Those we've lost to COVID-19: Bill Hein, former Wheeling village president
COVID-19 has taken the lives of more than 15,000 people in Illinois, including about 6,200 from the suburbs. We're sharing the stories of some of those we've lost.
Bill Hein had served the village of Wheeling in a variety of roles, from volunteer firefighter in the 1960s to village president from 1977 to 1981.
He was a trustee in the 1970s, and again from 2011 to 2016.
In his final election, he campaigned on meeting the needs of the growing population of seniors in Wheeling.
It was this group that took the brunt of COVID-19 as it swept through Illinois beginning in the spring, ultimately killing 7,559 people in long-term care facilities to date. Hein, 80, was among them.
He died April 10 while in a nursing home where he had been staying after a brain injury from a fall in September 2018.
“He loved Wheeling,” said Hein's son, also named Bill, who lives in Grayslake. “He loved that town and the people in it.”