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South Cook News

Tuesday, October 14, 2025

Former state school employee Hamilton Gunkel paid in $130K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $2.64M in retirement

Money 03

Former state school employee Josephine Hamilton Gunkel, who retired in June 2016, saved $129,878 toward a pension over 26 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Hamilton Gunkel would collect as much as $2.64 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes South Cook News.

The projection assumes Hamilton Gunkel received $55,413 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Hamilton Gunkel will have already received $171,275 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.

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