Hoes, SKG honored by Spencer Chamber
It’s not often that there’s a special connection between the honored citizen and business of the year in the same year, but this year’s recipients of these awards from the Spencer Chamber of Commerce have a very intertwined history. Bill Hoes and the Spencer Kids Group (SKG) were honored by the chamber for their work in making the community of Spencer a better place.
Awards for the Citizen and Business of the Year had been given to Hoes and the SKG during the Spencer Chamber of Commerce Concert in the Park held last summer on Aug. 3, but the Chamber further recognized the Citizen and Business of the Year at its annual banquet held on March 5 in the SKG building at 117 E. Clark St.
In receiving the honor of Citizen of the Year, Hoes said it was a blessing to have been able to work in the community of Spencer for so many years as its police chief.
“Thank you to everyone, I have been blessed,” he said. “I appreciate everyone that is in this community and I have been blessed to have so many good aquaintances and friends; from the kids here in Spencer on up.”
Born in Green Bay and graduating from Winneconne High School, Hoes came to Spencer in the spring of 1977 and was hired on as the police chief to replace Jim Mondloch, who had resigned the previous fall. It was a position Hoes would hold for the next 30 years, retiring in 2008. After his retirement, Hoes has continued to serve the Spencer community as a member of the village board and as a supporter of the SKG and Chamber.
“I had filled out an application for the position back in ‘76 and sent it in,” said Hoes on his arrival in Spencer. “The board at that time came in, interviewed me and I got the job that I had for 32 years.”
While he went about his job, Hoes said it was very important for him to take the time to speak to the children of the community. Whether it was through the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program he helped run for 19 years or just stopping by the classrooms for a chat, he said the lessons learned by the students at school never just stayed there. Instead, the children brought those lessons home with them, talked to their parents about them; and as a result, Hoes was able to reach far more people in a positive way than he ever could have by himself.
“When I first came to Spencer, the first place I went to was the school,” he said. “I met with the kids first. The kids would then go home and talk to their mom and dad and tell them about what I had told them. If you took care of the kids, it would spread back to the folks at home. It worked really well. You took care of your people, that was your job and that was how I policed.”
Over the years of his service, Hoes said he found something special in the community. He saw it in the kids when he would come by the school to teach and interact with them, and he saw it in the adults as they would go about their business in the village.
“The quality of the people is number one,” he said. “They are good, quality people. Strong families, raising good kids and getting them well educated. I have seen so many kids come though the system and saw how successful they can be from Spencer.”
It was during his tenure as police chief that the SKG was first formed. Hoes had a hand in that creation, as he, along with several community members, saw a need for a safe place for children in the village to gather after school.
“Between me and Pauline (Frome) that is where the idea (of the SKG) came from,” said Hoes. “I had gotten a phone call from her and she said that we had to do something for the kids in the community.”
That phone call quickly brought about a movement in the village that would soon be known as the Spencer Kids Group. For a short time, the SKG operated with no permenant residence, but a planned move by the village board to build a new village hall changed all that.
“It’s kind of ironic,” said Hoes. “We’re being honored in a building that not just me, but many people, helped save. Back
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then, they (the village board) had wanted to build a new hall and the old village hall (where the SKG now resides) would just go away. But we said, ‘No, let’s save it and use it for our youth. Make it a place for kids. A safe place for them to go.’” Looking around at the building now, Hoes said, so much has changed. Numerous handprints mark the walls, revealing just how many kids have passed through the SKG doors. Hoes remembers them all, and recalls the memories of seeing each child grow up rather fondly.
“There are handprints on the walls here of kids that I saw and dealt with at the school,” he said. “I know every one of them. This place (the SKG) has done very well with the kids. I’m glad we still have it.”
The Spencer Kids Group has continued over its 25 years of existence to serve and educate the children in the Spencer area. During the banquet, SKG director Erica Schober was also honored by the Spencer Chamber for her work over the past several years in her position as director.
