63-Year Chillicothe City Clerk Honored

Reprinted from the PEORIA JOURNAL STAR

Mrs. Ilion Wait Crabel, who has been the Chillicothe city clerk for 63 years, received the first annual Municipal Clerks Member of the Year Award for 1986 at the association's district conference.

The award will go to the municipal clerk who makes an outstanding contribution to the profession and the statewide organization.

Running as a Democrat, she was first elected to the job in 1923 and has thought each term would be her last.

Mrs. Crabel was cited for "a pioneer spirit, serving as a working clerk, yet being a loyal wife and mother during a time when it was not necessarily fashionable to combine the two careers."

"Silver-haired and soft-spoken, Mrs. Crabel still will answer her phone on Sundays for anyone needing information regarding the city's cemetery, one of her duties," the citation noted.

The presentation was made by Ed Voumard, Jr., city clerk of Alton, while Chillicothe Mayor Irvin Latta, Peoria County Democratic Chairman and Peoria County Board member William Prather, Sid Crabel (her son, who is Chillicothe public works director), aldermen and others looked on.

In addition to being named first recipient, Mrs. Crabel was told the award now will be called the Ilion Crabel Municipal Clerks Member of the Year Award. •

Page 20 / Illinois Municipal Review / November 1988