NEW LENOX – A successful businessman. A true family man. A big community supporter.

So said Jack Kramer, president of the First Bank of Manhattan, about William “Bill” Bolker of New Lenox, who died Feb. 25 at age 75. Born and raised in New Lenox, Bill, through the various companies he owned, developed many of New Lenox’s subdivisions, including Country Creek.

But Bill was most proud of his children and grandchildren and often spoke of their accomplishments, Jack said.

“I think he was also very proud of the projects he developed and the homes that he built,” Jack said. “He also donated his time and financial resources to a number of projects. The most prominent one is the community center in the commons near Village Hall in New Lenox. I think, like so many successful people, he came from fairly modest means and built quite a company on his own initiative.”

“Modest means” is an understatement. Bill’s daughter, Bev Judge of New Lenox, said her father was born and raised in a 950-square-foot house on Vine Street with his parents and his two brothers.

“They had no indoor plumbing and an outhouse out back,” Bev said. “They were very, very poor. So poor that, at times, his family could not care for him, and neighbors took him in and raised him. He grew up with one pair of jeans and nothing for Christmas. He had holes in his jeans and holes in his shoes. ... The year he graduated from high school – 1956 – he built a house for his parents.”

At age 20, Bill started building houses in earnest. In 1960, he enlisted in the U.S. Marines. While serving, Bill became friends with a man who later introduced Bill to Claudia, whom Bill eventually married.

Bev said Bill was a wonderful father to his three daughters and very involved in their care, which wasn’t the norm in the 1960s.

“We don’t remember him ever responding in anger or yelling at us,” Bev said. “He was just very kind, but we respected him and set out to please him.”

But Bill was more than a devoted husband, father and entrepreneur. He was, Bev said, “a visionary” who helped to shape New Lenox, and his resume proves it.

In addition to building 110 custom homes in the Will County area, Bill also built the Towncrest Drive apartments and town homes and the 17,500-square-foot shopping center at Cedar and Francis roads.

He also built the former Lincoln-Way Electronics and the former Maryland Fried Chicken on Route 30 in New Lenox, as well as the 23,500-square-foot Country Lanes Bowling Center on Laraway Road, now known as Laraway Lanes.

And that’s merely a partial list.

“He just truly loved construction and developing communities where people could raise their families with beautiful parks,” Bev said. “He had a high level of excellence in everything he did.”

With that in mind, Bill and Claudia also built and donated New Lenox’s Performing Arts Pavilion in 2004 as a gift to the village, a gathering place for Fourth of July fireworks, concerts and other events, Bev said.

Even now, Bev said, any home her father built never lasts long on the market. That includes the 20-year-old town homes.

“People wait for the units to come up for sale because he was known for his quality,” Bev said.

Roy Koerner of Florida said he funded many of Bill’s construction loans when Roy was assistant vice president of residential lending at the former Joliet Federal Savings and Loan.

In addition to his New Lenox projects, Roy said Bill also built duplexes in Elwood and Frankfort. Roy echoed Bev when he said Bill was known for his quality work.

“He was honest,” Roy said, “and he developed a good product.”

Roy moved to Indiana in 1996, in contrast to Jack, who had the opportunity to know Bill on a personal and professional level for many decades.

“I think what strikes me when I think about it is how long that relationship went on,” Jack said. “I was a young guy at the bank when I first started working with Bill, and those years just kind of flew by. ...We valued the opportunity to have that kind of relationship.”

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