Fox River Grove residents pay tribute to recently resigned former Village President Robert Nunamaker

About 150 yard signs placed around Fox River Grove meant to say thank you to former village president amid COVID-19 restrictions

After Fox River Grove Village President Robert Nunamaker resigned from his position last month, Fox River Grove Trustee Jennifer Curtiss wanted to give him a proper send-off after 12 years of service.

“The amount of time and energy that he put into this village is something I’ve never seen in my lifetime,” Curtiss said. “He would never miss a meeting, he would show up to all the [Lions Club] meetings, he would make sure he was at all the ribbons cuttings, and he just really worked tirelessly for the village.”

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic and Nunamaker’s personal health challenges, which were cited by the village as a reason for his resignation, a group of residents decided to honor him by putting up yard signs throughout the village, thanking him for his service as village president.

They even got the message up on electronic display boards on the Stone Hill Center, Jewel-Osco and Metra station signs.

Nunamaker himself was also gifted with a large sign in his front yard, with “Thank you Bob” on it.

After talking to the village board, Curtiss and her fellow trustees worked with a group of people close to Nunamaker to raise donations to cover the cost of the signs. They then reached out to people throughout the community, asking them to put a sign in their yard.

“We wanted to do something, so that if we couldn’t see him or have a big celebration with him, he’d see these signs up in the town and really feel the love and the support from the community,” Curtiss said.

The response trustees received was “overwhelming,” Curtiss said. Throughout the weekend, messages rolled in asking how to get a sign. About 150 were put out in all.

Current Village President Marc McLaughlin, who took over after Nunamaker’s resignation, said the signs were a way to thank his predecessor for his commitment to Fox River Grove.

“He always thinks of the community when he’s making decisions,” McLaughlin said. “We were lucky to have him in a leadership role for so long.”

During Nunamaker’s village presidency, “it was never about Bob,” McLaughlin recalled. “It was always about ‘What can I do for the residents?’”

Steve Knar, a former Fox River Grove trustee who won back a seat on the Village Board in the election last week, has known Nunamaker since they were on the Fox River Grove School District 3 school board together years ago.

Most people, when they retire, head down to Florida or another sunny spot to relax, Knar said. But not Nunamaker.

“He immediately got involved,” Knar said.

After retiring from Motorola, where he was a vice president, Nunamaker was on the Lake Forest Graduate School of Management Board and was on the village’s Planning and Economic Development Commission in addition to the school board.

“That’s really amazing, that he’s given back so much in what is his retirement,” Knar said.

If Nunamaker hadn’t been village president, McLaughlin said the village wouldn’t have the Metra station it does today. A lot of the downtown redevelopment in Fox River Grove is because of Nunamaker’s work as well, he said.

“That’s paid off many times over, in terms of how the village is run and how great of shape we’re in now,” Knar said.

Nunamaker was also village president during Fox River Grove’s centennial celebration last year.

Knar said a lot of people appreciate the fact that Nunamaker approached his presidency as a full-time job.

“We’ve appreciated everything he’s done,” McLaughlin said. “I hope to live up to the legacy he’s created.”

William Freeman, president of the Fox River Grove Lions Club, said Nunamaker and his wife, Marylou, are both very active in the village.

“They’re very much involved in the community and just generally all around good people,” Freeman said.

Freeman said he remembers that Nunamaker once gave a speech at a high school homecoming event, while wearing a tuxedo.

Nunamaker’s explanation for his choice of clothes was that since the football players and cheerleaders dressed up on game nights, he wanted to do the same.

“‘You’re all dressing up, so I figured it was my turn to dress up for you,’” Freeman recalls Nunamaker saying. “I remember it standing out in my mind that was there’s just an amazing guy. He is very thoughtful.”

For the volunteers who helped set up the tribute, it’s been heart-warming to see how the community rallied around the former village president.

“Fox River Grove is a special place,” Curtiss said. “It’s really amazing to see the community come together.”