An Extraordinary Life: ‘He wasn’t one to say, ‘Oh, let somebody else do it’

After Elmer Geissler’s sudden death on Dec. 1 at the age of 91, his family found a piece of handwritten paper tucked among his possessions.

It read: “A strong friendship doesn’t need daily conversation, doesn’t always need togetherness, as long as the relationship lives in the heart, true friends will never part.”

“Even when he moved up to our house, he was still calling his fraternity brothers and his Friday night fish fry friends, and he stayed connected,” Elmer’s daughter Lynn Klatt of Wisconsin said, adding that her father remembered everyone’s birthdays and anniversaries with cards, too.

This Army veteran was a lifelong member of Central Presbyterian Church (now in New Lenox), a member of the Joliet Kiwanis since 1960, and part of the 70th reunion committee for the Joliet Township High School Class of 1947 when it held its final reunion in 2017.

Elmer had served on the school board for Joliet Public Schools District 86 – including board president – and he’d only missed three of his college reunions in 70 years.

In 2017 Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox honored Elmer for 3,500 hours of volunteer service and The Herald-News recognized Elmer as an Everyday Hero in 2018.

“There is such a tremendous number of people who considered themselves good friends to my parents,” David wrote. “Many of these friendships were built over the hours and years they spent working with my dad and mom in some volunteer capacity.”

Elmer’s family had a long history in Joliet. David said Elmer’s grandfather opened a bakery on Richard’s Street (the building is still standing, David said) and introduced “sliced bread” to Joliet.

Growing up, Elmer worked in the bakery and drove a truck for another family member that had a concrete business, David said.

Elmer majored in business administration at Hanover College in Indiana. In an email, Elmer’s granddaughter, Leslie Schmidt of Wisconsin, said Elmer played basketball, ran track and was a member of the Varsity H Club for four years during his time at Hanover College.

“Grandpa was always good with numbers and money,” Leslie wrote. “A fellow Phi-Gam brother and he had the brilliant idea to sell programs at all of the basketball and football games on campus. They contacted Coca-Cola who supplied the programs with enough room to print advertisements along with the rosters.”

Elmer also helped re-establish the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity and then served as its president, she added. After college, Elmer met with his fraternity brothers each summer, David said.

Leslie said Elmer also had part ownership in an orange grove in Florida, which had been in his family since 1921 and he was proud of those Valencia oranges, she said.

“One spring break, our family traveled with Grandpa and Grandma down to the grove and got a personal tour of the processing/packaging plant,” Leslie wrote.

In a 2018 Herald-News story, Elmer said he met Joan when they were both students at Joliet Central High School and later “re-met” at a mutual friend’s wedding. They were married June 23, 1951 and had three children: David, Lynn and Ann E. Weishaar (deceased). In later years, Elmer was Joan’s caretaker.

Perhaps Elmer received his desire to volunteer from his father. Elmer said in his Everyday Hero story that his father helped renovate the old gym Central Presbyterian Church into a youth center “with ice cream, pop and dancing.”

Elmer’s father had joined the Joliet Kiwanis in 1932. Elmer spent six years as a Kiwanian with his father until his father died in 1966. So between the two of them, they served in 88 of the Joliet Kiwanis first 100 years, David said.

David said if Elmer was on vacation with his family, he’d seek out a local Kiwanis club, attend its meetings and volunteer for its projects.

“He was a servant leader,” David said. “He wasn’t one to say, ‘Oh, let somebody else do it.’”

According to the Joliet Kiwanis, Elmer served as president in 1970 and on the board of director multiple times. He sold peanuts for 58 years as part of the Kiwanis Peanut Days and chaired the event in 1969.

Elmer chaired the former Kiwanis Show and was its stagehand and prop committee volunteer for nearly 50 years. He chaired the Salvation Army bell ringing for the Kiwanis and rang bells for years. Elmer chaired the Boys and Girls Club committee for the Kiwanis, was Kiwanian of the year in 1982 and received the Luis V. Amador Award for Exemplary Service.

The Joliet Kiwanis established the Elmer Geissler Lifetime Service Award and two members have received it: Ralph Sherman and Marty Terlep, according to Vince Portlock of Shorewood, the immediate past president of the Joliet Kiwanis.

In fact, Elmer had attended a Kiwanis meeting on Zoom the day he died.

“He was a member for 60 years, had perfect attendance for 50 and he maintained a very active role in Kiwanis,” Vince said. “He took part in a projects and was a mentor to new members. He was just an outstanding human being.”

At Central Presbyterian Church, Elmer served as an elder, clerk of session, treasurer, treasurer emeritus, and as a member of the church choir. Elmer was only male member when he moved to Wisconsin in March, David said.

Elmer worked as the officer manager at Keck Electric/Joliet Office Equipment from 1955 until 1994. He also helped out the Keck family when they owned the Joliet Beach Club.

“They got it late in the summer,” Elmer said in a 2019 Herald-News story. “The first load of sand came in a gondola car. The Keck family and friends had a weekend there trying to unload that car of sand. It didn’t come in dry. We shoveled out most of that wet sand.”

Lynn said her parents played “kick the can” with her and her siblings. They pulled them around on sleds, swam with them former downtown location of the Greater Joliet Area YMCA and took them on two-week vacations every summer.

Even after Elmer retired, he kept developing strong friends and had a group of friends with whom he’d meet regularly for lunch or dinner up until March’s shelter in place.

David said Elmer didn’t hide his values, but he also knew how to disagree with a person without being judgmental or condemning of that person or his opinion.

“He was a man of integrity,” David said.

Elmer would drive “40 or 50 miles” to attend a spaghetti fundraiser if the event benefited a child in need, Lynn said. That type of service is Elmer’s legacy.

“He, as did my mom, believed very strongly that it was an obligation to give to others, whether it be through painting, cutting grass, ringing bells, contributing, and even opening their home for people to stay,” David wrote in an email. “My sister and I both have continued in that tradition.”

• To feature someone in “An Extraordinary Life,” contact Denise M. Baran-Unland at 815-280-4122 or dunland@shawmedia.com.

ExpandAutoplay

Image 1 of 10

Leslie Schmidt of Wisconsin, Elmer Geissler's granddaughter, said this was the last Geissler family photo that included Elmer and Joan. Everyone had traveled to Wisconsin to celebrate her brother Ross and his wife Heather's wedding on the family farm. The picture is missing four great grandchildren that have since been born.