Mokena Mourns Chuck Manhart, A Volunteer Who Gave His All

Chuck Manhart's decades of volunteering and community service left a legacy in Mokena.

His death left a void.

"The hole that a guy like that leaves, the void that he leaves, that's something you just don't fill," Mokena Mayor Joe Werner said.

Manhart, 80, died Sept. 14. In his 63 years in Mokena, Manhart was involved with the fire protection district, the library board, the planning and zoning commission, the historical society and St. John’s United Church of Christ.

He is survived by wife Juanita, two daughters and three grandchildren. A visitation was held from 3 to 8 p.m. Friday at Vandenberg Funeral Home. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at .

Visit the funeral home website to sign a digital guestbook for Manhart's family.

Watched and Helped Mokena Grow

"There isn't another person like him as an individual," Werner said. "He was the salt of the earth kind of guy. He was the kind of guy who never had a bad word to say about anybody, was strong both in spirit and physically."

Manhart joined the Mokena Fire Department, now the , as a volunteer firefighter in 1960.

"If you met him, you would wind up having some sort of conversation with him about something and you would know he has been here for a long time," Mokena Fire Protection District Assistant Chief Howard Stephens said, chuckling. "He has seen Mokena grow from what it used to be to what it is today."

As a member of the Planning Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals since 1985, Manhart also helped guide that growth.

"(He was) a very down-home person, very down to earth. Spoke very plainly, but he understood people and he understood the community," said Alan Zordan, the village's director of economic and community development.

Like many in the community, Zordan knew Manhart long before they worked together.

"I grew up in town and I remember him since I was a kid," Zordan said. "He was just a great guy and he's going to be missed."

Mokena and Juanita

Manhart was born in 1931 in Darwin, Ill., one of six children. In a 2006 historical society video interview available on the village website, Manhart recalled being the only student in his sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade classes.

"I was the smartest one in my class," Manhart said in the video, laughing. "And I was also the dumbest."

The family moved to Mokena in 1948 when Manhart was a 17-year-old junior in high school, he said. The Boulder Ridge subdivision is now on the land Manhart's father rented to farm.

Although he went to Joliet Central High School with future wife Juanita, they didn't date until he left the military. They graduated in 1950 and Manhart joined the service in 1952.

"When I was in Germany, my grandmother thought (Juanita) was the greatest thing since sliced bread," Manhart said in the historical society video. "So she had her, Juanita, write to me when I was in Germany and she wrote me letters and she sent me some pictures. And she sent me one picture of her in a nice gray knit dress that fit very well. So that was one thing that kind of enticed me to come back and when I came back I said 'I've got to date that gal.'"

That was in January 1954. Although his family had since moved from the area, when Manhart came back home, it was to Mokena. It was to Juanita.

They were married in April 1955.

"I Was Helping People"

"When I got married, I had $146 in the bank and I owed $146 on my automobile," Manhart said in the historical society video.

The couple scraped by for the first few years, Manhart working jobs including truck driver, farmer and mechanic. The family grew to include two daughters.

But Manhart still found time to volunteer, becoming a volunteer firefighter on Dec. 1, 1960.

"When the fire department had a call, there was a big siren that was attached to the fire station. When the volunteers heard the siren, they would know there was some sort of fire situation and they would respond from their houses," Stephens said. "You would drive or run or ride your bike (to the station) – whatever means of transportation."

Manhart would stay involved with the fire protection district for the rest of his life, he and Juanita volunteering at events like the pancake breakfast, Stephens said.

"The reason I stuck around for 45 years is because I felt when I went out there and did that, I was helping people," Manhart said in the 2006 video.

He joined the planning and zoning commission in 1985 and was first elected to the board in 1998.

"Chuck was a wonderful guy. Always positive, upbeat, a smile on his face," library Director Cathy Palmer said. "He always made a point to stop into the library and say hi to everyone. He was just a nice guy. We’re really going to miss him."

Werner was the cameraman for the historical society video, an hour of Chuck and Juanita sharing memories of their lives and partnership.

"All of us who were there that day were just smiling and thinking, 'I'm glad to know that guy,'" the mayor said.

Watch the 2006 video interview with Chuck and Juanita Manhart