Carl Woerner, star creator of Island Lake water towers, tornado survivor, dies at 89

Carl Woerner, pictured in 2015, was a prominent longtime island resident who survived the 1965 tornado that devastated the area. He was among the group of people who helped install a star on top of a local water tower as a morale booster after the storm. He died on June 7.
Shaw Media

For nearly 60 years and thanks to a group of village business owners, Island Lake has lit the star atop its water tower every November.

This week, the star lights up again in honor of the man who created it, Carl Woerner, who died on Friday, June 7. He was 89 years old.

While the star lighting ceremony kicks off the winter holiday season at Island Lake, it’s not the original reason for this piece. It was originally put in place “to boost morale” after the April 11, 1965, Palm Sunday tornado that devastated the town, Village Clerk Georgine Cooper said.

Woerner was then 31, a member of the Iceland Lake Business Men’s Association, a volunteer firefighter and running for village trustee when the tornado ripped through the village. As described by the National Weather Service, the twist occurred during a half-day storm “that stretched from Cedar County, Iowa, 450 miles east to Cuyahoga County, Ohio, and from Kent County, Michigan, two hundred miles south to Montgomery County, Indiana.”

In all, six states and nearly 50 counties — including McHenry — saw tornadoes hit in a 12-hour period. In Island Lake, a five-year-old boy was killed in the swath of destruction that leveled homes and carved a hole in the bottom of the lake. The storm also swept through Crystal Lake, killing five people and destroying homes and businesses.

Woerner “was one of the gentlemen who came up with the idea to put a star on top of the water tower and light it up,” said his daughter, Karla Ayala. He also fabricated the star and helped mount it on the tower.

The star atop the Island Lake water tower was placed there to boost morale after a tornado devastated the town in 1965. The man who helped place the star atop the tower, Carl Woerner, died on June 7.
Claire O’Brien/Shaw Media

According to news reports of the time, the five-pointed, 12-by-12-foot, 150-pound star was made of galvanized steel with a silver-painted iron back. The Frank Schiro Electric Shop wired the star for power, and ironworker Earl Porten oversaw its placement atop the tower.

Removed and restored in 2018, the star has a plaque at the base of the water tower at 120 E. State Road (Route 176) honoring Woerner, Schiro, Porten, Bill McMahon and Ray Baird for bringing the “Christmas Star” in the village.

Before the star was reinstalled, Woerner signed it as a permanent marker, daughter Lisa McCord said.

“I remember every moment of the tornado,” added McCord, who was 5 years old when the storm hit.

That day, Woerner told the Northwest Herald in 2015, he and others had gone door-to-door, canvassing for voters in the spring municipal election, when it started to rain. The group stopped campaigning and went to Bruno’s Pub for a beer before the power went out. Through the bar’s window, Woerner said he saw a roof pass by.

After the tornado passed, he checked on his family before heading to the village hall, where a Wauconda fire department was stationed. He had to remove fallen concrete blocks to get the fire truck out and recalled helping clean up tornado damage, Woerner told the newspaper.

“What I’ve always been told is that after the tornado in 1965 … my father decided he wanted to make the star as a symbol of hope, that we would get through this,” Ayala said.

She has been in Island Lake for a year from her home in Texas, helping to care for her father and clean the family home after his health began to fail. As she sorted through photos and picture frames, she found evidence of his involvement in the community.

“Behind every picture was an award” for his work, Ayala said.

Her father never really talked about what he did for the community, or sought attention for it, she said.

“He always taught us kids … to leave a place better than you found it,” she said.

Although the last of the business owners’ club is gone, Island Lake will continue to shine a star and remember why it was established, said Connie Mascillino, president of the Island Lake Historical Society.

“With the star being so visible and the ceremony every year … it introduces younger generations to what the star and the island lake is all about,” Mascillino said.

After Woerner’s death, Mascillino was among those who reached out to Island Lake Public Works, asking that the star remain lit until after the funeral.

Services are set for 11 a.m. Saturday at Kisselburg-Wauconda Funeral Home, 235 N. Main St., Wauconda, with visitation from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday.