Barrington Hills trustee loses cancer fight

Family, friends and the Barrington Hills community are mourning the loss of a talented attorney and active volunteer dedicated to preserving the area's equestrian character.

Peter C. Wessel, 56, lost his nearly yearlong battle with lung cancer Thursday. He had been elected a Barrington Hills village trustee in April following a four-year term on the Barrington Countryside Park District board.

This year's election campaign occurred during a period when Wessel's treatment had appeared to have worked and he considered himself to be a cancer survivor.

But the cancer returned almost immediately after Wessel was sworn in, putting his active service to the board on hold.

But while it was generally known Wessel's return to health might take some time, Barrington Hills Village President Robert Abboud said Wessel's eventual return to the board was always an underlying assumption through the morning before he died.

There was never any talk of resignation by either Wessel or his fellow board members, Abboud said.

"I just needed to let Peter work on his issue - spending 100 percent of his time getting better," Abboud said. "I think anytime someone is struggling for their life, the last thing you want to do is take away the one thing that ties them back to normal life."

Inspired by his wife, Jane Clement, who'd become an avid horseback rider in her youth in South Africa, Wessel was passionate about preserving Barrington Hills' character as a place where the equestrian lifestyle could thrive.

During his term on the Barrington Countryside Park District board, he and board President Richard Lamkey forged an intergovernmental agreement insuring that horse trails and horse jumps could remain in the Cook County Forest Preserve, neighbor Kristina Anderson said.

But Clement said her husband felt that moving on to the village board earlier this year was the best way for him to take his interest in land-use issues to the next level.

A sport that came more naturally to Wessel was golf. Clement said their son, 16-year-old Christopher, a student a Barrington High School, has absorbed and combined both of his parents' passions by becoming a polo player.

Anderson said that everyone who knew Wessel believed he was capable of beating even such an aggressive form of cancer. But the disease recently spread to his brain and was compounded by an infection he suffered.

Wessel grew up in Kenilworth and after earning his law degree, specialized in estate planning and life insurance planning, serving many clients in both the Barrington and Chicago areas.

He met and married Clement after she'd come to the United States through her work as a commercial airline pilot.

A memorial celebration will be held from 5 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at Boulder Ridge Country Club, 350 Boulder Drive in Lake in the Hills. At 6 p.m., there will be a program of songs and memories, at which all are welcome to share their favorite stories of Wessel.