Photo by Daily Journal
Former
Minonk resident Jack Pierce was named Citizen of the Year in Peotone,
IL. Pierce has been active in the Peotone community since
moving there in 1967 to become superintendent of schools, a position he
held until 1987.
He was instrumental in the creation
of the Peotone Fire Protection District and the Peotone Library.
He also was a village trustee from 1987-1989 and has been the Peotone
Township Supervisor since 1989.
He is an advisor to
the Northeastern Illinois Area Agency on Aging and serves on its board
of directors for Will County and serves on the committee for the Will
County Cener for Community Concerns.
Pierce and his wife Gerry have been volunteers for the last 15 years at Provena St. Mary's Hospital in Kankakee.
He served in the navy in World War II and has served as commander of
the Peotone American Legion and remains an active Legion member.
Pierce
attended the University of Illinois where he played in the 1947 Rose
Bowl as a halfback on the Fighting Illini. He was the coach of the 1951
Minonk-Dana basketball team that went to the Sectionals that year.
The Pierces left Minonk in 1964 where he had been a coach, elementary principal and high school principal from l950 to l964.