Old vs. New - Crystal Lake: Jobs, appeal brought Kuranda, Blazier to town
By KEVIN P. CRAVER - kcraver@nwherald.com
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| Bob Blazier has been a Crystal Lake resident since 1962, when he moved here to accept a school principal position. (Travis Haughton – thaughton@nwherald.com) |
CRYSTAL LAKE – Richard Kuranda interviewed at town theaters nationwide, but it was the city of Crystal Lake that won his heart.
Kuranda, 40, moved to the area to become executive director of the Raue Center for the Arts. Among the members of the Raue’s search committee was a familiar face to city residents – Bob Blazier moved here before Kuranda was born.
Both men ended up here to take a job – Kuranda in 2006 to take the Raue’s reigns, and Blazier in 1962 to become principal of what is now Lundahl Middle School.
And both immediately fell in love with the city.
“We never looked back and never regretted it,” said Blazier, 82. “It’s been great for both of us.”
Crystal Lake is nothing like Manhattan, where Kuranda spent 17 years in theater. He spent three years in Waterford, Conn., at the famous Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, where a glowing 2005 profile in The New York Times called him a directing talent to watch. But they wanted something more, namely a place to raise children in environments similar to their small-town upbringings.
When they came here to interview, the main selling point for them was not the downtown or the settings, but the people, Kuranda said. He said the mix of people of all ages he met, and their dedication to the community, impressed them the most. Kuranda said Crystal Lake is the embodiment of the straightforwardness and honesty that Midwesterners have a reputation for.
“The people we met had tremendous pride in themselves and in the community,” Kuranda said. “That really spoke to them.”
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| Richard Kuranda, executive director of Raue Center for the Arts in Crystal Lake, moved to the city in 2006. (Valerie Tobias – vtobias@nwherald.com) |
Blazier said he knows the feeling. He and his wife, Rosemary, lived in Jacksonville, Ill., and loved it, but came to Crystal Lake to interview for the principal vacancy as a favor to a friend.
“While we came up, Rosemary kept saying, ‘I don’t want to move,’ ” Blazier said. “I said, ‘I know, but I owe him a lot, so let’s just interview.’ ”
Blazier landed a job as principal, and Rosemary as a teacher. They adopted a son and settled down in their new home. He eventually became District 47’s superintendent and retired in 1985, but then became vice president of marketing for Northern Illinois Medical Center, now Centegra Hospital – McHenry.
Blazier became president of the Crystal Lake Chamber of Commerce in 1990, retiring in 2007, and now handles business relations part-time for Home State Bank.
The Kurandas are raising three daughters, from 4 years to five months old. Kuranda sees himself at the edge of an explosion of theater and arts in McHenry County, from the longtime offerings of the Woodstock Opera House to new theater groups in Huntley and Richmond. He calls it “a hotbed that’s just about to break open.”
“There’s a huge opportunity to be one of many driving forces,” Kuranda said. “I’m just a cog. The real stars are the artists.”
Blazier said he has received very lucrative job offers that would require him to move, but the quality of life they offered did not match what he has in Crystal Lake. His son, John, stayed in the city, got married and is raising two daughters.
Blazier looks at his years of service as paying his community back for years of enjoying the city’s residents, schools and open space.
“The town has been very good to us,” Blazier said.
