In early December 2007, Gloria Lundin went to Beloit, Wis., to visit Ken Hendricks. With her was a framed postcard of the Elks Club building in downtown Rockford.
It was a small gift, she remembers, but one with meaning. Her husband, Jon, had been hatching a plan with Hendricks to turn the dilapidated building into a banquet hall befitting its more august history. But Jon died unexpectedly the previous May, leaving the club’s fate in limbo.
Less than a month later, Hendricks was dead.
It was the year the Rock River Valley lost two visionaries. Read more.