John Gilbert Rehm Sr.

John Gilbert “Gil” Rehm , Sr. of Gurnee, 81, peacefully passed into eternal life on the evening of Friday, June 11th, 2010. Gil was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana on August 29, 1928, the son of L. Robert and Gertrude Rehm (Kohlmeyer) and was the youngest of three children.

He was a 1946 graduate of South Side High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana and a 1950 graduate of Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. Shortly after earning his B.S. in Civil Engineering, he entered the United States Army in December 1950, serving at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. While serving at the Guided Missile Research Center, he met Helen Lemae Turner and they were married on December 4, 1952, only a few days prior to his discharge from service. They were blessed with over 57 years of devoted marriage and deep eternal love.

He was employed in the installation, service, and sale of industrial air pollution control systems throughout most of his 51 year career. He was a partner in Riff Engineering Company Inc. of Elmhurst, Illinois. He and his partners were sales representatives for manufacturers of power generation equipment for Industrial and Electric Utility use. Gil was blessed to have been continuously employed throughout his entire career and ultimately retired in December 2003.

He was recently preceded in death by his beloved wife, Helen, on March 24, 2010. He was also preceded in death by his parents, his step-mother, Ruth Rehm (Walhausen), brothers, Robert Rehm and James Rehm as well as granddaughter Elizabeth Wilkinson.

He is survived by his children Robert Booker, Sharron (Tim) Ziemann, John (Carol) Rehm, Jr., David (Rhonda) Rehm, Melissa Wilkinson, Jeffrey (Karoline) Rehm, Lee Rehm, Catharina (Jason) Small. He is also survived by his grandchildren Amy (Jeremy) Edling, Timothy Ziemann, Anthony, Andrea, Nicole, Chelsy Cortez, Gabriela Paulus-Lara, Heather Rehm, Matthew (Erica) Rehm, Kirsten (Kyle) Roessler, Amanda and John Wilkinson, Sydney and Patrick Rehm, and Edward Small. He was blessed with his first great grandchild, Ashton Roessler and looked forward to meeting his next great grandchild, “Baby Boy” Edling this September.

Gil was a long time member of Faith Lutheran Church in Lake Forest, and most recently of Bethel Lutheran Church in Gurnee, Illinois.

A memorial service was held at Bethel Lutheran Church, 5110 Grand Avenue, Gurnee, Illinois on Sunday, June 13th.. The family would greatly appreciate donations to be directed to Children’s Education at Bethel Lutheran Church in lieu of flowers.