One of Pekin Rotary Club's major financial commitments of the past thirty years has been the support of the Pekin Park District's development of a neighborhood park. 

The park was built on the old Garfield School block at North Eleventh Street in Pekin.

In February, 1988, the Pekin Park District presented a program to the Pekin Rotary Club, seeking the club's support for the construction of a park at the site of the demolished Garfield School. 

With overwhelming support the club contributed the following:

June 1988 - $7,540 for the purchase of playground equipment and a sign on North Eleventh Street naming the area as Rotary Park.

June 1992 - $5700 for a picnic shelter

June 1994 - $7,540 for shelter extension and restroom facilities

Pekin Rotary Club's total contribution for Rotary Park was $20,780, provided mainly from profits of the Marigold Festival pork chop fry.

Tom Ivey

This month's Member Spotlight shines on the club's Tom Ivey. purveyor of Peanut Butter Pies - 

Born in Pekin, Tom graduated from Pekin High School and enlisted in the Army.  Once in the military he was selected as part of a program to attend college for up to two years.  So in 1975, with one year of college credits under his belt, he attended Western Illinois University completing the final three years in just two.  From there he continued to serve his country by being selected to attend the US Army Criminal Investigation Course and subsequent assignment as a Special Agent.  His first assignment led him to meet the infamous Jeffrey Dahmer, who worked as a medical corpsman at the 3rdField Hospital, Baumholder, German.  His interest in interviewing eventually led him to his true career calling.

Retiring from the service in 1982, Tom settled in Houston and worked for the University of Houston for as a Patrol Supervisor until he was then recruited by the Texas Department of Corrections.  They were experiencing a lot of problems with alleged improper conduct of correctional officers and they brought in a number of people, who shared Tom'sinvestigative background, in order to create an Internal Affairs Division.  As Tom told me, "hopefully we cleaned it up."

He stayed with the Department of Corrections for a little over a year and then decided to pursue a longtime ambition inthe Polygraph field.  He attended polygraph school and opened his own company - "Ivey Investigative Services.".  He returned to Pekin in 1986, and subsequently opened his business here. Tom described his responsibilities to me."Administering polygraph examinations to determine the truthfulness of the subject."  Much of what he does centers around the "Post Test Interview" with the goal of closing the case with admissions or a confession.  "I deal with pre-employment examinations, homicides, aggravated assaults, sex offenses and domestic issues," he told me.  An interesting business indeed.

Upon returning to Pekin, Tom rekindled a romance with his old high-school sweetheart, Cheryl and they married in 1987. 

In 2004, he found himself being recruited by Dean Cooper and especially Brian Ford to "join Rotary".  He generally knew what the organization did but with his busy schedule, he wasn't sure he could commit.  But he felt that belonging to the club would be good for him. "I liked what the club was doing for the community." he said.  "Other family members said it was a wonderful organization and that I should join." 

Thankfully, Tom responded and joined.  As he told me, "It was inspiring to read of the things that people do at Rotary."  I know that he believes we can - and should - strive to do more.  He knows that we are agents for doing good and strongly feels that we should live up to that role. 

I couldn't agree more.  Thanks Tom.    

Gary Gillis