Honoring Bob Gorecki: A lifetime of kindness, generosity and service to others

Longtime St. Charles attorney and volunteer Robert L. Gorecki Sr. was known to say he would continue practicing law “until God calls me home” and he did just that. Gorecki died Aug. 14 after practicing law for nearly 70 years.

Gorecki was a devoted husband and father, veteran, lawyer, volunteer, cancer survivor and leader in the St. Charles community whose lifelong commitment to serving the community will forever be a part of the city’s legacy.

The Gorecki family has been in St. Charles since the early 1900s when his parents Edward and Josephine Gorecki bought property along the river and founded the St. Charles Nickel Works company.

Gorecki was born Aug. 21, 1928, and raised in St. Charles. He attended the former Haines Junior High School and delivered newspapers as a teenager in St. Charles while attending Marmion Military Academy in Aurora. He enlisted in the U.S. Army after graduating from the University of Illinois in 1950 and was called to active duty during the Korean War in 1951. He served as company commander of an Army headquarters in Seoul.

After returning from Korea, Gorecki remained active in the Army Reserves for many years and attended John Marshall Law School in Chicago. Continuing to serve after law school, he rose to the rank of major and was Staff Judge Advocate for the 85th division of the Army Reserves in Chicago.

In 1956, just out of law school, Gorecki joined the law firm of Redmon and Shearer in St. Charles as an associate. By 1964, Gorecki left the law firm and launched his own practice. A year later, he married his wife, Janet, with whom he had two children, Rob and Meg Gorecki.

In the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, while raising his family, Gorecki served as St. Charles’ city attorney, police and fire commissioner and president of the St. Charles Chamber of Commerce. He also served as an attorney, director and chairman for State Bank of St. Charles, Old Kent Bank and St. Charles National Bank.

Gorecki was one of the longest practicing members of the Illinois State Bar Association, the Kane County Bar Association and the Illinois Real Estate Lawyers Association.

St. Charles attorney Alvin Catella shared an office with Gorecki for 27 years. He said during that time Gorecki never took time off and was in the office every day right up until the end. He said Gorecki was his very dear friend as well as his colleague and a very good lawyer beloved by his clients.

“His clients actually loved him,” Catella said. “Many times they would go into his office for a conference and at the end he would tell them a story and they would be leaving the office laughing and with a chocolate bar in their hand. That was something that always made me chuckle. He was a fine man. Everybody loved him and we did too here at the office. ... We will certainly miss him.”

Outside of work, Gorecki was heavily involved in the St. Charles community for more than half a century, giving back to many community organizations and being an active member of St. Patrick Church for years, serving as an usher, board member and scoutmaster for the parish’s troop. He was active in the Knights of Columbus and American Legion Post 342, where he once was commander, and was a life member of VFW Post 5036.

Gorecki was known to donate his legal services pro bono to St. Patrick and several other congregations in St. Charles, as well as multiple local veteran’s organizations. He rarely missed a Memorial Day parade or Veterans Day ceremony, which he always would attend in full uniform.

He survived cancer in 2011, which took part of the front of his jaw and affected his voice, but didn’t impede his law practice. He continued to work full-time at his office at 805 E. Main St. in downtown St. Charles until his death.

Gorecki was honored with a Charlemagne award in 2019, the city of St. Charles’ highest honor, which recognizes the lifetime achievement of a St. Charles community member with a distinguished history of service to the community.

Gorecki’s daughter Meg said the response from the community since her father’s passing has been overwhelming.

“My brother and I are so grateful for all the stories that people have been sharing with us and all the memories that they have about our father,” Meg Gorecki said. “I think that I won the lottery when it came to parents. My mother and my father were the most loving, caring and giving people I have ever met.”

Meg Gorecki said he was an amazing father who was constantly present in his children’s lives, always willing to help with their academic and athletic endeavors. He was the coach of his son Rob’s baseball team and scout leader for his Boy Scout troop. He coached Meg’s softball team and they played golf every weekend in the summer.

“I will remember my father as a kind and gentle man. He loved his family, his country and his community,” Meg Gorecki said. “He was a man of faith and he genuinely cared about everyone he knew. I never heard a cross word come out of my father’s mouth and he always saw the good in people.”

In lieu of flowers, the Gorecki family asked that donations be made to the St. Charles American Legion, of which Gorecki was the longest serving member. Meg Gorecki said her father always wore a suit and tie unless he was wearing his military uniform. The legion’s honor guard stood on either side of the casket during the visitation, presented the Gorecki family with a bible and stood in formation at the cemetery services where they gave a 21-gun salute during his burial.

“His commitment to veterans was of the greatest importance,” Meg Gorecki said. “Thank you to all of the people who made donations to the St. Charles American Legion and thank you to the legion for all of the tributes and honors they bestowed upon my father after his passing.”

Meg Gorecki said her father always was helping others and serving his community and that people can learn from his core principles and character by always putting other people first and living a humble life of service. She said growing up she watched her father use his career as an attorney to help people, and while she took a slightly different career path, her father was her inspiration for going to law school.

“Our dad would host parties for our school for every holiday,” Meg Gorecki said. “He would bring treats and games and refreshments for the entire class. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day and Easter were filled with cookies, candy, cake and beverages for every child. If any child did not have money for a field trip or a special activity, my parents would always work with the teachers to make sure those families received anonymous donations to cover those expenses.”

She remembered her dad’s sense of humor, that he loved telling jokes and playing silly pranks on his friends and family. She recalled one Christmas Eve when he and her uncle Don were pretending to be Santa Claus. They climbed up on her grandmother’s roof shouting “Ho, Ho, Ho” down the chimney and stomping on the roof like a reindeer until he came crashing through her grandmother’s living room ceiling. She said her mom and grandmother weren’t too thrilled, but as children, she and her brother loved it.

“In my father’s last will and testament he reaffirmed his faith and stated, ‘I thank God for his love and for my many friends and their love. Wealth and riches can never compare with love,’ ” Meg Gorecki said. “I think we can all learn from his life that having loving and caring relationships is far more important than having material possessions.”