Doris K. Weidner, former Wauconda Township assessor, has died

Former Wauconda Township Assessor Doris K. Weidner dedicated much of her adult life to public service.

Weidner, who oversaw township property assessments for 17 years until 2006, died Wednesday at JourneyCare Hospice Center in Barrington. Weidner, 70, had been ill for several years, said her husband, Ronald.

Born Doris Peterson in Chicago, Doris moved to Island Lake as a child and graduated from Wauconda High School in 1961.

She married her first husband, the late David Johnson, in 1966. He died in 1967.

She married Ronald Weidner in 1978. The couple lived on a farm in the Wauconda area until moving to Volo in 2008.

A licensed real estate agent, Weidner worked as a deputy assessor in Ela Township before taking the Wauconda Township assessor's job in July 1988.

She replaced Violet Hammonds, who had retired midterm, and then successfully ran for election in the ensuing years.

Doris Weidner liked the job because she loved working with people, Ronald Weidner said.

“She was a very outgoing, public person,” he said.

Township Supervisor Glenn Swanson recalled Doris Weidner as “a real go-getter.” She was instrumental in planning the township's 150th anniversary celebration in 2000, he said.

“(She) wanted to be involved and help people,” Swanson said.

Weidner was active with the Wauconda Township Historical Society, the Wauconda Women's Club, Women in Government Service and other professional and political groups.

She also bred giant schnauzers. “That was her number-one passion,” Ronald Weidner said.

In addition to her husband, Weidner's survivors include a son, two grandchildren and a brother.

Visitation will run from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Kisselburg-Wauconda Funeral Home, 235 N. Main St., Wauconda.

A funeral Mass will begin at 11 a.m. Friday at Transfiguration Church, 348 W. Mill St., Wauconda.

A private burial will follow.

Instead of flowers, donations can be sent to the Ron & Vicki Santo Diabetic Alert Dog Foundation.