February 20, 2026 Local Stories in and Around St. Joseph, Illinois

10 things you don’t know about me… Max Painter

The newest St. Joseph Village Trustee tells us 10 interesting facts about himself.

My favorite childhood memory is getting up early and getting on my bike and riding around town all day with my friends. I’m not that old but such a different world back then. We were gone all day and our parents barely knew where we were. They probably never worried about something bad happening to us. Things were way simpler back then.

My first pet was named Socks.

We just took a family vacation to California for the first time this summer and I must say we loved all of it. We started in San Francisco and worked our way down the coast to San Diego. The Pacific Coast Highway was beautiful. I could do without the traffic in LA but the rest of it was wonderful and the weather was fantastic.

I used to play a lot of golf now I barely play 10 times a year. I love to play basketball and the Just B Fit gang keeps my blood pressure high with doing workouts, Tri’s, and races. Unfortunately, work keeps me busy as well so I don’t get to do these things as much as I’d like.

My secret talent is to talk nonstop about nothing. If you get me with another talker, we’re in big trouble.

I’m terrible at making time for reading. My oldest son reads nonstop, mostly historical authors such as Hemingway, and I admire that he makes that a priority. I read Stephen King’s “IT” in the army and now with the movie out, I remember it well. I always loved that book! I will say “The Shack” was a fantastic book that I read as an adult that has always stuck with me as well. 

My favorite thing about owning my own business is I love helping people really. I take a lot of pride in my work and love making people happy. 

I have always been good with electricity. When I was 14, I wired up everything in my room to work on switches. When I went to EIU for a degree in Economics, I always knew I wanted to be an electrician when I finished school so I graduated from EIU on a Saturday and started my electrical apprenticeship the following Monday!

I love my country, I joined the army to defend it if need be. I missed out on going to Desert Storm by six months but I would have gone if they had needed me. 

I have too many favorite TV shows to pick one if I had to pick I would say The Walking Dead, A Million Little Things, and Stranger Things.  

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