John S. Falco was born February 14, 1919, in Chicago, the son of Michael and Frances Stivalla Falco. He attended St. Francis DePaul Elementary School and graduated from Emil G. Hirsch High School.

He served in the Air Force where he was a radio mechanics school instructor at Truax Field, Madison during World War II.

On June 16, 1940, he married Ethel L. Dobson in Madison. They had four daughters and two sons.

Mr. Falco served three terms on the Rock County Board of Supervisors, during which time he was on the Equalization, County Reorganization, Legislative, Salary and Personnel, Health, Executive, County Zoning and Planning, and Special County Apportionment Committees. He chaired the Health and Resources Committee. He also was Chairman of the Rock County Manpower Planning Council. On the County Board, he represented District 38, formerly the 8th Ward.

Mr. Falco served more than three terms on the Beloit City Council, including three years as President from 1962–1964. He was first appointed to fill an unexpired term and was subsequently elected three times to a council seat in 1958, 1962, and 1964. He was defeated in 1960.

In other community leadership roles, Falco was twice President of the Greater Beloit Association of Commerce, twice President of the Better Business Bureau, and also President of the Beloit Optimist Club and Beloit Serra Club, of which he was a charter member. He received the GBAC Man of the Year Award in 1955 and the Beloit Junior Chamber’s Key Award.

In 1964, Mr. Falco was elected Vice President of Caravilla Retirement and Nursing Home and was appointed its Administrator. When the home changed ownership, he resigned February 19, 1985. In January of 1987, he returned as Administrator after a period of semi-retirement, during which he was agent for the Resident Council Inc., helping residents raise money and sponsor activities.

In his early years in Beloit, Mr. Falco was District Manager of Standard Theaters, managing nearly a dozen area theaters, including the State, Rex, and Majestic in Beloit. He also was District Procurement Manager for Encyclopedia Britannica. He was named three times by Box Office Magazine for his outstanding theater promotions, one of ten chosen nationwide. He won Standard Theaters Smart Showmanship Award three successive years.

Active in Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Church and the Holy Name Society, he headed the church’s $125,000 development drive in 1957. He was elected to the church council in 1958. A past President, he continued as a member. He served on the church’s Vocations Committee.

Active in state and national nursing home organizations, he was appointed by then-Governor Warren Knowles to help write tests for nursing home administrators for the State Nursing Home Examining Board. Mr. Falco also was a fellow in the American College of Nursing Home Administrators.

In 1972, he was given the Better Life Award by the Wisconsin Association of Nursing Homes.

Mr. Chairman, it is my honor to present the name of John S. Falco for enshrinement in the Beloit Hall of Fame for his many years of civic, fraternal, and business leadership.