Candlelight Inn founder dies

STERLING – Bob Prescott had a love for serving great food in a friendly environment, but his greatest passion was for serving others.

Prescott, founder of the Candlelight Inn, died Tuesday at OSF St. Anthony Medical Center in Rockford.

The first Candlelight Inn opened in 1967, in Sterling. In the early 1970s, the restaurant’s signature menu item, Chicken George, was introduced, and the business thrived. In 2000, a broken arm sidelined him, and while recuperating, he decided to turn over the business to his son, Matt.

In 2004, the Rock Falls Candlelight Inn was built, and 6 years later, a restaurant was brought to a site in Clinton, Iowa, overlooking the Mississippi River.

While Bob taught his children about business, it is the lessons in selflessness and generosity they will remember.

“The most important thing my dad taught me was to put everyone else first,” Matt Prescott said. “When someone called, it didn’t matter what he was doing, he’d stop and help them – he cared for everybody.”

One particular example of his father’s random acts of kindness is burned in Matt’s memory. When he was 15, Bob asked him to come to work with him on a Saturday morning. A man was sitting at the bar, telling his father that he needed to get to Iowa City to see his wife, but he had no money to get there.

“Dad gave him $100, and when I asked him who he was, he said ‘I don’t know, but Matt, the important thing is that he needed it.’”

When Bob’s wife, Jan, died in 2016, he even gave away some of her things because he knew she would want that too.

“My mom had a lot of shoes and purses, and he wanted people to use them – he didn’t want them just sitting around the house,” Matt said.

Through the Candlelight Gives Back program, the Prescotts have raised money for many local causes, including schools, food pantries, homeless shelters, United Way, CGH Health Foundation, Happy Tails Animal Shelter and Hospice of the Rock River Valley.

Sterling Mayor Skip Lee called Prescott a great role model for young people – a phenomenal businessman, incredibly hard worker, and a very kind man.

“Every time I saw Bob he was positive and uplifting,” Lee said. “I never saw him be anything but a gracious gentleman.”

Bob’s passing will also be felt in Rock Falls, Mayor Bill Wescott said.

“It’s a very sad day for the entire Sterling and Rock Falls area,” Wescott said. “Bob and Jan, and now Matt, have given back so much to their communities.”

The Prescotts did a lot of things to help make events successful – much of it behind the scenes that most people never knew about.

“They donated meals for the Pink Heals events and helped with the Rock Falls sesquicentennial,” Wescott said. “They never looked for recognition, but we would get bills for events that were much lower than expected because of the Prescotts’ generosity.”

Bob Prescott is survived by one daughter, Julie Prescott; five sons, Monte Eldert, Robert Prescott, Mark Eldert, Mike Prescott and Matt Prescott; and 15 grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; his brother, Jim; and special friend, Lizzie.

The visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Sunday at Schilling Funeral Home and Cremation in Sterling. Friends may also call from 10 a.m. until the service at 11 a.m. at the funeral home. Family and friends will then gather at the Brandywine Banquet and Event Center in Dixon.

“Dad always said that when the time comes, I want you to have the biggest party you’ve ever seen, so we’re having one,” Matt said.

A memorial fund has been established.