Glenn Rounds was born July 8, 1891. He lived his entire life on the family farm at 9225 Courtland Drive in Rockford. His grandfather built the farm house, and Wolverine Worldwide corporate offices occupy this site today.
Rounds attended Rounds School, the little red restored school house located in front of the North Rockford Middle School on Division. His sister Stella taught in this building. Rounds continued his education in the Rockford school system.
On June 26, 1918, he married Kate Elsie Salman. To this union was born a son, Glenn William, who was killed in an automobile accident in 1957.
Rounds was an active member of the Rockford Rotary Club.
Upon his passing in 1962, Rounds left his estate of $75,000 to the Rockford schools to fund a scholarship program for qualified students with financial need. Since the inception of this scholarship program, approximately $843,000 has been awarded to Rockford graduates. As a result of Rounds’ vision and generosity, since 1965, an average of 28 Rockford graduates per year have received Glenn Rounds scholarships. In fact, on the front page of the April 8, 2010, issue of The Rockford Squire, there is an article about Burt DeWilde, Rockford’s 2003 salutatorian, who is working in Switzerland on the Atlas detector, a machine that atomizes protons. DeWilde was a recipient of the Glenn Rounds scholarship, attending Kalamazoo College.
Glenn Rounds has made a difference in the lives of young people from Rockford for 45 years, and he is very deserving to be commemorated by the Rockford community.
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