Remembering Fox Valley's finest

The Fox Valley lost a number of people in 2011 who believed that thinking about someone besides yourself and trying to improve their communities were worthy endeavors. Here are some of them:

Dick Young

An outrage over trash floating in a stream in Yorkville sprouted into a passion for wilderness conservation that fueled the rest of Dick Young's life.

The conservation pioneer, for whom a 1,000-acre preserve in Batavia is named, died in March.

A Marine in World War II, Young later fell in love with Kane County plants and wildlife, working for the county and the forest preserve district. He identified where responsible development could occur and took a firm stance about areas that he thought should remain sanctuaries.

He also wrote three editions of “Kane County Wild Plants and Natural Areas.”

“He would always say, ‘Boy, you wouldn't believe the opportunities that you have if you write a book.' It gave him a lot of credibility with people who didn't know him. If he was interested in seeing an area preserved that a family owned, he'd bring that book and give it to the family. Just showing them the pictures of the plants and talking about them would just leave them awe-struck,” said fellow preservationist Mary Ochsenschlager. “He just had this way of making you appreciate things differently. You'd find a plant, and maybe it wasn't very showy, but you'd read what his book said about it and you'd say, ‘Oh, I love this plant.'”

T. Jordan Gallagher

Friends and colleagues described T. Jordan Gallagher of Sycamore, a 16th Judicial Circuit judge for the past three years and former two-term DeKalb County State's Attorney from 1976 to 1984, as an encyclopedia of law knowledge. Gallagher, 63, died in June.

“He was probably one of the most talented trial lawyers I knew. He taught us how to try cases and he lost very few trials. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of the law,” said friend and attorney Rick Turner. “He was a friend to everyone. Even if you were a stranger, you felt like you were friends for a while.”

Fran Gebes

Frances Mary “Fran” Gebes had a lifelong passion to support the men and women who served in the U.S. military.

From her work as a riveter and seamstress during World War II, through 50 years of volunteer work for the Batavia Overseas Post 1197 of the VFW, Gebes promoted patriotism and community spirit. She died in January at 96.

Gebes and her husband, George, were named Batavia Citizens of the Year in 2002. The duo raised money to get the VFW Post built. She was the post's bookkeeper for 20 years.

“I remember as a kid, when that property was first bought for that building, my mom did a lot of community work to organize chicken and beef dinners,” said her daughter, Barbara Kalina. “It was in the 1950s, before there was a restaurant at every corner, and the dinners became very popular and my mom was one of the people spending the whole night roasting beef.”

Steve Munson

The unflappable Steve Munson, an Elgin entrepreneur and mover and shaker on the civic and technological scenes, died in September.

Munson, 55, co-owned Everyware Inc., a software-development company. In 2010, he parlayed his computer expertise into cofounding BocaJump, a website for city news and night life.

He was married to Ruth Munson, a former Elgin city councilwoman and former state representative.

As a board member and ex-president for the Downtown Neighborhood Association of Elgin, Munson helped develop the group's website, initiated the group's weekly e-blasts and encouraged the DNA to use Twitter and Facebook.

Barbara Rakow

Barbara L. Rakow's life revolved around East Dundee. She was the matriarch of a family with lengthy public service records in town. She kept records as village clerk from 1964 to 1973. Rakow, 81, died in July,

She lived in the area all of her life and helped run the River Street office at what used to be Rakow's Floor Coverings in East Dundee.

Don Goers

Don Goers, one of Santa's helpers, spent 13 years standing in for the big man at Santa's Village.

From 1966 through 1979, Goers held court at the North Pole in East Dundee, running his tight ship from a house on-site — the kids swarmed around him as he tried to go back to his area. And when he took them on his knee, his goal was to let kids be kids and to take their attention off the problems of the day.

In 1994, Santa called on Goers one last time to be his proxy for the amusement park's 35th anniversary. He was the longest-serving helper. The Schaumburg resident died in May at the age of 85.

Larry Snow

Former Huntley Unit District 158 school board member Larry Snow, who died in October, made friends the same way he made enemies: with his cantankerous style and often-abrasive personality. Snow was 61 and friends said he died from a brain tumor in October.

Known as a taxpayer advocate on the school board during his tenure from 2005 to 2009, Snow's persistence led to the ousting of a superintendent and the retirement of a finance director.

When Snow was elected to the board in 2005, the school district recently had passed a tax increase through referendum. Snow continually questioned the administration over $3 million from a state grant that was left out of district financial statements. It later was determined that the district had overstated its need for a tax increase and had created an appearance that the district's finances were worse than they actually were.

Leonard Besinger Jr.

Leonard Besinger Jr., the designer of the Meadowdale International Raceway in Carpentersville, died in August in a car accident near his ranch in New Mexico. He was 76.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate followed his father in designing and building communities throughout the suburbs.

Later in his life, Besinger designed subdivisions and office buildings, built custom homes in the Florida Keys, started a vineyard in New Mexico and raised Texan Longhorn cattle while finding time to travel the globe. He divided his time between his Marengo home and his vineyard.

Marcene Linstrom

Marcene Linstrom moved to Elgin in 1979 and started doing secretarial work with the Elgin Symphony Orchestra. By 1985 she became its executive director and 10 years later was named Manager of the Year by the Illinois Council of Orchestras. Linstrom, 81, died in January.

She learned to play piano as a child and studied music education at Lutheran schools in Nebraska and Minnesota. She taught children's choir in church schools and sang in choirs for more than 50 years.

At the ESO, then-music director Robert Hanson said she rose through the ranks rapidly because of her intellect and her ability to close a deficit in her first year as executive director.

Jack Wessel

St. Charles lost one of the visionaries who helped mold the city with the death of Jack Wessel, 79, in July.

Wessel was chairman of the city's plan commission for more than 20 years, a stint recognized by the past three mayors as the one of the largest commercial and residential growth periods. Relatives said Wessel's service on the commission and with the park district came from a desire to not let too much of an urban feel overwhelm the family atmosphere of the community. His success in that realm was forever sealed by Family Circle Magazine naming St. Charles the best community in the country for families.

Lynlee Gilbert

Lynlee Gilbert, a 17-year-old Batavia High School senior, was killed in May in a crash near Elburn that critically injured her friend, Sarah Ginter. Gilbert was involved in youth groups at the Community Christian Church in Naperville and wanted to pursue a doctorate in psychology so she could help addicted children. Even in death, she helped others by donating her organs. “God has another angel in heaven. Unfortunately, He got my angel,” said Lynlee's father, Jeff Gilbert.

Patrick Dixon

In his nearly 25 years on the bench, Patrick Dixon earned a reputation as one of the wisest and fairest judges in the 16th Judicial Circuit Court Circuit, which contains Kane, Kendall and DeKalb counties. Dixon was named associate judge in 1979, rose to chief judge from 1988 to 1990 and retired in 2002. The 69-year-old Geneva man died in March.

Linder Devore

Before banks were considered bad guys with billion-dollar bailouts, St. Charles had Linder Devore. As president of the St. Charles National Bank, customers in the 1970s and 1980s could rely on him as being a man of integrity, trust and community involvement. The town only had two banks and Devore, who died in December at the age of 92, did his best to provide regular folks with loans they needed to better their lives.

“He was the George Bailey of that era,” recalled former St. Charles Mayor Fred Norris. “Linder was the ideal person at the right time. It was still a community bank. He knew everybody by first name. He knew local banking is one of the important elements of a growing community.”

Kenneth Payleitner

Kenneth Payleitner's parents wanted him to be a dentist. But a stint in the military at the tail end of World War II disrupted that path, as he developed the courage to defy them and follow his dream: “This (teaching) is really what I want to do,” said his daughter Sue Curran. The 32-year principal of Harrison Street Elementary School in Geneva died in July at age 84.

“He always related to children better than adults … he knew he had that gift,” Curran said.

James Krenz

James Krenz, an entrepreneur and take-charge kind of man who was a mainstay on the Fox Valley political scene for nearly a decade, died in May of pancreatic cancer.

The 57-year-old Carpentersville resident ran for village president in 2009 against incumbent Bill Sarto and eventual winner Ed Ritter, for state representative in the 49th district — he lost in the 2008 primary — and a successful run in 2004 for trustee of the Gail Borden Library.

Krenz was a founding member of the Carpentersville Rotary Club and ran Amy Plumbing Heating and Cooling, which he started in 1984.

Krenz built and resold houses in Elgin and Algonquin. He offered building advice on a weekly call-in radio show on WRMN-AM 1410 called “Your Home Matters.”

Mark Beaubien Jr.

State Rep. Mark Beaubien Jr., who represented the Barrington area in the state legislature for nearly 15 years, died June 5 after suffering an apparent heart attack. He was 68.

“He was a giant, one of the great guys.” Lake County GOP Chairman Bob Cook said. “Regardless of party, he voted his conscience and he always did what he thought was right. You have to respect that.”

Beaubien of Barrington Hills was known as a moderate Republican. He represented the 52nd House District, which included most of the Barrington area and portions of Wauconda, Fox Lake, Round Lake, Fox River Grove, Cary, Island Lake, McHenry and Lakemoor.

House colleagues praised him for his sharp knowledge of complex state budget issues, on which he served as Republican point man for several years. He also was described as a mentor to younger lawmakers.

He joined the state legislature in October 1996 to fill a seat left vacant by the resignation of former representative Al Salvi.

He won election one month later and faced few serious challenges in the seven elections thereafter.

Before heading to Springfield, Beaubien served on the Lake County Board and as the Cuba Township supervisor.