June 2019 Newsletter

 That Old Resort Magic

By Dale Dauten

It seems that every resident I meet has a similar story about how they came to The Resort, and it goes like this: They were not looking for a place to stay; they just stopped for a visit but fell for the place and kept coming back. Call it that old Resort magic.

Here’s how it happened for Deanne Kelley:

My husband John and I came in our motorhome to visit my mom and dad. We got hooked on the tennis, and then we met all these people and started doing things and so we came back and came back and then bought a place.

John & Deanne on vacation in South Africa

Deanne and John weren’t the only ones drawn in by her folks. Deanne related how the Blooms, Ray and Norma, inspired a stream of Resorters:

There are my two brothers – Dan Bloom and his wife, Sue, and David Bloom and his wife, Emily – and my two aunts, plus number of other folks from our hometown of Rockton, Illinois, including the high school football coach. I believe there were as many as 25 residents connected to Rockton and the Blooms. That made every visit feel like a reunion.

Sadly, that original couple has passed on: Ray in 2003 and Norma just a few months ago. Deanne says of her mom, “She made a decision to sell their place at The Resort and regretted it every day. Right till the end she was angry that she wasn’t at The Resort.”

Ray and Norma Bloom

Still, the Blooms had a long run – they started coming to The Resort back in the 1980s, and Deanne passed along some of her folks’ photos from those early days.

As for Deanne and John, they are in Missouri for the summer and will return in the Fall. That’s when you’re likely to spot them on the tennis courts, along with several of the Blooms, and where you’ll probably find John working on the Red Cross Blood Drives. (There are three planned for next year and The Resort’s efforts are consistently rated as among the best in the East Valley.)

Meanwhile, I was curious about the town that contributed so many people to the park, Rockton, Illinois. Turns out, it’s officially the Village of Rockton and has only about 7500 residents. If you were a crow flying from Chicago to Madison, Wisconsin, you’d pass close to Rockton about two-thirds of the way. Here’s a photo from their website that helps explain the appeal of The Resort in the winter…

The Resort Progress Report

We asked George Igault for an update on projects at The Resort.

“We’re buttoning up the internet and cable TV,” he reported. “There is still background work going on, but the system is working great.”

“Speaking of the internet,” George added, “I was looking back on our records and Al LaCanne has been dreaming of high-speed internet for years. It was back in ’07 that he had repeaters put on poles to try to get wi-fi throughout the park. That didn’t work like he hoped, but he kept at it and now we have something that is special, something you won’t see most other places.”

“Plus, we’re having the streets resurfaced. That’s one of the most expensive maintenance items we have, and yet it’s something most people don’t notice.” With that, George passed along a photo from work at Silveridge where part of the street has been redone, giving us a nice before-and-after.

We’ll continue to bring you updates over the summer.