“What makes a great man?” I thought after a nearly three-hour, wide-ranging chat with Judge William Bauer. An Elmhurst resident since age 14, he has served as judge with the U. S. Court of Appeals with the 7th Circuit since 1974 and shows no sign of slowing down.

At nearly 82 years old, he is distinguished, keenly intelligent, philosophical, balanced, funny, well read and, most importantly, engaged in life — this despite the devastating loss of his beloved wife Mary, known as “Mike,” two years ago from Alzheimer’s disease. When she was ill, he visited her every day. I was reminded of Winston Churchill’s words, “Never, never, never, never give up.” Judge Bauer would probably add, “and laugh a lot, too.”

“I have no plans to retire,” he said. “I remember my father after his retirement. I invited him to lunch one day, but he declined, saying he had a haircut appointment. When I suggested we meet before or after that, he said that if he had his hair cut on one day and the lunch date the next, he would have two things to look forward to.”

He was a teenager in a different Elmhurst at the onset of World War II, when the town had a population of 15,000 and was surrounded by farms and fields. Claude Van Auken was mayor and there were four trains rumbling through town, and the stone quarry was blasting three times a day, rattling house windows.

He went to the senior prom at Immaculate Conception High School with Elizabeth Neuman, the first baby born at Elmhurst Hospital. He and his close friend, John Erlenborn — who lived at Hagans and Winthrop near Bauer’s home at 345 Prospect — worked part-time jobs together because, though neither came from families short of money, both came from families with a strong work ethic. Bauer worked as a paper boy, at the Ovaltine Factory in Villa Park, at an Elmhurst laundry and as a cab driver while in school at I.C., Elmhurst College and DePaul Law School. It’s no surprise that he graduated with honors, that he played football and violin, that he read voraciously and that he decided early on to become a trial lawyer after being inspired by movies such as the Andy Hardy series.

“The difference between being a trial lawyer and a judge is the difference between seeing a play and reading about it,” he said with a chuckle.

He met his future wife at Elmhurst College but had to serve two years in the Army before finishing college. After they married in 1950, they had trouble finding an apartment because they were scarce after the war.

“We finally found a two-room, basement apartment at Fellows Court,” he said, “but I could never find the second room!”

His friend Erlenborn was elected to Congress in 1965, while Judge Bauer was elected DuPage County State’s Attorney. He was later appointed U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois and then judge to the U.S. Court of Appeals. Today, in addition to his duties as judge, he continues to lecture worldwide; visit his two daughters, Pat and Linda, and granddaughter, Sidonie; and serve on boards for Elmhurst College, Loyola and DePaul Universities, and Elmhurst and Mercy Hospitals. He doesn’t, however, play golf.

“I golfed for 20 years but gave it up as a waste of time,” he said with a laugh.
He loves Elmhurst and said, “I have followed the terms of all the mayors here since Claude Van Auken, and they were all good, decent people who worked hard at it.”

Judge Bauer was gifted with intelligence, energy and vision, and he made good use of his gifts. Perhaps greatness lies not so much in what you have as in what you do with what you have. This, then, is the source of his greatness to his family, to Elmhurst and to the country.

A quote from an address he made at the 1986 Elmhurst College commencement perhaps best sums up this man: “We all owe rent. The better our life, the more rent we owe. We pay rent by service to mankind.”