Mold Remediation in Peoria, IL

As a child, Kristen Karmik always felt like she was part of something bigger within her family.

She remembers her parents renting hotel rooms for staycations, where she and her siblings would swim and eat cinnamon rolls and order room service. She remembers Christmas Eve, the highlight of the family’s year, when they would meet at her grandfather’s house for dinner and presents. There were 40 people and a small house, but they crowded into the same room anyway, wanting to be close to each other.

It was those traditions her father Steven Crusen worked to pass down, a kind of love she said he dedicated his entire life to transmitting.

Crusen, owner of Crusens restaurant and bar and longtime Peoria resident, died Nov. 18. He was 70. His children shared how he touched the lives of those around him, provided them a magical childhood and committed his life to his loved ones.

“He just worked his entire life for our happiness,” Kristen said.

'A dreamer, but also a doer'

Crusen was born May 4, 1954, to Donald E. and Joanie Crusen. One of nine children, he grew up on Barker Street in the West Bluff and attended St. Mark’s Catholic Grade School and Spalding Institute.

Kristen said her father possessed an entrepreneurial, hard-working nature from the start. As a football player at Monmouth College, he would stay behind after games to mop floors to pay for his tuition. He went on to start multiple businesses, including a cola company and solar car company.

While not all of his early pursuits saw longevity, Crusen was passionate about them all the same, Kristen said. In 1986, he opened Crusens, which has locations on War Memorial Drive and Farmington Road. He also worked as a carpenter at Central Illinois Flooring.

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Since her father’s death, Kristen said, every former employee at her father’s restaurant has reached out to give their condolences and share how he touched their lives. For many of those employees, she said, the job was a stepping stone — but Crusen poured into them while they were there, she said, setting high expectations and making them feel cared about and important.

“I don’t have to have the nicest building,” Kristen remembers him saying, “but I have to have the best food and the nicest staff.”

One winter, while remodeling Crusen’s, a friend of Crusen’s who owned construction equipment came along to help. Using excavating equipment, the pair saw another opportunity: building a giant snowman. It was this playful and bold spirit that made her father so special, Kristen said.

“It was just all opportunities created by his vision,” she said. “He was a dreamer, but also a doer. He would just go for it.”

'How proud he was of us'

It’s not unlike the way Crusen and his wife, Terri, met. During his high school years, Crusen saw Terri at a Spalding-Pekin football game. Steven then told a friend: “I’m going to marry her."

The pair were just 14, but Crusen was right — it was the beginning of a love story that lasted his lifetime. Crusen always attributed his hard work to his wife, who he said made him strong. They celebrated 51 years of marriage in September.

“The thing he was so proud of was her,” Kristen said. “He was kind of an extrovert and she was just more of a private person, and they had each other, and it was just this perfect balance.”

Crusen remained close with his high school friend group, his son Steven Crusen said, talking with them regularly. He answered every phone call no matter what he was doing, from walking into a business to receiving dialysis treatment. He was honest and loyal, fostering a tight-knit community of 60-year friendships.

Kristen said her father was rooted in family, and often talked about how the life he’d built with them was the life he’d always wanted. He played the lottery weekly for 40 years, using numbers inspired by familial connections such as wedding anniversaries or the number of grandkids. She still has his last lottery ticket from Nov. 2.

Crusen would leave notes for his wife and children on paper plates, expressing his love and appreciation.

“When you got one, they were just so heartfelt,” Kristen said. “The common thread through them all was how proud he was of us and the family that he created and the life.”

'Exactly who we thought he was'

More than 200 people gathered at St. Mark’s Catholic Church Nov. 22 to celebrate Crusen’s life.

Steven said while he knew his dad was special, he didn’t fully realize how significant his father was to so many people. An eternal optimist, Crusen was the person Steven called when he was stressed or needed guidance, he said.

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“Don’t let it ruin your day, son,” Crusen always replied.

Many people that reached out to Steven after his father’s death told him Crusen was like a second father to them.

While writing a eulogy, Steven came to a realization about his dad he later shared with the crowd: He was exactly who we thought he was.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Illinois men's and women's cross country teams are ready for the NCAA Midwest Regionals on Friday, Nov. 15, at Bradley University in Peoria, Ill. The women's 6k will begin first at 11:00 a.m. CT and the men's 10k will follow at noon. CT.

The women's team is led by senior Halle Hill, who broke the 6k school record and collected Second-Team All-Big Ten honors with her 16th-place finish (19:43.7) at the Big Ten Championships. Hill's top finish this year came during the Fighting Illini Big Ten Preview when she finished second (20:11.5) in the women's 6k.

Two other Illinois women recorded top-10 program marks at this year's Big Ten Championships: sophomore Avril Andre who placed 32nd (fifth, 20:03.5) and senior Sam Poglitsch, who placed 62nd (ninth, 20:28.4).

The men's team is led by junior Alex Partlow, who has been the Illini's top 8k finisher at every meet this season, including a school record breaking performance and 30th-place finish (23:19.6) at the Big Ten Championships. Partlow's highest finishes this season came during the Badger Classic 6k (18:18.5) and the Fighting Illini Big Ten Preview 8k (23:51.1) in which he finished seventh at both meets.

Senior Tyler Cushing also cemented his name in the Illinois record book this season as he ran the program's eighth-fastest 8k in his 57th-place finish (23:45.5) at the Big Ten Championships.

At last year's NCAA Midwest Regionals in Stillwater, Okla. the men's team finished sixth out of 28 teams in the 10k, while the women's team finished 10th out of 32 teams in the 6k.

Fans can tune into the action on ESPN+, follow along with live stats and more information can be found at the NCAA Cross Country Regional Championships page.

Peoria Journal Star

A celebrity chef is slated to bring her culinary expertise to Peoria next spring.

Food Network's Amanda Freitag will host the 14th annual Bon Appétit event March 20, 2025. Put together by local advocacy organization EP!C, the event raises money for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

"The work they do to keep the community strong and all of you in the room are the reason we are here: to raise funds that are critical for EP!C's mission," Frietag said in a video shared on EP!Cs Instagram page Sept. 20. "Your support of this signature event of EP!C changes lives."

Freitag has been in the culinary industry for more than 30 years and has served as head chef at Michelin-star restaurants in New York along with various other cooking roles around the world. Freitag competed in season two of Food Network's "The Next Iron Chef," and has been a frequent judge on the reality game show "Chopped" since 2009.

Past Bon Appétit chefs have included Omaha Steaks Executive Chef David Rose in 2024, Top Chef fan favorite Fabio Viviani in 2023 and Chopped's Maneet Chauhan in 2022.

EP!C Director of Marketing Ashley Schreck said guests will enjoy a 4-5 course meal during the event with a variety of dishes showcasing Freitag's skills. Freitag will also hold a meet-and-greet where attendees can purchase copies of her book "The Chef Next Door: A Pro Chef's Recipes for Fun, Fearless Home Cooking."

Tickets are currently on sale for sponsors only. Sponsorship levels start at $600 and go up to $15,000. Sponsors giving $3,000 or more will also receive reservations to a VIP event with Freitag before the main event. Tickets for the general public will go on sale in January, Schreck said. Those who are interested can stay updated on EP!C's website, Facebook and Instagram.

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Haley Eberling, a Bradley University graduate, chose to stay in Peoria to pursue a career and raise a family.

Haley EbelingBradley University grad

Once you experience Greater Peoria – its affordability, friendly residents, entertainment options, great job opportunities – it’s easy to see why people choose to plant roots here. In fact, many students who move to the region for college choose to stay in the area to start their careers following graduation.

Haley Ebeling, for example, grew up in Athens, Illinois. She attended Bradley University in Peoria, where she met her husband, Ross, and after stints in other cities, they decided to return to Peoria to raise their two daughters. Today, she has a career in medical sales.

What made you choose Bradley over other universities?

When I was 18, I wanted to be a physical therapist, and at the time, there were only three schools in Illinois that had a doctor of physical therapy (DPT) program. Bradley was one of them. Bradley was the closest school to home that offered a DPT program, and even though I visited a couple of other schools, I chose Bradley. I liked the campus size, and growing up in such a small town, Bradley University felt huge to me. It was the perfect size. If I had gone to someplace like the University of Illinois or the University of Iowa, I would have just drowned. The smaller campus and class sizes were great coming from a more rural community.

How did you end up with a career in medical sales?

I was unsure about graduate studies, and I had changed my mind about what I wanted in life. There was a speaker in one of my classes from a medical device sales company, and that had never really crossed my mind as a career option. After listening to the speaker, it sounded like something right up my alley. It’s still health care, and you’re indirectly helping patients and contributing, but it’s more of a business role.

What made you decide that Peoria was where you wanted to plant roots?

My husband is from Peoria, and we met at Bradley. He graduated a couple of years before me, and then we moved to Chicago for my job. We were there for a year, then I took a role at the company in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where we lived for four years. We loved it there, but we thought it would be great to move home to central Illinois one day. I was interviewing for an opportunity with another company and learned that they had the central Illinois territory job open, too. When they offered me the position, we got to choose where to go. We came back to Peoria. We wanted to be closer to family and friends, and after living away for so many years, we wanted to focus on what the most important thing long term would be, and that was returning to where our family is.

What makes Peoria a great place to relocate?

Central Illinois is a great place to raise a family. It’s affordable. There are so many things that brought us back to the area. Peoria is the perfect midsize city. It’s not like living in the hustle and bustle of a city like Chicago, where you’re fighting for a parking spot. You can drive and park anywhere here. There are no long commutes that eat up your day. Those things make life so much easier. It’s a smaller community, and smaller communities are close-knit. There’s more community involvement and community activities, which definitely appealed to us about this area. My husband owns Central Illinois Countertops, a local countertop fabrication company, and just the ability to be able to be an entrepreneur and start up or procure a business is much more attainable and feasible in our area versus a big city like Chicago, where it would be much harder and more competitive and require more upfront investment dollars.

Get to Know Greater Peoria

Want to learn more about living and working in Peoria? Check out the latest edition of Livability Greater Peoria.

From community colleges to private universities and medical schools, discover the opportunities for academic excellence in the Greater Peoria area.

The Greater Peoria area’s colleges and universities are pivotal to the region’s economic and workforce development efforts and its quality of life. By offering a diverse range of academic and training programs, these institutions help cultivate a well-educated and adaptable workforce.

In This Article

Illinois Central College

Enrollment: 10,059Average class size: 13Undergraduate programs: 101

Top transfer schools: Bradley University, Illinois State University, Southern Illinois University- Edwardsville, Methodist College, University of Illinois at Springfield

As the seventh-largest community college in the state, Illinois Central College serves more than 10,000 students across three campuses in Peoria, East Peoria and Pekin. The college offers more than 100 degree programs and approximately 56 certificate programs in areas like agriculture science, computer science, business, health care, education and engineering. Recently, the college launched a one-year certificate program in artificial intelligence designed to prepare graduates for immediate entry into the growing AI workforce. The college helps keep a pipeline of talent flowing to the region’s high-growth sectors through initiatives such as a dual enrollment partnership with Peoria Public Schools and the Employ Central Illinois apprenticeship program.

Bradley University

Enrollment: 5,900Average class size: 17Undergraduate programs: 100+

Bradley University is a top-ranked, private university in Peoria, offering students a personalized, transformative experience to prepare them for future success. With nearly 5,000 students and more than 100 programs, a student-to- faculty ratio of 11-to-1, and guaranteed experiential learning opportunities for 100% of students, Bradley provides an individualized, hands-on education with nationally recognized faculty. Bradley offers comprehensive undergraduate and graduate academic programs, including business, communication, education, engineering, fine arts, health sciences, liberal arts and sciences and technology.

Eureka College

Enrollment: 527Average class size: 17Undergraduate programs: 33Commuter students: 36.24%

Founded in 1855, Eureka College has its roots in a group of abolitionists who were part of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). These early pioneers established a comprehensive liberal education. It was the first college in Illinois to admit both men and women.

The college continues this tradition of diversity and inclusion with a student population of approximately 527, equally divided between male and female students, including a 43% enrollment of freshmen students who also identify as minorities. More than 40% are first-generation college students. Thanks to the college’s Uniquely Eureka Promise program, all incoming students receive financial assistance.

University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria

Enrollment: 150 medical students and nearly 300 physician residentsResidency and fellowship programs: 25+Students in MD curriculum: 265+Full-time faculty: 243

The University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria (UICOMP) offers a Doctor of Medicine program, more than 25 residency and fellowship programs, and continuing medical education courses and events. Students are met with small class sizes, a rigorous curriculum and faculty mentorship. Plus, UICOMP is known for providing the right combination of teaching and clinical practice in a research-based university setting.

Get to Know Greater Peoria

Want to learn more about living and working in Peoria? Check out the latest edition of Livability Greater Peoria.