up for various parties - decorating and arranging tables and then serving at the event. She makes sure that each holiday, the club has some sort of holiday appropriate decor. She is first to volunteer to help with funeral gatherings or any other parties that rent the banquet room.
During day-to-day operations, not only does Culver manage the bar, she also serves lunches and typically has a special dessert for "the guys."
She helps serve dinner for members' meetings making sure all are fed and cleanup is done. She pulls out the fish for Friday fish fry and on Friday prepares coleslaw, salad, tartar sauce cups, shrimp sauce portions and wraps potatoes making sure they are placed in the oven and done by the time fish fry begins at 5:30 p.m.
Then she stays, after working all day, to serve, do dishes, clear tables and help where needed.
Culver grew up in Elgin as Jane Bell and attended Elgin High School Class of 1961. On April 6, 1963 she married Robert "Bob" Culver of Culver Roofing. She took care of the books while Bob danced from roof to roof.
They have a son, Toby who has taken on the roofing business and one daughter, Robin who is also a bartender at the club.
The Culvers were active members at the Owl's Club working together on various events and projects prior to coming to the Elgin Riverside Club in 1993. For many years, Bob would come into the club and made homemade soups for lunches and would provide an annual liver and onions meal.
When asked what made her come back day after day to serve our members who vary in attitude like weather in Illinois, she replied, "I like the people. I feel comfortable here and the members make me feel comfortable. There was never a day that I would get up not wanting to go to work."
That says it all. That is why she is valued and appreciated at the Elgin Riverside Club. Before we ended Culver did admit, "If I have one regret it was the time I missed as the younger grandchildren were growing up. Before starting to work outside the home, I took care of the older grandkids - I missed that."
Once Janie's day is done at the club, it is off to Burlington where the have a small farm. They have three donkeys, HeeHaw (Gifford), Emilou and Willy. On her days off, you will find her in the yard working in her gardens.
Join the Elgin Riverside Club in celebrating her years of service. Your presence is your gift.
Congratulations Janie for this well-deserved honor!