Firefighters, friends honor former Fox Lake fire chief
Former Fox Lake Fire Chief Stu Hoehne was laid to rest Thursday amid an honor guard of no less than 100 firefighters from across Lake, Cook, McHenry and other nearby counties in Illinois and Wisconsin.
Hoehne, who died Saturday of cancer, was eulogized at the Grant High School field house on Devlin Road, a spot chosen to accommodate the nearly 300 mourners.
After the memorial service, Hoehne's casket was placed on top of old Fox Lake fire truck No. 29 and driven in a procession past two fire houses to the East Fox Lake Cemetery on Old Monaville Road near Lake Villa.
The fire truck was escorted by about 100 cars and fire trucks from about 20 fire departments represented at the funeral.
During the hourlong service, the Rev. Tom Franzman, the former chaplain of the Fox Lake Fire Protection District and former pastor of St. Bede Catholic Church in Ingleside, told stories about Hoehne and said his generosity to those living in town was a gift everyone should cherish.
"Once he opened his arms to you, you were his friend no matter what," Franzman said. "And it didn't matter if he hadn't seen you in five years. When you bumped into him, it was like he saw you yesterday."
Hoehne was born in 1930 in Greenbush, Wis., just before his family moved to Fox Lake. He served as a Fox Lake village trustee for two terms and was a former superintendent of the Fox Lake Public Works Department during his public service career.
But his love was being a fireman, a career that began in 1957 when he joined the Fox Lake Volunteer Fire Department.
He was named chief of the Fox Lake Fire Protection District in 1981, where he served until his retirement in 2001.
After retiring, Hoehne was named chief emeritus until his death Saturday. Fox Lake Fire Station No. 4 on State Park Road was renamed the Stuart Hoehne Fire Station in 2001.
Hoehne was also a corporal in the U.S. Army, a charter member of the Fox Lake VFW, and a member of the Lake County Fire Chiefs Association and the International Association of Fire Chiefs.
During Thursday's ceremony, Hoehne was given the honorary three-bell salute by Round Lake Area Fire Chief Paul Maplethorpe to announce a firefighter has returned to quarters for the last time. His casket was led from the gymnasium to the fire truck by a bagpipe quartet.
The long funeral procession rolled through downtown Fox Lake, past fire station No. 1 on McKinley Drive, then down Grand Avenue past fire station No. 2 on Washington Street, then under two ceremonial ladder trucks hoisting purple bunting.
"His wealth was in all of us," Franzman told mourners. "It was in what he could share with us and he could do for all of us."