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Obituaries

  • May 6, 2015 | People
    James Powless 1959-2015

    James Kenneth Powless, 66, passed away at 7:30 a.m. Saturday, April 18, 2015, in Memorial Hospital of Carbondale.

    He was born on April 9, 1949, in Carbondale, the son of Kenneth Barnett Powless and Emily Mary (Cygnar) Powless.

    He was united in marriage to Susan Elizabeth Reed on Saturday, June 13, 1970, in Marion, and together they shared over 44 years of marriage.

    Jim obtained a Bachelor of Science in finance in 1971 and a Juris Doctor in 1974, from the University of Illinois in Champaign. He practiced law in Marion and owned William County Title and Abstract.

    He was a member of Aldersgate United Methodist Church of Marion.

    Jim enjoyed fishing, reading, cooking, tinkering, teaching and listening to folk music. He was selfless, performing acts of service for people without hesitation. He enjoyed volunteering for the Marion Regional Humane Society and substitute teaching for Marion and Carterville school districts. He was a “Dad” to many of his daughters’ friends and invested many years coaching summer softball league. His patience, laugh, humor, and love will be celebrated and remembered.

  • May 6, 2015 | People
    Granger Cook Jr. 1926-2015

    Granger Cook, Jr., 88, of Lake Forest, IL peacefully passed away in his sleep on March 14. Granger was born on August 31, 1926 in Chicago, IL, son of the late Anna (nee Veysset) and Granger Cook, Sr.

    After serving in WWII, Granger graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in Electrical Engineering, followed by a Law degree from the University of Michigan. He then pursued a very successful career in Patent Litigation in Chicago, founding and managing Cook, Alex.

    He was very active in the Community, holding the position of Lake Forest Plan Commission Chairman and was a past President and Life Trustee Board member of the BGA. In his last two decades, his passion for music led him to become the Chairman of the Advisory Board of Lake Forest Symphony, much to the detriment of his friends' pocket books, but more importantly to the betterment of the Symphony. He will be deeply missed.

    Granger is survived by his wife of 63 years Joan (nee Tallett) and his five children, Granger "Tres" III (Mary Ellen) of Salem, WI, Joanne (Kevin) Miller of Lake Forest, Bryan (Patricia) of Medina, TX, Suzanne (Brett) Moore of Lake Forest, Graham (Beth) of Lake Forest, his brother Kenneth (Marcia), nephew Kevin (Dee) Cook, and niece Karen (Michael) Lindley. Granger was also the proud grandfather of fifteen, and great-grandfather of seven, who all greatly appreciated his generosity and foresight in founding his beloved Kilally Club in Desbarats, Ontario and creating his collection of bronzes by Elie Hazak.

  • May 6, 2015 | People
    William Franz 1930-2015

    William "Bill" Franz, an attorney whose 54-year career coincided with Crystal Lake's tremendous post-war growth, died Sunday, April 12, 2015, in Chicago of complications from lymphoma.

    Lending playful humor to dry legal proceedings, he played a leading role in Crystal Lake's residential and commercial development. He often served as a public advocate, as when his firm contested in court and won a judgment in the 1980s against a proposed new landfill in McHenry County by a large company with a checkered environmental record. He touched the lives of many throughout the community, in public and private, large and small ways.

    He was born in Dayton, Ohio on December 3, 1930. Two years later, at the height of the Great Depression, his family moved to Crystal Lake. He suffered through a succession of serious diseases as a child and, like many of the time, grew up in difficult economic circumstances. For some time, he and his brothers slept in homemade bunks on the outside porch of his family's small house. Looking back on those days, he recalled it was pretty difficult to get out of the warm bed on cold winter mornings.

  • April 30, 2015 | People
    Harry H. Sonnemaker Jr. 1926-2015

    Harry H. “Hank” Sonnemaker, Jr., of Dunlap passed away at 9 a.m. Saturday, March 21, 2015, at his residence.

    Harry was born on Dec. 6, 1926, in Peoria to the late Harry Sr. and Grace (Reiferscheid) Sonnemaker. He married Dorothy Boyer on June 12, 1948, in Peoria. She survives.

    Harry attended Spalding Institute. After serving in the Navy during World War II, he obtained his undergraduate education from St. Ambrose and Bradley Universities and later graduated from the University of Illinois with his law degree.

    He first entered the Navy in November 1944 and served on active duty until 1946, principally in Hawaii, the Marianas and Guam. He was commissioned Ensign in 1950 and served in various line and security-intelligence billets until 1955. When the JAG Corps was established, he became a JAGC Officer, serving for over 30 years including a two-year term as the Judge Advocate General for the Navy. When he retired, he was the senior most captain in the Navy Reserve in the United States.

    Harry was admitted to the Illinois State Bar in 1955. He served as the first legal aid counselor for Peoria in 1957. He was in private practice for 50 years. From 1974 to 1986, he shared his office with his son. Other attorneys that either he either shared an office with or worked for him were Judge Robert Manning, Lou Benassi, Judge Mike O’Brien, Jerry Serritella, and Judge Joe Vespa.

  • April 22, 2015 | People
    Lawrence Schlam 1942-2015

    Lawrence Schlam, 72 of Kingston, Illinois died on Saturday, March 7, 2015. Born October 24, 1942, in Brooklyn, New York to Emanuel & Lillian Schlam, he graduated from Stuyvesant High School, City College of New York and New York University School of Law.

    At the time of his death, Larry was a Professor of Law at Northern Illinois University College of Law and its Pro Bono Director. Larry came to Chicago as a young VISTA volunteer lawyer; he began and ended his career serving the neediest.

    He was appointed by former Governor Pat Quinn to the Illinois Guardianship & Advocacy Commission, served on the Illinois State Bar Association's Child Law Section Council, and was the Professor/Reporter to the Juvenile Justice Committee of the Illinois Judicial Conference. Professor Schlam litigated myriad civil rights cases involving police misconduct, sex discrimination, education, and wrongful discharge. A prolific writer and speaker, he also led a law-student doo-wop group called "The Schlamtones."

    Larry is survived by his daughter, Lisa Rodriguez Schlam; and cousin, Judith Schlam.

    Services have been held. Online condolences may be made to the family at www.Fitzgeraldfh.com

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  • April 22, 2015 | People
    Don Banta 1926-2015

    Don Banta gave a gift to his family and historians by writing down his vivid memories of serving in World War II, including being in the middle of Operation Varsity, the largest airborne assault in a single day in military history, when 17,000 Allied paratroopers rained down from the skies over Germany on March 24, 1945. Nearly 3,000 of them would die.

    Mr. Banta made it through the hellish fighting. He lived to be 89 and went on to become a respected Chicago labor lawyer. He died at Weiss Memorial Hospital March 30 after suffering a stroke.

    Daredevil war correspondent Robert Capa jumped with Mr. Banta’s 513th Parachute Infantry Regiment in the Army’s 17th Airborne Division. He “hit the ground very close to me. Capa calmly went on shooting pictures in the middle of all the firing,” Mr. Banta said in his memoir.

    At one point, he was so close to Gen. George S. Patton, he could see the general’s famed ivory-handled revolvers. He wasn’t a fan of the pugnacious Patton. Echoing dialogue from the George C. Scott film about the commander, Mr. Banta wrote, “He is called ‘Blood and Guts’ for a reason. But it has been the regiment’s guts.”

    He also recalled the marrow-freezing misery of the Battle of the Bulge.

    In Germany, Mr. Banta said, the “Displaced Persons” used as Nazi slave labor rose at night, like avenging ghosts, from underground coal mines they lived in. They inflicted nocturnal retribution on their former captors by killing cows and vandalizing property.

  • April 21, 2015 | People
    Donald Lynn Smith 1938-2015

    Donald Lynn Smith, 76, died on Monday, March 30, 2015, at Alton Memorial Hospital.

    Born October 28, 1938, in Carbondale, Ill., he was the son of Irvan and Lucille (Lynn) Smith.

    Mr. Smith graduated from East Alton Wood River High School in 1956. He graduated from the University of Illinois in 1962 with a law degree and an accounting degree. After college he worked for Arthur Anderson & Company in Chicago. He then entered Naval Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island. He served on the Navy legal department from 1962-1966 having spent time on board the USS Kitty Hawk CVA 63. In 1966 he joined the law firm of Hoagland, Maucker, Bernard & Almeter which later became Hoagland, Fitzgerald, Smith, & Pranitis. From 1992-2011 he was the Assistant State's Attorney. Mr. Smith intended to retire in 2015 after 51 years of service. He was a member of the Illinois State Bar Association, The Madison County Bar Association, and the Wood River Township Jaycees. On October 18, 1974 he married the former JoAnn Patterson in Edwardsville. She survives.

  • April 15, 2015 | People
    Arthur C. Chapman 1917-2015

    Arthur C. Chapman, 97, of Evanston and formerly Highland Park passed away on March 10, 2015 at the Mather in Evanston. The son of Louis Chapman and Regina Giller Chapman, he was a New York native, graduated from NYU and its law school where he was on law review, served in North Africa in World War II and after the war in the reserves in the Judge Advocate Corps of the 5th Army.

    After practicing law in New York he moved to Chicago in 1946 where was in practice for 54 years. The impetus for the move was the love of his life, Lorraine Grossberg Wagner, his wife of 69 years. Together they traveled the world, sailed the Caribbean, and made a multitude of friends wherever they went. Arthur was the consummate gentleman, devoted husband and father, tenacious lawyer, and caring humanitarian. Besides, his wife Lorraine, he is survived by his daughter Louise Chapman Locker and her husband Gershon Locker, son Eliot Chapman, granddaughter Rachel Locker Shalem and her husband Alan Shalem. His beloved grandson Joshua predeceased him. In lieu of flowers contributions to Chicago Botanic Gardens in Glencoe IL or Anshe Emet, 3751 N Broadway Chicago, IL 60613 would be appreciated. For Info: 847-256-5700
  • April 15, 2015 | People
    David Schmidt 1958-2015

    The University of Michigan lost one of its most ardent fans Wednesday, March 4, 2015, when David Faulkner Schmidt, the mayor of Park Ridge, Illinois, died after a sudden illness at his home. He was 57.

    Dave was, in fact, a sports fan of all teams Detroit: Lions and Tigers, Pistons and Red Wings.

    Dave was a talented lawyer, a member of Chittenden, Murday & Novotny LLC, with more than 20 years of litigation, trial and appellate experience in courts in Illinois and elsewhere in the U.S. In 2011, 2012 and 2014, he was named a Leading Lawyer, an honor shared by only 5 percent of all lawyers in Illinois.

    A staunch Republican, Dave launched his career in nonpartisan local politics as an alderman serving the 1st Ward on the Park Ridge City Council. He was elected Park Ridge mayor in 2009 and re-elected – handily – in 2013.

    A graduate of New Trier Township High School in Winnetka, Illinois, Dave earned a bachelor's degree in business administration and political science from Iowa's Coe College in 1978. He received his law degree, cum laude, from Chicago's Loyola University School of Law in 1990, where he was second in his class. While in law school, Dave served as the president of the Student Bar Association.

    He was active as a Cub Scout den leader, and he especially enjoyed coaching his son, Kevin, on their Little League Baseball teams.

  • April 15, 2015 | People
    Patrick D. Ertel 1947-2015

    Patrick D. Ertel passed away at the age of 67 on Sunday, March 15th, in his recently adopted hometown of Beaufort, South Carolina, after suffering a massive heart attack.

    The youngest son of Louis G. Ertel and Edith (Marks) Ertel, Patrick was born on October 21st, 1947, and was raised in Muncie, Indiana. He graduated with a degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Notre Dame (1970) and earned his Juris Doctor from Northwestern University (1973). He practiced intellectual property law for 42 years in Chicago, the past 16 of those years with Marshall, Gerstein & Borun, where he served as a Managing Partner.

    Patrick was respected as a generous mentor, whether it was by colleagues at work or by youth on the soccer field. He held a commitment to education and not only actively pursued his own ongoing learning, but also proudly supported anyone whom he might be able to help do the same. He saw athletics as a tool to positively impact the lives of young people—especially his three daughters, as well as many of their teammates—and was a dedicated youth soccer coach who retired his whistle with a winning record.

    Patrick died doing something he loved: running. He ran three days per week during most weeks, and although it had been decades since he completed the Chicago Marathon, he may have been in the best shape of his life. If there was any other activity that Patrick might have chosen as his last, it surely would have been captaining his boat, Pearl of the South, across the waterways of the Lowcountry with his wife and dog by his side.