U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014
Eduardas Jokubauskas
Eduardas Jokubauskas, 83, of Oak Lawn, died Sept. 13, 2004 at home. Visitation was held at Palos-Gaidas Funeral Home in Palos Hills on Sept. 17. A funeral Mass is to be offered today at Nativity BVM Church in Chicago. Interment is to be held at St. Casimir cemetery in Chicago today.
Mr. Jokubauskas is survived by his wife, Aldona; his sons, Richard, Leon and Robbie; and seven grandchildren.
Mr. Jokubauskas was born in Lithuania. He was a mechanical engineer. He was a member of the Lithuanian Opera Company.
Anna Vivirito
Anna Vivirito, 97, of Worth, died Sept. 15, 2004 at ManorCare-West in Palos Heights. Visitation was held at Palos-Gaidas Funeral Home in Palos Hills on Sept. 17. A funeral Mass is to be offered at Sacred Heart Church in Palos Hills today. Entombment is to be held at Resurrection cemetery in Justice today.
Mrs. Vivirito is survived by her sons, Cosimo and Patrick; her daughters, Marietta Soto and Arlene Compton; 16 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.
Mrs. Vivirito was born in Blaine, West Virginia. She was a homemaker.
Alice Boerema
Alice Boerema, 79, formerly of Oak Lawn, died Sept. 10, 2004 at Rest Haven Central in Worth Township. Visitation was held at Colonial Chapel in Orland Park on Sept. 12. A funeral service was held at the funeral home on Sept. 12. Interment was held at Mt. Hope cemetery in Chicago on Sept. 13.
Ms. Boerema is survived by several nieces and nephews.
Ms. Boerema was born in Oak Lawn.
Blair N. Ruich
Blair N. Ruich, 17, of Chicago Ridge, died suddenly at home. Visitation was held Sept. 29, 2011 at Kosary Funeral Home in Evergreen Park. A funeral service was held Sept. 30 from the funeral home chapel to St. Cajetan Church in Chicago where a mass was offered. Interment was private.
Ms. Ruich is survived by her father, Anthony; her mother, Mary; her grandmother, Nina; her sisters, Taylor and Nikki; and her brother, Tony.
Ms. Ruich was a student at the Delta Learning Center in Robbins.
Daniel F. Wagner
Daniel F. Wagner, 59, of Oak Lawn, died Sept. 30, 2011 in Oak Lawn. Visitation will be today from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Colonial Chapel in Orland Park. A funeral service will be held tomorrow at 10 a.m. at the funeral home.
Mr. Wagner is survived by his wife, Roxanne; his sister, Zelda; his brothers, Bruce and Wayne; his daughters, Amy and Amanda and five grandchildren.
Mr. Wagner was a U.S. Army veteran and served during the Vietnam War.
Mr. Wagner was born in Chicago. He was employed as a manager at United Parcel Service.
David M. Zuidema
David M. Zuidema, 86, formerly of Worth, died Sept. 19, 2011 in Homer Glen. Visitation was Sept. 22 at Vandenberg Funeral Home in Tinley Park. A funeral service was held Sept. 23. Interment was at Chapel Hill Gardens South in Oak Lawn.
Mr. Zuidema is survived by his wife, Pearl; his sisters, Dorothy and Sharon; his brothers, John and Chuck; his sons, Rod and Hank; his daughter, Heidi and four grandchildren.
Mr. Zuidema was born in Worth. He was the owner of Worth Dairy, a charter member of the Worth Lions Club and was a member of Worth’s volunteer fire department. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the St. John’s UCC.
Emmett M. Cratty
Emmett M. Cratty, 83, of Oak Lawn died in Oak Lawn. Visitation was Wednesday. A funeral service was held Thursday at Zimmerman & Sandeman Funeral Home in Oak Lawn. Interment was at Chapel Hill Gardens South in Oak Lawn.
Mr. Cratty is survived by his wife, Arlene, née Kahle, and his sister, Agnes.
Mr. Cratty was a self-employed beautician and owner of Emmett’s Beauty Shop on 95th Street in Oak Lawn. He served in the U.S. Army and was a veteran of the Korean War.
(Dated October 06, 2011)
Kathy Wargo
Devoted wife, mother and friend; Packer fan and Regional employee - remembered
Kathy Wargo, by all accounts of those who knew her best, led a good and simple life.
Mrs. Wargo, a Regional Publishing employee for the past six years, died the morning of Sept. 28, 2011 from lung cancer at her home in Frankfort. She was 60.
Family and friends summed up Kathy’s life with a smile and a few words: fishing and the Green Bay Packers; her husband, Rich; her children, Jaclyn and Jason; her 7-week-old grandson, Jameson; and her friends. Mrs. Wargo also enjoyed taking her chances at the slot machines at area casinos.
“Her life was me and her because the kids were gone, and Regional Publishing,” Rich Wargo said. “She loved the girls [her co-workers]. She loved Rita, she loved Sharon and Debbie. She loved being with them. It’s that simple. She’d tell me stories about how things were with the three of them and they’d laugh. To be honest, I think that had something to do with keeping her going as long as she did, because she liked being with the people.”
It wasn’t easy for Rich to juggle his work schedule and be there to pick up Kathy when her day was through, but he did it because he knew working was therapeutic for her, he said.
“I didn’t take it away from her because I wanted her to have as good a life as possible with the time she had left,” he said. “Calling it quits and not being able to go see the girls bothered her more than anything.”
Rich and Kathy met after he returned to work following a stint in the military, and his future wife was working there as a secretary at the time, he recalled. The couple married
in 1970.
“At first we didn’t care for each other, but as time went on the relationship grew and grew and grew,” he said. “She just decided, well, maybe she should give me a swing, and we went out and it just escalated from there.
“We were soul mates. Wherever you’d see me, you’d see her. We were a perfect match. Wherever she wanted to go was okay with me and she liked going wherever I liked to go.”
Mrs. Wargo was an unapologetic Green Bay Packer fan who never shied away from flaunting her favorite team’s colors or razzing the Chicago Bear fans with whom she worked.
“She was a huge Green Bay Packer fan,” Rich said. “And why? Because I was a Green Bay Packer fan. We were just so much together; there wasn’t too much that separated us.
Kathy enjoyed the simple life, according to Rich.
“She loved spending time on the water fishing and when we came in, spending time around the fire pit,” he said.
Kathy’s daughter, Jaclyn, recalled being on the phone with her mom one particularly warm and sunny fall afternoon recently, when Kathy said to her, ‘What a beautiful day, I couldn’t have asked for anything more,” Jackie recalled.
“It was simple things like that that made her the person she was and defined her,” said her son, Jason.
Jason and Jackie, both school teachers, said Kathy was a loving, devoted and involved mother.
“She focused on the family aspect of things,” Jason said. “Now that I have a family of my own, I’m trying to be the dad that raises my son the same way. I learned that from her.”
During her last days, the family, including what Jason called her two “granddogs,” spent as much time with Kathy as they could.
“The little guy was the one thing that made her smile, especially toward the end,” Jason, with a lump in his throat, said of his mother’s love for her only grandson.
Jackie, who says she inherited her mother’s looks, goofy sense of humor, love for children and animals, and sense of responsibility, said she will miss her mom’s involvement in her life.
“She taught me to read at a very early age because she knew I wanted to be able to read like my brother,” Jackie said. “I will miss most her not being around to ask about my students and for me to tell her stories of my day in the classroom.
Simple stuff, like the daily life that I won’t be able to talk to her about, that’s gonna be the hardest part.”
Jason, like his mom, is a Packer fan, but which way his newborn son will swing in his NFL allegiance is yet to be seen.
“My son married
a gal who’s a big Bears fan, but you know what, eventually she’ll swing around to the Packers and I guarantee you our little grandson will be a Packer fan,” Rich said.
Kathy loved the White Sox and Blackhawks, but of the things she loved most none were more important to her than family and friends.
The oldest of five children, she was described as a selfless woman who always put others’ needs and interests before her own.
Even as she suffered with the illness that eventually wore her down and took her life, she never complained and continued to enjoy all she could, those closest to her said.
“She was sick and she made us feel, good,” said co-worker and friend Sharon Ulanowski said. “She was a wonderful co-worker. Irreplaceable.”
With no previous newspaper experience, Wargo was hired as a typesetter for The Reporter newspaper in 2005.
“She was smart as a whip,” said composing room manager Rita Crosley.
“She caught on very fast,” Ulanowski added.
Kathy, Rita, Sharon and Regional Publishing Office Manager Debbie Perrewe developed friendships and a bond that through the years helped all of them through trying times on the job.
“We all were very close. We have our moments, but — this is family,” Perrewe said. “That’s why this is so hard.”
Visitation was held Sunday at Vandenberg Funeral Home in Tinley Park where a large Packer logo was among the many flower arrangements that adorned the chapel.
“I had to do it,” Rich told Crosley.
A funeral service was held Monday at the funeral home.
A funeral Mass was offered at St. Anthony’s Church in Frankfort.
Interment was at Holy Cross cemetery in Calumet City.
In lieu of flowers, the family has asked donations be made to the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center at Loyola University Hospital.
