Evon D. and Jack H. Keck

Joliet residents Jack and Evon Keck pledged $1 million to assist in the funding of Silver Cross Hospital’s Emergency Department expansion, which was completed in January 2007. As a way of thanking the Kecks, the hospital named the new addition the Evon D. and Jack H. Keck Emergency Pavilion.

As longtime residents and business leaders, the Kecks are no strangers to the changes in Joliet and Will County. Jack and Evon attended and met one another at Joliet Township High School. Evon and her mother moved to Joliet from Waukegan when her brother, Verle Jones, began working at the EJ&E railroad.

Jack is a former partner of William Keck and Sons Electric Company and original founder of the Joliet Equipment Corporation, which is today, one of the largest motor repair and sales companies in the Midwest. Jack’s father, William Keck, Sr., started fixing electric motors in his garage as a means of providing for his seven children in the early 1930’s. The business grew, year after year, because of hard work and dedication to quality, making the foundation of Joliet Equipment Corporation possible in 1954. By this time, William’s sons, Jack, Bill, and Norman, were managing the business, dealing entirely in motor sales and repair.

In 1942, only three months after marrying Evon, Jack joined the Seabees and served as a 1st Class Electrician in the South Pacific during WWII for three years. During this time, Evon worked for the phone company. The Keck family owned and operated the former Joliet Beach Club—a pre-WWI spring-fed quarry, for 31 years.

Jack was a successful businessman, selling the largest motors every built to Pacific Steel. It took two railroad cars to transport each motor. He also purchased all the superchargers in existence that were used in B-29 airplanes. He owned 11 car loads full when General Henry “Hap” Arnold, commander of the Army Air Forces in World War II and the only air commander ever to attain the five-star rank of General of the Army, ordered the purchase of nine car loads to be used in the planes supplying the Berlin Aircraft.

When most people were thinking about enjoying retirement, at age 65, Jack bought the Wisconsin Steel Mill, dismantled it in the middle of winter, and moved it to Joliet to be cleaned and sold.

“Not many people have worked as physically hard to be successful, and Jack loves to work,” said Evon Keck.

In addition to their business accomplishments, the Keck’s raised two children, Ricky and Cynthia. Today, they enjoy time spent with granddaughter Daphne Engle and her husband Kelly Meek as well as grandson Sean Keck, his wife Donna, and great-grandchildren Cynthia and Isabelle. They have also supported the Mayo Clinic, Children’s Memorial Hospital and United Cerebral Palsy.

“We wanted to do something good and make our parents proud,” said Jack Keck. “We didn’t realize we would be so thrilled making this gift to Silver Cross Hospital.”

The Evon D. and Jack H. Keck Emergency Pavilion was dedicated in June 2006.

For more information or to make a donation, contact the Silver Cross Foundation at (815) 740-7105.