Mary Ann Gearhart-Deutsche (R-Steger), who once chose love over the County Board’s most powerful position, will resign from the board effective Aug. 15, she said Thursday.
Gearhart-Deutsche, 55, is perhaps best known as an enthusiastic and articulate champion for residents in the area targeted for the proposed Peotone airport.
She said after 21 years she is through with politics, but will volunteer time. “And I will always share my views on the airport,” she said.
She said she’ll devote more energy to her blended family and the expanding Monee farming business of her second husband, former County Board member W. Lee Deutsche. The couple is moving to a farmhouse east of Monee as part of a leasing agreement with Straus Management L.L.C. for acreage adjacent to Deutsche Farms.
Unlike most of the Deutsche Farms property, the Straus property is outside the airport footprint.
The board will appoint a replacement to fill the remaining two years of Gearhart-Deutsch’s term. Her district includes Beecher, Crete, Monee, University Park and parts of Frankfort, Park Forest and Steger.
Because Will County Board members serve a dual role as county forest district commissioners, Gearhart-Deutsche’s resignation automatically removes her from that board where she serves as secretary. She will also give up her post as Crete Township supervisor, which she has held for 13 years.
