The Jacksonville group owes a debt of gratitude to native businessman, volunteer and all-around good man Robert E. “Bob” Chipman.
“Bob was good at no matter he did, whether or not it was loaning cash, promoting actual property or giving his time to organizations that had been vital to him and to Jacksonville,” stated Pleasure French Becker, president and board chair of the Farmers State Financial institution and Belief Firm of Jacksonville. “Bob was a beautiful good friend and colleague of mine for a few years. His counsel was invaluable and he was all the time true to his phrase. He’s an irreplaceable asset to us all.”
Chipman, a lifelong Jacksonville resident, died on July 20 on the age of 72. He leaves behind a legacy of service to the group, however greater than that, it was Chipman’s sunny demeanor that appears to have left probably the most lasting impression on all who knew him.
“It is almost legendary now round right here, that megawatt smile of Smiley Bob’s. As somebody lately stated to me, ‘Tim, his smile greater than lit a room, it lifted a room,” recalled son Tim Chipman. “So within the genetic wheel of fortune, did Dad get a double dose of the smiley DNA? Maybe, however I am satisfied Dad set his thoughts, his nature and his face on carrying a smile.”
However you would not catch Bob speaking about himself very a lot as a result of verbosity was one character that he didn’t show, based on Tim.
“He did not must trade lots of phrases,” Tim stated. “Dad all the time bought a kick out of the phrase ‘shaggy canine story,’ a long-winded anecdote, and he tended to retire from those that spun prolonged yarns with little level or decipherable conclusion.”
Bob’s spouse, Janet, remembered her husband’s favourite Mark Twain quote: “‘He appreciated folks; due to this fact, folks appreciated him,'” she stated, “And a second quote, ‘You are by no means absolutely dressed with out a smile.'”
That smile and his trademark bow tie had been ever-present options of Bob’s work as a mortgage officer on the Farmers State Financial institution after which his actual property and appraisal enterprise. The smile accompanied Bob’s volunteer work as president of the native YMCA board, Jacksonville Kiwanis Membership, Jacksonville Space Chamber of Commerce, Passavant Space Hospital Board, Affiliation of Realtors, Prairieland United Approach Board, Jacksonville Public Colleges Basis and the Jacksonville Space Museum Basis. Bob was inducted into the Jacksonville Corridor of Fame in 2023.
“As a toddler, after brushing our tooth or combing our hair, Dad and I might stand earlier than the toilet mirror, side-by-side, and say aloud in unison, ‘like father, like son, like father, like son,'” stated Tim. “Every of us would smile broadly, dealing with ourselves within the reflection of the mirror, and infrequently escape in laughter.”
Janet recounted that Bob’s marketing campaign slogan for pupil authorities management at Illinois Faculty was “Be hip with B. Chip.” Bob later was a member of the Illinois Faculty Board of Trustees for 25 years, serving in lots of capacities at his alma mater, together with vice chair of the board. He retired from the board of trustees in 2023 and was awarded an honorary doctorate from the faculty, then continued to serve the establishment as a trustee emeritus.
“Bob was a constructive one who led with a smile and a heat greeting to everybody he encountered all through his day,” recalled Illinois Faculty President Barbara Farley. “He made everybody be ok with themselves and he brightened days together with his concern and heat. Bob was the particular person you’d wish to be your neighbor and good friend.”
Farley bought to know Bob, his spouse Janet, and the Chipman household effectively over time. She thought of Bob to be a real good friend who was all the time well mannered and respectful of others.
“Bob was at the beginning a person who beloved his household and was happiest when he was surrounded by them. I noticed Bob’s grandchildren work together playfully with him and there was all the time laughter,” Farley stated. “I noticed the deep love he and Janet shared and the power of their marriage of 51 years. And I noticed him work together with sons Timothy and Andrew, and their wives, in ways in which demonstrated pleasure and pleasure of their accomplishments.”
That household pleasure has been carried by means of a number of Chipman generations, based on Bob’s son Andrew Chipman.
“Dad got here from an extended line of ‘delighters’ – delighters of household, of the preciousness of childhood and of small moments,” Andrew stated. “Dad additionally got here from an extended line of ‘traders’ – traders in oneself, constructing a steady life and in creating the chance to offer to others.”
Andrew opined that his dad had a Sunday College educating report at First Presbyterian Church in Jacksonville “that rivaled Jimmy Carter’s,” and remembered the Bible verse that hung within the household’s spotless, orderly storage: “As for me and my family, we are going to serve the Lord.”
However stuffiness did not include Bob’s non secular religion.
“Once we had been children, we had this factor the place we referred to our mom, Janet, as No. 1 and my brother and I had been two and three, adopted by our canine who had been No. 4 and No. 5, and our rabbits had been six and 7,” Andrew recalled. “Which left Dad to be No. 8, and for years we teased Dad about being No. 8. We additionally referred to as him Mr. Clear due to his penchant for neatness and order.”
Bob Chipman loved touring together with his household, taking part in basketball, teaching youth groups and studying extensively, together with biographies of each president, so as. However his biggest moments of pleasure, based on his household, had been laughing on the carpet together with his grandchildren, who affectionately referred to as him “F,” or strolling hand-in-hand with Janet on the sidewalks of his beloved Jacksonville.
David Blanchette was a younger radio reporter when he first met Bob Chipman 40 years in the past and interviewed him as a younger mover and shaker in Jacksonville. Their paths crossed quite a few occasions all through the years, most lately by means of their mutual involvement within the Jacksonville Space Museum. Like numerous others, Dave was all the time greeted by Bob’s electrical smile and feels really blessed to have identified him.
