For decades, if people in Waukegan wanted to reconnect with a friend or find someone they knew for a conversation, they went to Booner’s Place at the corner of Washington and Butrick streets.
Started by one-time Waukegan High School sports legend Dan “Booner” Dieck, who returned to his hometown a year after graduating from college and teaching in Iowa, he not only developed a thriving business but found ways to help a multitude of people in the city.
“You could go there any time, any day and you would always see someone you knew there,” former Lake County Recorder Mary Ellen Vanderventer said. “The night before Thanksgiving was a tradition. Everyone showed up. You just had to go there.”
Rebranded as Booner’s in 1981, Dieck operated the bar and grill until selling it in 2012, when he retired. It remains in operation. Former Waukegan Ald. Greggory Moisio, 3rd Ward, said he and Dieck’s nephew — Mike Dieck — were friends. They and their peers worked there spanning generations.
“We brought in our friends,” Moisio said. “There were people in their 20s and 30s, and there were people in their 60s and 70s. It was a very unique place. It was the Cheers of Waukegan,” he added referring to the bar depicted on the long-running television show.
Dieck died Oct. 12 from a heart attack while he made a stop driving back to Waukegan from his vacation home in Fish Creek, Wisconsin. He was 82.
Born June 29, 1942, in Waukegan to George and Marge (Casey) Dieck, he attended Immaculate Conception Grade School and graduated in 1960 from Waukegan High School, where he played football, baseball and wrestled.
Attending Cameron Junior College on a football scholarship, Dieck then finished his two years there and matriculated to Drake University in Des Moines on a football scholarship and earned a degree in education in 1967.
Teaching and coaching at a high school in Des Moines for a year after graduation, Dieck returned to Waukegan the following year where Jim Dieck, one of his three brothers, said he was in the real estate business and had other jobs until he bought the Starlight Lounge in the 1970s.
When he returned to Waukegan, Dieck was a volunteer football coach at the youth and high school levels. He married Barbara Wescott, another Waukegan native, on Oct. 10, 1970. They were returning to Waukegan from their Wisconsin home celebrating their anniversary when he died.
Mick Dieck, another brother, said Dieck rebranded the Starlight in 1981, turned it into a “speakeasy” and named it Booner’s. It quickly became a meeting place for a wide variety of people in Waukegan. A horseshoe-shaped end of the bar became a meeting place for many.
“Everyone had their spot,” Mike Dieck said. “It was full of regulars.”
“It was a landmark,” added Emilie Dieck-Correa, Dieck’s niece. “You would walk in there, and it had the feel of home.”
Contributing to the community, Mike Dieck, a nephew, said his uncle sponsored 12-inch co-ed softball teams, 16-inch men’s softball teams, women’s volleyball teams and men’s basketball teams. The money from the teams helped the community.
Moisio said Dieck started a men’s basketball league at the behest of the Waukegan High School basketball coach. The cost to enter the league was $100 per player, and the money went to support sports teams at the high school.
Dieck-Correa said her uncle was an outstanding storyteller, and he “always had a twinkle in his eye” when he was telling them. She also has fond memories of his favorite saying.
“‘Waukegan, good people, my people, all right,’” she said, adding he had a strong emphasis on “all right.”
Along with his wife Barbara, brothers Jim (Gretta) and Mick (KC), niece Emilie (Luis) and nephew Mike (Sue), Dieck is survived by sister Sue DeThorne (Mike). He is also survived by nieces and nephews Tracy (Tom), Cathy (Bill), Karyn, Lisa (Todd), Garrett (Elizabeth), Sarah (James), Kris (Dan), Casey (Hank), Adam (Katie), Scott (Peggy) and Kevin (Jennifer).
Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, 824 North Lewis Ave., in Waukegan. Burial will be private. Visitation was scheduled for 4 to 7 p.m. Friday at Peterson & Patch Funeral Home in Waukegan.
