Chester Lis

Chester Lis

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Remembering Chet Lis ’58

I lost a dear friend that I have known since 1954 when we played football at Holy Trinity high school. We played football all 4 years together and we were co-captains in our senior year. We were on the basketball teams all 4 years. We also were teammates on the tennis team. We worked together making alumni events a success. We worked on The Athletic Hall of Fame, the annual Christmas Parties and the annual Golf outings. We organized the 25th, 40th, 50th and 60th reunions for our class of 1958. We went on to be good friends for 65 years with a lifetime of treasured memories. I wanted to share some of the pictures that I have on this web page. The article below was posted by Holy Trinity high school.

Beloved alumnus Chet Lis ’58 passed away Saturday, October 12, 2019. Chet was an incredible leader for all of our alumni relations, having been president of the Holy Trinity Alumni Association for more than twenty years. In addition, Chet joined the Advisory Council in 2000 and became a trustee in 2002, serving until the time of his passing. His energy, enthusiasm, and dedication to the Brothers of Holy Cross, Holy Trinity’s mission and students, are legendary.

Chet graduated from Holy Trinity in 1958. He was Class President for all four years. As a member of the football team for four years, he played quarterback and running back on offense and defensive back on defense. He was awarded a major letter in his junior and senior years and received both the Most Improved Football Player Award (junior year) and Most Valuable Player Award (senior year). He was Co-Captain in his senior year and was honored with an MVP trophy from Dan Rostenkowski’s Youth Council. He also was a member of the Junior Varsity Basketball team and received a major letter in his senior year. In addition, he was on the tennis team in his senior year, a major letter winner, and the Sports Editor of the school newspaper. Chet also earned a Scholastic Monogram in all four years.

After HTHS, Chet attended Illinois Institute of Technology on scholastic scholarships. He was on the Dean’s List for all four years and was inducted into Tau Beta Pi (National Engineering Honor Society) and graduated with a BS in Mechanical Engineering. While working for AT&T Teletype, he attended Northwestern University and graduated with an MBA. Chet spent his career with AT&T Teletype / AT&T Computer Systems, AT&T Switching Systems / Lucent Technologies in various positions of Engineering Management. After 39 years with AT&T / Lucent Technologies, Chet moved on to Baxter International where he worked in Engineering Management. He ended his career consulting.

Chet became involved with the HTHS Alumni Association in 1983. He chaired various committees including the Athletic Hall of Fame and Golf Committee. In 1997, Brother Philip Smith C.S.C. asked Chet to create the Holy Trinity Athletic Hall of Fame and become its chairperson.

In 2014, Chet was awarded HT’s Henry Brandt Distinguished Alumnus Award. He was inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame in 2008 then honored again in 2018 as part of the Jr. Basketball Team.

In addition, Chet was very active in his Vernon Hills community. As a member of the Board of Directors, he served as an officer of the Gregg’s Landing Homeowners Association and an assistant coach Little League Football.

Chet and his high school sweetheart Arlene have three daughters, Karen (husband Jeff), Kathy (husband Mark) and Juliane (husband Scott) and ten grandchildren, Matthew, Kevin, Tyler, Ryan, Brett, Alissa, Jack, Brendan, Hailey and Andrew. Please keep his wife Arlene and the entire Lis family in your thoughts and prayers.

Chester was president of the class all 4 years.

(Above) Sophomore Class Officers.

(Above) Freshmen Class Officers.

When we were seniors, we got to serve alcoholic beverages to patrons at Brother Victor's Jubilee.

I met Chester in 1954 when I started high school. We first met when we tried out for football at Holy Trinity High School. He was a small skinny kid and I didn't think he had a chance to make the team until I saw how tough he was. The coach never had to cut anybody because the workouts were so brutal that players dropped out.

This is our team when we were seniors in 1958. On offense, Chester was the quarterback and I was the left end. On defense, he played safety and I played defensive end We never got off of the field.

This is our Senior Prom picture of the class officers. Chester is on the left, standing behind his high school sweet heart, Arlene, who later became his wife. I am the second from the right standing behind Carole, who became my wife 3 years later.

We learned to dance thanks to Arlene's dad, Hank Janicki, who organized the Lionites, a St Mark teen club that met every Friday for dancing and socializing. Jim Schmidt and I graduated from St Mark a few years before Arlene. Jim and I talked Chester into making the long walk on Friday nights to have some fun. We were "wallflowers" back then so Arlene's Dad would drag us out on the dance floor and make us dance. Chester met and danced with Arlene and a beautiful romance was born. When I was talking about Hank, Chester daughter, Karen, told me that he danced the polka with her at her wedding and her feet seldom touched the floor.

This is a picture of our St. Mark Lionites softball team that Mr. Hank Janicki organized. He got money from the local hardware store to purchase the uniforms. (Chester may have learned how to get donations from watching his father-in-law.) Jim Schmidt (second from the left in the middle row) and Chester (second from the right in the middle row) were on this team. I was in the front row next to Father Dillon. Mr. Janicki was seated on the other side of Father Dillon. You can find the rest of the names on my St. Mark Webpage.

Here is Chester in 1958

High School Football

I have a high school football memory that I would like to share here where Chester called and executed the play with a completed pass that resulted in a touchdown:

In the summer of 1957, we had 2 workouts each day in August, where they didn't give us water during practice because they thought it was bad for us. They did give us salt pills to replace the salt we lost while sweating. We used to report to school at 8:00, get dressed then Brother Vincent would drive us west down Division Street to Humboldt Park for practice. We did get lemonade at lunch time between practices. One day, instead of going to Humboldt Park for practice, we headed south down Western Avenue to a brand new school. Mendel Catholic had just opened their doors and our coach thought that they would be an easy team for a scrimmage. Little did he know that they recruited all over the south side, raiding jocks from power house schools like Leo, St. Rita and Mount Carmel. We were puzzled once we realized that we were not going to our practice field. Brother Vince told us that we were going to Mendel for a easy practice game. We were amazed at how good these guys were, they blocked and tackled better than anyone we ever played. We had very few plays that gained yards, until our Chester called a hook and lateral play. I ran 7 yards from my left end position, stopped and did a 180 turn (Hook) Chet's pass hit me right in the numbers, just as the Mendel safety blasted me in the back and flattened me. Rich Dzingel was trailing me for the lateral and somehow I managed to flip it to him before I was face down in the dirt with several Mendel players piled on top of me. Rich took the ball, stepped around the pile and ran all the way for our only touchdown of the game. We felt pretty bad after the beating that we took from a team that we never heard of. We felt better in November when Mendel won the Catholic League championship in their first year.





Co-captains Chester Lis and Greg Lopatka.

Basketball

I brought out my basketball sweater and Chester wore his football letterman's jacket for one more basketball game.

We played an alumni basketball game in 2009.

Social Events

Chester and Arlene have organized golf outings since 1999.



	Chester wore a tuxedo last Christmas.
Chester and Arlene worked year round preparing for alumni events. They had prizes for the Christmas party, Hall of Fame dinner and Gold outing.


Some Menards prizes for a newlyweds.	Some of us did the Hokey Pokey.
Chester got Alex Brown to join us one year.	We cleaned up last Christmas, My wife Carole won a toaster oven and I won a shop vac.

Alumni Lunch

Stan Sowizrol would get members from classes of 1957, 58 and 59 to get together for lunch gatherings at different restaurants. Chester would show up with coupons that would get us a discount.

Reunions

We had a great turnout for our 50th	Chester worked hard organizing our reunions. I couldn't find any pictures from our 25th, but our 40th is pictured above and left.
Chester gave me the Tech head award at our 50th reunion.

(Below) We only had 5 members of our class show up for our 60th reunion.

We toured the school.	We had our 60th at Holy Trinity.
In 2004, Chester was the first person to be awarded the Henry Brandt Distinguished Alumni Award at the Athletic Hall of Fame Dinner. He was inducted into the hall of Fame with his Junior Basketball team in 2008.
	Every year since 1999, Chester would call and ask me to assemble and print the Hall of Fame Booklet after he wrote the text. I never could say no to him.

Coach Chet

Chester earned the title “Coach Chet” as he coached my brothers on the football field in Vernon Hills for 12 wonderful years.

He would go on to earn the respect and love of his players, allowing him to continue to watch them grow both as players and men throughout life.

Eulogy

Good morning everyone. My name is Matthew Peterson and I’m Chester Lis’ oldest grandchild. Being the original grandchild, most, even my grandpa himself, would say I’m his favorite. As his favorite, I am honored to be standing here today to pay tribute to an amazing man that I was so fortunate to call my grandpa. I know I speak for my whole family when I say we are all so touched and moved by the love and support all of you have shown us during this challenging time. In particular, my grandma has now become spoiled by having nightly meals delivered to her home. She is becoming accustomed to experiencing the “Taste of Vernon Hills” at home each night.

As some of you may know, one of my grandpa’s greatest passions was gardening and landscaping. This passion started off small, a little tree here, a tomato plant there. Soon the trunk of his Blue Buick Roadmaster had trees and bushes poking out at all angles as he drove home with his latest haul. When his car trunk couldn’t handle the load, he opted to have dump trucks full of soil deposited onto his driveway, all to give life for his upcoming labors. Amongst the forest of trees and plants, my grandpa could single out a single vegetation and tell you the type, where he obtained it and who even helped him plant it (which was whatever “fortunate” grandchild or family friend happened to be a phone call away).

Each root that sprout was something my grandpa loved and cherished. As I look around me today, it is clear the roots my grandpa planted have spread far beyond his yard. Whether through family, a friend, a social gathering or a chance encounter, all of us are here today because at one point of our lives, we were touched by the loving and always positive, Chester Lis. For someone that shared so much with us, I’d like to take a few minutes to share with you the life of my grandpa. My grandpa was the second youngest in his family of 5 sisters and 1 brother. Growing up in a very underprivileged household, he used his misfortune as a motivator to improve his life through hard work and perseverance. His first step towards this goal was at a young age where he earned his first job as a paper delivery boy. He knew delivering papers alone wouldn’t cut it so he applied that same determination and work ethic through his studies at Holy Trinity Grade School and High School. In High School, amongst all his accolades, he was the class President for all 4 years and co-captain of his Football team. His greatest High School accomplishment couldn’t have been done in the classroom or on the football field. Instead, he needed to visit St. Mark’s Teen Club where he would go on to meet the love of his life, my grandma Arlene. More to come on this remarkable woman.

Earning a 4-year scholarship, my grandpa would go on to graduate from the Illinois Institute of Technology with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. After graduation, he and Arlene became husband and wife where they have been married for 55 wonderful years. Determined to continuously improve himself and the wellbeing of his family, he worked during the day and attended Northwestern University at night, earning himself an MBA, all with a wife and little girl Karen at home. Soon after, they had their 2 other daughters, Kathy and Juliane. The daughter’s inherited the work ethic and drive of their parents by being accomplished in their own professions, eventually giving my grandparents 3 lucky son in laws and 10 spoiled grandchildren.

Of all the things my grandpa was, his greatest feat was being the most loving husband to my grandma. Even after 55 years of marriage, he would look at her with the same unending love as if seeing her for the first time. His love and selflessness towards my grandma are things we have all witnessed first-hand, in one form or another. Their love would physically materialize whenever they were on the dance floor. Whether it be a wedding, fundraiser or social gathering, these two were the first ones on the dance floor and the last ones to leave. Each step, turn and dip reflected years of trust, commitment and pure joy for one another. When not on the dance floor, even at the discretion of the doctors, these two would be hand in hand as they sped down the steep drops on the roller coasters rides at Six Flags. When even the grand kids had enough, grandma and grandpa were always up for “one more ride”.

My grandparents passed along their joy of thrills and adventure with their 3 daughters by ensuring their childhoods were full of family, laughter and fun. The countless family road trips to national parks and the vacations across the country all shaped what was most important to my grandpa, and that was Family. He wanted his Family to have a better life than he had, and he certainly did accomplish that. His motivation to achieve more than what he had has been passed down throughout his family. He put forth extra hours at work to ensure his daughters could attend the college of their choice without them having to endure the financial burden. His sacrifices allowed his daughters to pursue their dreams and find the love of their lives. Each of their newfound loves would eventually lead to the him earning the title of “Grandpa”.

As a grandpa, he contributed to the lives of each of his grandchildren in ways words cannot do justice. Us grandchildren may disagree on who’s grandpa’s favorite actually was, but one thing we can all agree on is that he wasn’t just a grandpa to us grandchildren, he was our super fan, our coach, our mentor, our story teller, our personal $2 bill ATM machine, the gentlemen who wouldn’t stop kissing our friend’s parents and most importantly, the one to convince grandma we can have one more treat before bed. Even if she said no, he would sneak us one of our favorite Carmel suckers and say, “okay grandma I won’t give them anything”, as we laugh and run into the other room. As we continued to grow up, there wasn’t a sporting event or competition where he and my grandma weren’t in the stands cheering. Whether it was a hot July baseball tournament, a rainy morning soccer game, navigating a sea of screaming cheerleaders or bundled up in the hockey arena, all us grandkids held so much pride knowing he and my grandma were there to cheer us on. In typical grandpa fashion, eventually the bleachers weren’t close enough to the action. He would go on to earn the title “Coach Chet” as he coached my brothers on the football field in Vernon Hills for 12 wonderful years. It wasn’t enough to share his knowledge with just his grandkids, he wanted to have an impact on the community’s youth. He would go on to earn the respect and love of his players, allowing him to continue to watch them grow both as players and men throughout life. I look around the church and see some of these very players and their families here today. Thank you for allowing my grandpa into your lives, as being able to watch you grow was one of his greatest prides.

When learning of his passing, one of his old players said “Coach Chet was just a really good human being. He hopes that someday people will say that about him”. Quite the coaching legacy. At this point, if you thought my grandpa didn’t have any spare love left in his heart, you’re wrong. He extended his desire of wanting others to experience a better life than he had and he did so via his hundreds of hours donated to bettering the same school he attended during his youth, Holy Trinity. He believed Education was the cornerstone of success and not a day went by where he wasn’t planning or talking about planning events meant to further better Holy Trinity. He was a major contributor in planning the annual Golf Outing, Athletic Hall of Fame, Christmas Party and other activities that could be squeezed in between. His basement was always full of the various party items and Menard’s goodies meant to ensure another successful year of events with Holy Trinity. I’m surprised I’ve gotten this far without mentioning the “M” word. Boy... don’t get me started on his love for Menards and their rebates.

Grandpa was a treasure hunter for discounts + savings and Menards was his treasure trove. My grandpa was also a proud member of the Greg’s Landing homeowner’s association. His passion for the association would lead to playful arguments at family parties, as he made sure everyone knew when driving down Greggs Parkway that “30 means 30” and “Roundabouts? No way”. With all this on his plate, he couldn’t do this alone. Fortunately, he had the help of my magnificent grandma.

Grandma, thank you for your love and dedication to grandpa, he wouldn’t be the man we all remember him as if it wasn’t for you. The two of you were and are a team in everything you did. 11 years ago, when grandpa had his big health scare and received a Liver transplant, the family wasn’t sure he was going to make it. At that point, we prayed he would be around to see the Twins first birthday. However, with your love and support, he wouldn’t have to endure his worsening health alone. I know last week in the hospital room when, you were praying for a miracle. I want you to know that you were his miracle all along. You helped save him and prolong his life each day so he could do all the things he loved to do, giving us an extra 11 amazing years, we statistically shouldn’t have had. For that I am eternally gratefully. Over the past decade, he also had the support of his 3 daughters were always there by his side. Mom, I personally have watched you over countless days and nights drop whatever you were doing, no matter what hour, to help take care of grandma and grandpa. All those car rides to the train, the city, dialysis, hospital stays, you name it, you did it with such strength, not knowing what the return trip home would look like. Thank you for all you have and will continue to sacrifice for your parents. I love you so much. I could go on and on about my grandpa, and I know my grandpa wouldn’t be against hearing more about his astonishing life, but I know he is awaiting his final resting place. As I continue to look around, I find great comfort knowing his memory and legacy will continue to live on through each of us. The pain, sorrow, and tears from today will ease over time but the roots my grandpa has spread will continue to strengthen and grow through all of us. We all can find comfort knowing we are connected because of the wonderful, loving man, Chester Lis. Grandpa, we love you, may you rest in peace and watch over us day in and day out. Goodbyes are not forever. Goodbyes are not the end. They simply mean I’ll miss you until we meet again. Thank you.