Dick Bowden

Richard (Dick) Bowden met his wife Jan in the summer of 1960 while he was employed at Ohio Bell and Jan at NCR. April of 1962, the day before his birthday, he was drafted into the Army, serving in Fort Knox for Basic Training, then to McClean Base, Arlington, Va. with the Signal Core. Dick married Jan in September, 1962, before he left to serve in Heidelberg, Germany. While he served in Germany, Jan started attending Zion Lutheran Church where Dick’s three siblings were members. He returned in January of 1964 and they became members of Zion that summer. He was then employed by what is now known as Ameritech Phone Company. In 1967, their daughter Janice was born and in 1969 their son Brian was born. Both of their children were baptized, confirmed and married at Zion. In 1990, Jan married David. They have two sons, Josh and Jake. In 1996, Brian married Kim. They have five children, Matthew, Lydia, Andrew, Sarah and Hannah. Granddaughters, Hannah and Sarah, were born after Dick’s passing. Family vacations were very important to Dick and they enjoyed traveling as a family during school breaks. Dick was early retired in November of 1991, from AT&T. He was later employed with Emery Communications from 1992 – 2001. He served as the custodian for Zion Pre School 2001 – 2003.

Dick had surgery for prostate cancer in October of 2005. He continued checkups with his surgeon in April and October of 2006, when he was advised to have a physical with Family Physician, only to have many tests, unable to make any diagnosis of health issues. At the New Year, one test did reveal that food was going into the lungs and not in the stomach. He was hospitalized with added feeding tube and the decision was made that Dick would move from Sycamore Hospital to Sycamore Rehab Center. Test continued, ruling out MD, MS, Parkinson and Huntington Caren. On March 3, 2007, using the analogy of a 100 piece puzzle with 98 pieces in place and the prognoses being one to three months, Dick was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), “Lou Gehrig’s Disease”. Dick passed at 10:40 P.M. Saturday, March 31, 2007 at the age of 67. After his passing, The Dick Bowden Scholarship Fund was established in his honor and has contributed over $19,500 to Zion Lutheran Pre School for tuition aide and other needs. The Bowden family continues to support the Central and Southern Ohio Chapter of ALS raising over $50,000.00

Bob Madden

Robert (Bob) Madden was born on July 11, 1955, in Oak Park, IL. He was from a family of 13 children, which nurtured his love for family. Bob met his wife, Booie, during their senior year of high school and they were married soon after graduating from Western Illinois University in Macomb, IL. Booie is the sister of Peter Schmidt, a member of Zion Lutheran Church. Booie and Bob have 3 children, Shawn, Sarah and Timothy and 6 grandchildren. Shawn and David Barth have 2 children, Rylee and Shannon. Sarah and Brian Coleman have 3 children, Olivia, Brady and Parker and Darci and Tim Madden have 1 child, Vivienne, born January 3, 2020. All of their grandchildren were born after Bob’s passing.

Bob was hired by the Glen Ellyn Police Department on July 25, 1977, and was promoted to Sergeant on December 14, 1991. In late 1998 he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), “Lou Gehrig’s Disease”. Bob was a beloved member of the Department and he fought his illness with grace and dignity. He defied medical expectations, and continued to work through his illness until his retirement on St. Patrick’s Day, 2006. He refused to let his illness interfere with his job. He worked full days and was an “Exceeds Standards” employee until his retirement. On May 22, 2007, Sergeant Robert Madden passed away after battling ALS for more than eight years. He was 51 years old. Bob served the Glen Ellyn community for nearly thirty years and just before his passing, the Police Department received a donation of $10,000 from a local, anonymous benefactor for what they considered to be “Excellent service over the years”. This was the start of a scholarship fund in Bob Madden’s honor that was set to be awarded to a student from either of the two local high schools with an interest in a law enforcement related field. The Madden family continues to raise funds for the Robert F. Madden Memorial Scholarship each year and continues to support graduating seniors, and to date, three of the scholarship recipients are now employed as Police Officers. In March of 2007, the Madden family also began an event called “A Toast to Life” to raise funds for ALS research. This cocktail event features a large silent & live auction and is a celebration of life for a good cause. While Bob is the motivation for the annual event, many other families impacted by ALS have gotten involved over the years and contributed to its success. To date, A Toast to Life has raised more than $1.3 million for ALS research in Chicago, and the event is now replicated in many other cities in the US.