Reuniting with Bob and Linda

When Bob and Linda Page left Akron in 1973 their daughter, Michelle, was 4 and her sister, Gayle, was 2. They had a son, Rob, later. The children are all grown, out of college and married. Bob is now senior pastor of the Evangelical Free Church in Crystal Lake, IL. Bob worked on the State Desk at the BJ and helped cover the May 1970 tragedy at Kent State. Here’s Bob’s e-mail on what has happened to him since then:

What a wonderful surprise to hear from you. It seems like worlds and lives ago since I worked at the Beacon Journal. I graduated from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, IL (a northern suburb of Chicago) in 1977, but actually started pastoring my first church in Moline, IL in 1976. Since then I have served churches in Stromsburg, Nebraska (the Swede Capital of Nebraska!), Fargo, North Dakota (brrr!) and my current congregation in Crystal Lake, Illinois (a far northwest suburb of Chicago), where I have been more than 12 years. Two years ago I earned my Doctor of Ministries degree, also at Trinity. I am now 60 years old but not thinking a whole lot about retirement (which I notice most of the guys in your blog already enjoying).

My wife, Linda, and I are closing in on our 39th wedding anniversary. Our oldest daughter, Michelle, and her husband, Barry McQuarrie, both have their doctorates and are professors at the University of Minnesota-Morris (no children); my younger daughter, Gayle, and her husband, Mark Schanou, and our two grandchildren, Audrey and Reid, live in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where Mark serves a church as a children's and family ministries pastor; and there's a son, Rob (born 6 years after my departure from the Beacon Journal), who together with his wife, Suzanne, live in Vernon Hills, IL. They both work for Zurich Insurance Co. in Schaumburg, IL.

Every year on May 4 I especially think about my days at the Beacon Journal as I remember the Kent State shootings of 1970 and the awarding of the Pulitzer a year later. That has been a conversation piece throughout my ministry career.

Send e-mail to Bob at robtopage@sbcglobal.net
or Linda at lindapage21@sbcglobal.net

The Evangelical Free Church of Crystal Lake
575 E. Crystal Lake Drive
Crystal Lake, IL 60014