Robert "Bob" Chase Child

Robert Chase (Bob) Child, 91, of Carbondale, passed away at 10:10 a.m. Saturday, November 10, 2018 at Memorial Hospital in Carbondale. Bob was born May 28, 1927 at St. Mary’s Hospital in Quincy, Illinois to Louis Napoleon and Jessie Marie (Wilson) Child. He married Frances Ann (Fran) Andrew on September 28, 1951 in St. James’ Episcopal Church, Marion. In 1944, early in his final year, he left Quincy Senior High School in company with several friends to enlist in the United States Navy. Graduating later, he completed undergraduate work at Southern Illinois University in 1950 and a Master of Arts degree in 1952. Additional post-graduate work was done as a Charles Steward Mott Fellow at the University of Michigan in the mid-1960s. Bob and Frances resided in Quincy where he worked for the Wolf Wrecking Company, Hochgraber Construction Company and as physical director at the Y.M.C.A. Moves to Springfield and Peoria followed. Bob was a neighborhood organizer and district supervisor for the Illinois Youth Commission and a field organizer for the Illinois Easter Seal Society in those locations. They moved to Carbondale in 1956 at the beginning of his employment at Southern with the Department of Community Development in which he served as a community consultant, instructor and administrator. Leaving the University in 1973 he established Central Development Associates, a program development and management consultation firm whose clients included among others the United States Public Health Service, the Department of Agriculture, the National Association of Development Organizations, the National Educational Institute for Economic Development and the National Area Development Institute. Metropolitan consultations included the Boards of Health in Philadelphia, Nashville, Chicago and New Orleans. Some of his local work involved the Greater Egypt Regional Planning and Development Commission, Comprehensive Health Planning in Southern Illinois and city and county development groups in southern Illinois. In these capacities he authored numerous technical publications, journal articles and contributions to the published work of others in the field. His professional associations included past membership on the National Organizing Committee and as a Founding Member of the Community Development Society and service on its Board of Directors. He was also a past chairman of the Community Development Division of the National University Extension Association and a past member of the American Association for Training and Development. Locally, Bob had served as both Parish and Rector’s Warden and vestry member of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church; as a member of the Carbondale Citizen’s Advisory Committee, the exploratory Rental Housing Licensing Committee and the Historic Preservation Study Committee. He was a life member of the Illinois State Historical Society, the Quincy High School and SIU Alumni Associations and member of the Custer Battlefield Preservation Committee and its 800 Club. Retiring in 1982, Bob continued limited professional activity until 1985 when he delivered a presentation on health planning in southern Illinois to the 12th World Congress on Health Education of the World Health Organization in Dublin, Ireland. Bob’s association with golf began with buying his first wood-shafted club at auction in 1936. He caddied at the Indian Trail Golf Course occasionally until moving from “Poverty Hills”—Indian Trails’ nickname—to the Quincy Country Club for regular work as a caddie until reaching the age of legal employability while there and becoming a groundskeeper. Outside the realm of academics he learned “almost” everything he needed to know about life while at that Club. He played on the Quincy High School’s golf team and except for several extended blocks of time required to meet responsibilities Bob kept at the game at a variety of courses throughout the United States, Canada, and the British Isles, playing the earlier rota of Open courses at the latter location including the Old Course at St. Andrew’s Carnoustie and Turnbury. His interest in the game was evidenced by his Life Membership in and membership on the Board of Directors of the Southern Illinois Senior Golf Association; two terms as president of the Board at Jackson Country Club; the organization of an annual tournament for SIU faculty and staff at Crab Orchard Golf Club; various volunteer assignments; and, membership in the United States Golf Association. For the past several years he enjoyed his association and play with the Hickory Ridge Seniors as well as earlier with the Old Farts at Jackson and for all of whom he held a special affection. Bob is survived by his wife, Frances of Carbondale; his daughters, Chanda Child and husband John McKown of Carbondale and Tressa DiGiorgio and husband, John DiGiorgio of Summerfield, North Carolina; daughter-in-law, Heidi Fisher and granddaughter, Hillary Child of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; three grandsons, Ian DiGiorgio, his wife, Tamara DiGiorgio and their daughters, Adalyn and Reese DiGiorgio of Greensboro, North Carolina; Jared DiGiorgio, his companion, Rebecca Jackson and their son, Jordi DiGiorgio of High Point, North Carolina; and Joel DiGiorgio, his son, John Cohen DiGiorgio, his daughter, Annie DiGiorgio, and Lauren Cooklin, mother of Cohen and Annie, of Greensboro, North Carolina; a niece, Karen Andrew Snow of Marion and a nephew, Keith Andrew of East Peoria. He leaves also cousins, Harlley McKean and wife, Betsy of Calabasas, California and Sharon Fillitti Patish of Miami, Florida and many friends. He was preceded in death by his parents; his son, Jeffrey Child of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; his paternal grandparents, Fred Chase and Lulu Belle Child of Chicago; maternal grandparents, Charles Arthur and Mary Gould Wilson of Quincy; a brother and sister-in-law, William (Bill) and Juanita (Columbo) Andrew of Johnston City; and numerous uncles, aunts and cousins. Concerning these and other predecessors, in 2009 Bob published Scraps, Odd Bits and Pieces of a Family’s Heritage, a family history and genealogy. He later published a companion volume entitled Vignettes. A Celebration of Life will be held for Bob on Thursday, April 25, 2019 from 1 - 3 pm at Jackson County Country Club, 5776 Country Club Rd., Murphysboro, Illinois. Everyone who knew Bob is invited. Interment of ashes will occur at a later time. Memorials may be made to Hospice of Southern Illinois. Crain Pleasant Grove-Murdale Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Robert "Bob" Chase Child

May 28, 1927 - November 10, 2018