Category: News

The January 16, 2019 Oak Brook TU membership meeting featured the chapter’s annual election of Officers and Directors nominated by the Leadership Development and Nominating Committee.

The current Board of Directors elected the following officers to serve a term of one year in the offices as indicated below:
President:  Willie Beshire
Vice President:  Dave Carlson
Secretary:  Carol Hennessy
Treasurer: Jack Potts

Willie Beshire, formerly Vice President, has been elected as the chapter’s new President.  Dave Carlson, the chapter’s current Conservation Committee Chair, has been elected Vice President.  Dave will continue to serve as the Conservation Committee Chair.  Carol Hennessy and Jack Potts will continue to serve in their current roles as Secretary and Treasurer, respectively.

Meeting attendees formerly elected as returning Board Directors for a three-year term Jim Schmiedeskamp and John Snyder.  Jim will continue to serve as the chapter’s Communications Chair responsible for membership communications, publicity and our website.  John Snyder, who has served as the Fundraising Committee Chair the past two years, will join the Conservation Committee.

Dan LaFave was elected as a Director to complete the remaining two years of an open Director position.  Dan is currently the Illinois TU Youth Camp Director and member of the Membership Committee.

To learn more about Board positions and other volunteer opportunities, please contact Lisa Gilmore, Leadership Development and Nominating Committee Chair or the appropriate Officer or Director listed in the 2019 OBTU Board Contacts List.  

The highlights of the Oak Brook TU Chapter’s 2018 Finance Report follow:

Revenue
$31,036 was raised in the chapter’s 2018 fiscal year (October 1, 2017 to September 30, 2018) through the following sources per the Revenue chart below:
—  Spring Solicitation, Annual Rod Raffle, Holiday Party Fundraiser and Meeting Raffles.
—  Contributions from individuals, corporations and foundations.
—  Investment and interest income.

Expenses
$23,057 in expenses were incurred across the following consolidated categories per the chart below.
—  $15,701 for conservation, youth education and membership programs.
—  $5,326 for fundraising costs including printing, mailing and prize expenses.
—  $2,303 for general administrative expenses which includes accounting software, email services, website support costs, and miscellaneous printing/mailing costs.

The Chapter ended the 2018 fiscal year with net income of $7,979.  See the detailed 2018 Financial Report_Newsletter.

The Oak Brook TU Endowment Fund ended the 2018 fiscal year with $35,642.  The objective of the Oak Brook TU Endowment Fund is to provide long-term funding of key chapter conservation initiatives through the fund’s investment earnings. The Endowment Fund principal is permanently restricted to generate earnings for future chapter conservation initiative.  The fund is invested with Vanguard.  For questions about the Oak Brook TU Endowment Fund, please contact Fred Hodge (630.267.9643).

Abe Downs will speak on fly fishing Wisconsin’s northern waters for smallmouth bass, northern pike and muskie. The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Oak Brook Recreation Center Central Park West Building.  Guests are welcome.

Abe Downs, owner of Great Northern Fly Fishing, is an Orvis endorsed guide, serving both experienced and novice fly fishers.  Located in the heart of Wisconsin in Stevens Point, Great Northern Fly Fishing specializes in guided fly fishing trips on northern Wisconsin rivers.  Anglers can choose between McKenzie drift boat and wade fishing on the beautiful and historic Wisconsin River and surrounding waters. Stevens Point is a 4.5-hour drive from Chicago.

For more information, visit the Northern Fly Fishing website.

The Trout Unlimited national organization is excited to be bringing the 2019 TU Upper Midwest Regional Rendezvous to Illinois. Save the date and plan to attend the conference in Zion, Illinois on March 29-31.

Designed specifically for TU volunteers, TU’s regional rendezvous is an occasion to be inspired and learn from the work of your fellow volunteers and TU staff across the region.

Featuring a mix of workshops, round-table discussions, and networking opportunities and, of course, steelhead fishing, the Upper Midwest Regional Rendezvous is a great way to meet people who share your passion for conservation and learn from each other tips, tactics and ideas to take home and make your own chapter or council stronger!

The cost of the rendezvous will be $125 for the full weekend, with options to attend for just one day, as well as other options for joining parts of the event.

See the TU Upper Midwest Rendevous website for more details including the three-day agenda.

By Jim Schmiedeskamp

Starting with this newsletter issue, I will be profiling various members of the Oak Brook TU Chapter as a way to for our membership to get to know each other better.  With the election of our 2019 Officers at our January 16 annual meeting, I thought I’d start with our new President—Willie Beshire.

Willie became involved in Oak Brook TU after retiring as a teacher at Wheaton Warrenville South High School where he taught various math courses for 10 years.  Teaching became a second career after working for 27 years as a management consultant for two global consulting firms, including Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting).  His last consulting location was Australia where he worked for nine years.

Willie’s first OBTU volunteer role was as an Illinois TU Council Summer Youth Camp mentor in 2014 which grew into the Camp Director position in 2015.  He has been the Camp Director through 2018.  With his new responsibilities as Chapter President, Willie has turned over the Camp Director reins to Dan LaFave.  As Camp Director, Willie has traveled the Chicago area visiting other TU chapters, attending various fishing and outdoor shows, and staffing special year-round events at Cabela’s and Bass Pro Shops promoting the camp and its educational benefits for 13-18 young men and women.  Besides the Illinois TU Council Camp Director position,  Willie became more involved in the OBTU Chapter overseeing our membership meeting content as the Meeting Programs Committee Chairman in 2016.  He became the chapter’s Vice President in 2017, a role he served through the end of 2018.

Like many OBTU volunteers, getting involved has provided many post-career benefits. “My experience at OBTU has exceeded my own expectations in many ways,” says Willie. “I look forward to continue developing new friendships and working with the OBTU team to optimize our collective experience.  Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me with any ideas for improving our chapter.  Also, let me know if you would like to get more involved.”

Hometown:  Medina, Ohio
Current home: Wheaton, IL
How long as a TU member: 7 years
Introduction to fly fishing:  About 15 years ago by friends who were leading the Fly Fishing Field Studies course at the College of DuPage (COD).  Later became an “Adjunct Instructor” assisting with the COD program.
Favorite “fishing hole”:  Too many to count!  Any good trout stream in the Driftless Area.  The Muskegon River is a great place to chase steelhead.  And the Au Sable River, the home of the IL Youth Camp and birth place of TU, is a sentimental favorite.
Email:  wbeshire@aol.com

Saturdays 9 a.m. – 11 a.m.
February 2 through February 23

Learn the basics of fly tying for free at Orvis Fly Tying 101! During this two-hour class you will learn essential fly tying techniques and leave having tied your first fly.

As a thank you for taking the class, you will receive special offers on fly tying materials, accessories, and kits. Classes will be offered through Saturday, February 23. 8 students per class, and registration is required.  Fly tying equipment and materials are provided.

View the Orvis Yorktown website event calendar for upcoming dates and to sign up on their website. Participants must register online.  Contact the store directly for any questions.

Orvis Yorktown
306 Yorktown Center
Lombard, IL 60148
Phone: 630-932-6573
Email:  retail-yorktownstr042@orvis.com

Come out for the Oak Brook TU spring 2019 DuPage River Cleanup Day—9 a.m. to 12 noon!   Bring your river shoes or waders and join us for a morning of removing debris and litter along the West Branch of the DuPage River from Gartner Road to 75th Street in Naperville. This event is part of the DuPage County “Adopt-A-Stream” program to help keep local water resources clean.

Volunteers will meet at 9 a.m. at Pioneer Park which is located at 1212 S. Washington Street in Naperville.  Lunch will follow at a downtown Naperville restaurant TBD for interested members.

Gloves, trash pokers, garbage bags, water and technical support will be provided. For more information and/or to sign up please contact:
Chris Pierson—chris.pierson.630@gmail.com; 630-470-8183
Dave Carlson— dmcarlson@hotmail.com; 312-953-6759

If you have a Facebook account, help spread our chapter’s news, meeting information and volunteer activities by visiting our Facebook page and “Follow” and “Like” our page as well as individual posts and share our information with Facebook friends.

Also feel free to post your own photos from personal fishing trips and Oak Brook TU activities you participate in.

Connect to our Facebook page here.

You can check out our new Instagram account and follow it for fly fishing information from Oak Brook TU and news from other TU chapters, our business partners, our preferred guides, fly fishing gear companies and other conservation organizations.