Mundelein officer 'always wanted things to be a little bit better'

When a child needed toys or a bike for the holidays, Thomas Madole was there to provide it.

When a victim in Mundelein or Hainesville needed a police officer or a house was on fire in Long Grove, he answered the call.

And when the Special Olympics needed a hand or children at a youth camp needed a mentor, Madole stepped forward. "That was his big thing," says his eldest daughter, Patricia Roberts. "If he could help somebody in any way, he would try to do it. If he couldn't, he would find a way or someone who could."

Madole left a legacy of helping those in need and an extended family filled with children who he taught to touch their little noses with their tongues.

Madole, 81, of Vernon Hills died Thursday night from injuries sustained in a car crash in Vernon Hills.

Madole served 29 years on the Mundelein police force, retiring in 1987 as a lieutenant. He then became chief of police in Hainesville and was president of the Illinois Police Association in the mid-1990s.

Madole also was a chief family man. He raised four children and came from a family of seven siblings, who as children in the 1930s were constant companions, playing board games and puzzles. His father was a construction contractor skilled in masonry and plaster as he raised the family in the Libertyville area.

"We were always a close-knit group," says his brother, William Madole of Libertyville.

A young Thomas Madole learned about giving while making toys for local Toys for Tots drives. He served two years in the U.S. Army, then went to work in construction for his father. When an opening came in law enforcement, Madole made it his life's work.

In retirement, though, he couldn't stop helping, especially children.

"He was always young," William Madole says.

In addition to working as a volunteer firefighter in Long Grove - several friends and family did the same in other suburbs at that time - Madole became heavily involved with the Sherwood Youth Camp through the IPA.

William Madole said his brother would drive to the western Illinois camp for underprivileged children frequently in the summer, helping to set it up and close it down for the year.

Most recently, Thomas Madole was extensively involved in Special Olympics, he said.

Son Timothy Madole can remember his father working to refurbish old bikes for needy children when he was growing up.

"That is just what he did," said the former Grayslake resident who now lives in Genoa City, Wis. "He always wanted things to be a little bit better."

Madole is survived by three of his children, Roberts of Johnson City, Tenn., Timothy Madole and Pam Ross of Lindenhurst along with nine grandchildren and many great grandchildren, nieces and nephews.

Roberts said her father reveled in his extended family.

"He would get them in his lap and teach them how to lick their noses," she recalls.

He is also survived by his sister, Cleo Melendy of Libertyville, brothers James Madole of Toluca, Ill., and William Madole and sister-in-law Kathy Madole.

Visitation is set for 1 to 9 p.m. Monday at Burnett-Dane Funeral Home in Libertyville. The funeral is set for 11 a.m. Tuesday at United Methodist Church in Libertyville. Vernon Hills police declined to provide additional information Saturday on the Thursday evening car crash that killed him.

He was a passenger in a car driven by a 55-year-old female when the crash occurred in the northbound lanes of Butterfield Road near Plymouth Farms. The female driver was taken to the hospital. William Madole said she was his brother's friend and she was treated for broken ribs. Those in the other car were not taken to the hospital Thursday.