Tom Peck's passing a 'grievous loss' to Geneva

To hear Tom Peck tell his stories was to place yourself in a Geneva from yesteryear.

"He was a wealth of information on Geneva history, because he lived through most of it," said Dave Oberg, the executive director of the Geneva History Center.

The history center will miss the numerous visits and educational sessions Peck provided about Geneva's past and of the history of the Peck family, one of the city's early pioneers and legendary farmers and sheep herders.

Peck, 89, died Saturday at Michaelson Care Center in Batavia and is being remembered as the oldest living continuous resident of Geneva.

His death was shocking to friends and history center members who had seen Peck and his wife Marie a few weeks ago at the community picnic commemorating the city's 175th birthday party.

"He was there, front and center, because he was an important member of the history center," Oberg said. "He was a wonderful and interesting guy, and this is just a grievous loss."

Peck was fond of telling the story about his birthplace on Jan. 1, 1921, Oberg said, because he knew that most of today's Geneva residents had no idea that the hospital serving the community was at 220 S. Third St. at that time.

"He was born in Colonial Hospital, and he would remind us of that often," Oberg said. "Dr. Raymond G. Scott began that hospital in 1908 until 1925 at that location, which at one time was Robbin's Book Store, and then Community Hospital replaced it (in the area that is now Dodson Place)."

In 2005, Peck sold the last few acres near his South Street home of what had been a 1,600-acre family farm, covering land that is now Eagle Brook subdivision, First Baptist Church of Geneva and the Geneva Commons.

Margaret Selakovich, educator at Geneva History Center, said Peck was often her guest speaker at second-grade classroom sessions and told stories about his childhood and adult years working on that family farm when his home was in the area across the street from where Western Avenue School was eventually built.

"He basically came in and told kids what it was like growing up in Geneva back then," Selakovich said. "He would sit in a rocking chair and the kids would gather around him, and they were just amazed at his stories about riding a tractor at age 9 near the railroad tracks on Western Avenue. He took kids back in time to when his family raised sheep out there."

Peck was the son of Seth Peck, who was one of four sons of family patriarch Eli Peck, who brought the family to Geneva from New England in 1843. Eli Peck's farm became famous at world fairs across the country because of the Merino sheep herds he would show and sell. His sons went on to buy their own farmland throughout Geneva and the home and property of one son, George Peck, located off Kaneville Road became a Geneva Park District educational center and park in 1998.

Peck graduated from Geneva High School in 1938 and worked on the family farm until 1961, when he went to work for Moorman Manufacturing as a feed salesman for 20 years.

Merritt King, who graduated from Geneva High School in 1939, said he was such good friends with Peck during high school that he was "one of the few allowed to hunt pheasant on their farm property."

"He was a fine man, and highly respected," King said. "He and Marie were always the first in line to make contributions to a good cause in the community."

Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the First Baptist Church of Geneva, 2300 South St., with burial in River Hills Memorial Park in Batavia.

Peck is survived by his wife Marie; three children; numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren; nieces and nephews.

His first wife, Ruth, passed away in 1989.