Arellano’s next calling: Dixon resident runs for 90th House District

DIXON – It was two combat tours in Iraq that had the biggest impact in shaping Liandro Arellano Jr.

”It taught me a lot about myself, my shortcomings and weakness,” he said. “I went over there as a very young man and I came back aged considerably in terms of my knowledge of myself.”

Arellano, who grew up a pastor’s kid in Grand Detour, felt a sense of duty following the attacks of Sept. 11. So he joined the U.S. Army Reserves.

It is that same sense of duty, he said, that is now driving him to run for the 90th House District.

With incumbent state Rep. Jerry Mitchell, R-Sterling, not running for reelection, four Republicans are vying for the chance to take over the redrawn district, which includes Lee and Ogle counties. They include Arellano, Tom Demmer of Dixon, Rochelle Mayor Chet Olson and Dan Sidmore of DeKalb.

There is no Democrat running in the March 20 primaries.

Arellano now lives in Dixon, where has owned and operated a Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches franchise since 2007.

It’s not where he expected to be when he left Grand Detour for the University of Michigan. He had just graduated from Faith Christian School and had decided to focus on pre-med studies.

“I kind of got infected by my dad’s sense of service toward people, but I didn’t feel called to the ministry like he did and like my brother Phil did,” Arellano said. “So I was originally looking at medicine as the way I would kind of give back.”

Arellano’s father, Liandro Arellano Senior, is pastor at Faith Assembly of Grand Detour. His grandfather, Pedro Arellano, also was a pastor. He had moved to Wisconsin from Mexico as a migrant worker, teaching himself English by comparing the English-language Bible with the Spanish Bible and preaching to other workers. The Arellano family moved to Grand Detour in 1988, so Liandro Arellano could head up the church there.

“I loved being around the woods,” Liandro Arellano Jr. said. “I loved being out in the country. I loved being right on the river. One of my favorite hiding spots was right under the old Grand Detour bridge, which no longer exists. I’d go under there and listen to the cars, and you could do some fishing down there.”

He and his friends would frequently come into Dixon, “the big city,” to hang out, to play basketball or to work.

Arellano started doing odd jobs like mowing lawns and raking leaves when he was 12. In junior high, he got a newspaper route, and then at 15, he got his first “paycheck job” at the White House. He worked a lot of jobs over the years, many of them overlapping, including Crest Foods, Kreider Services and multiple restaurants, while staying involved at school, playing on and captaining the soccer and basketball teams. He continued working through most of college, paying his own way.

“I had to pay my own because I don’t come from a wealthy family and I’ve got five younger brothers,” Arellano said. “I was determined not to be a burden on my family.”

There is a big age difference between Arellano and his youngest brother. Arellano is now 31. His youngest brother, Gregory, is 18.

Arellano didn’t finish up his degree, though. The attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon happened during his sophomore year, and he enlisted. He started an 8-month combat tour in Iraq in June 2005, and another for a year in April 2009.

He does plan on getting his degree – he ended up pursuing an English major. He’s only one semester shy, and the credits don’t expire.

Shortly before being deployed he married Jane, a girl he’d dated briefly in high school. They’d gotten close as they both went to college in Michigan. They have a 1-year-old daughter, Ayla.

“It was fun watching her develop a personality,” he said. “I think that so far, that’s been the most exciting part of watching her grow. She kind of has me and her mother’s strong will, so all the strong will nonsense I gave to people when I was younger I’ll probably get paid back over the next few years.”