Pat Kelly & Tim Kelly Retire from Village Links

The Village Links is losing two long-time staff members with the retirement of Golf Course Superintendent Tim Kelly and Equipment & Building Maintenance Supervisor Pat Kelly. Tim joined the Grounds Crew in 1968 and became Golf Course Superintendent in 1974. Pat Kelly joined his brother on the Grounds Crew in 1972 and was eventually promoted to Equipment & Building Maintenance Supervisor.

Pat (left) and Tim (right) Kelly were key members of

the Village Links management team, with experience

dating back to the earliest days of the facility.

Tim and Pat Kelly retired to take advantage of an early retirement program offered by the Village of Glen Ellyn. Administrative Secretary Pat Sokolis, who began working at the Village Links in 1971, retired as part of that same program June 30, 2006. The departure of three valued staff members with more than 100 years of combined experience truly represents the end of an era at the Village Links.

Tim Kelly

Tim Kelly had a noteworthy career at the Village Links. He joined the grounds crew in 1968 while still in high school and continued as a seasonal crew member through college. He joined our full-time staff in 1973 after graduating from the University of Dayton. Early in 1974 he was promoted to Assistant Golf Course Superintendent and later that year he became the Village Links' third Golf Course Superintendent.

Tim has worked tirelessly towards the betterment of the Village Links, completing an incredible number of projects were completed during his tenure. The golf course expanded to 27-holes. The driving range tee was rebuilt. The Clubhouse was expanded twice. The Halfway House was built. Rain shelters were built. Thousands of trees and shrubs were planted. The Winchell Way entrance was remodeled. The Maintenance Center was renovated and expanded. Lakes were dredged. Greens were rebuilt. Tees were added. Cart paths were added. Practice greens were built. Most recently, the irrigation system was replaced and the 18-hole course was renovated.

Tim's responsibilities were much broader than those typically assigned to a Golf Course Superintendent. Tim maintained our 87 motorized cart rental fleet. He was responsible for all building and equipment maintenance at the Clubhouse, Maintenance Center and Halfway House. He maintained a heavily used driving range and four practice greens. He maintained a large storm water detention system. He maintainsed several parks and for nearly 30 years he maintained the Village Green athletic field complex.

Tim is a Past-President of both the Chicagoland Golf Course Superintendents Association and the Midwest Association of Golf Course Superintendents. He is a three-time National Winner of the Golf Course Superitendent Association's Environmental Steward Award. Tim's knowledge, enthusiasm and hard work will be missed. He has served the Village Links and the Village of Glen Ellyn well.

Pat Kelly

Pat Kelly joined the Village Links grounds crew in 1972 while he was in high school and worked on the crew for several seasons. In 1978 Pat was hired to a full time position as a Mechanic and was later promoted to his current position overseeing our mechanical maintenance operation.

It has been Pat's job to keep a dizzying array of equipment functioning properly. If it has a moving part, or involves electricity or water or air pressure, Pat was expected to keep it running - and when something broke down, he had to know how to diagnose the problem, where to get the necessary repair parts, and how to install those parts quickly. Golf carts. Fuel pumps. Hot dog grills. Air conditioners. Sewer grease traps. Door closers. Plumbing. Tractors. Chain saws. Golf ball pickers. Street lights. Soda dispensers. Irrigation turbine pumps. Spray rigs. Tractor mounted snow blowers. Furnaces. Ice makers. Electrical panels. The list is endless.

Pat also built things. He has built storage sheds, installed floor tile, and assembled walk-in coolers. Just a few years ago he installed miles of water and electrical lines when we expanded the golf course drinking fountain system.

A core part of his responsibility was to maintain mowers. Gasoline, diesel and electric powered mowers. Mowers that are belt driven, chain driven or hydraulic driven. Mowers than cut tall grass and high precision reel mowers that maintain creeping bentgrass at a height of a tenth of an inch.

Pat Kelly was a respected leader in the field of golf course equipment maintenance. Pat helped organize and form the Turf Equipment Technicians Association, and served as one of the Association's first Presidents.

Pat's impact was felt throughout the Village Links. He improved the quality, appearance and health of golf course turf by maintaining sharp mowing units. He improved the taste of our coffee and soft drinks by adding filtration to food service water lines. He lowered repair costs by researching alternatives to purchasing parts from the original equipment manufacturer.

For over thirty years "call Pat Kelly" has been a cure-all for almost any problem. A cure-all conveniently available at the end of the line of a phone or radio. We will struggle to replace his enthusiasm, knowledge and inventiveness.

Pat Sokolis

Pat Sokolis began as a part-time Secretary at the Village Links in 1971 and joined the full-time staff shortly thereafter.

While her artwork was her most visible contribution to the Village Links, Pat played a key role in day to day operations. She processed payroll, prepared invoices for payments, reconciled statements and mailed golfers their Resident Cards. She typed budgets and bid packets and memorandums. She scheduled every game that was ever played at the Village Green from 1975 until the property was leased to the Park District in 2003. For 35 years, Pat was the glue holding Recreation Department operations together behind the scenes. She also served as Secretary to several Village Commissions, including two stints with the Recreation Commission.

Pat used her talent as a graphic artist to design and produce a wide array of marketing and informational pieces. She designed the Village Links logo in 1972. She designed the scorecards used by every Village Links golfer for the past 35 years. She produced all of the Village Links newsletters, flyers, brochures, signs, and restaurant menus. She produced the newsletter for the Glen Ellyn Backyard Wildlife Program. She drew artwork and produced plaques honoring “Legends of the Links” that hang in the golf course clubhouse. She drew the Ed Posh logo and designed the newsletter for the Ed Posh Scholarship Fund. She designed the granite tee signs on each golf hole and the limestone entrance signs on Park Boulevard. Her most recent scorecard design was the graphic basis for the villagelinksgolf.com website. Letterhead, coupons and advertisements… anything that said “Village Links” was Pat’s handiwork.

Pat produced thousands of original drawings by hand, especially of the Village Links logo “tree”, golf course maps, and individual holes. Lately, she has been doing her "drawing" on the computer, leaving the Village Links with an extensive inventory of electronic artwork of golf holes, newsletter mastheads and other customized pieces that will be used at the Links for years to come.