Millicent Marr Watkins Conley, Ph.D was born on August 1, 1942, in Chicago, Illinois. The youngest of three children born to Mitchell S. Watkins Sr. and Ora Marr Watkins, and the only girl, “Millie” was doted on by both parents beginning at an early age. Similarly, Millie spoke glowingly of …
Former restaurant manager for McDonald's, QSR/Taco Bell, Popeyes, Original Pancake House. He passed away March 5 at 67 years old. He is survived by his wife Shelia, children Marshall, Vanity, Destry (Kyla). Grandchildren Ava, Andrew and Savannah. Sisters Faye, Yolanda, Rhonda, Janice, Glenda…
Erika Sarah Schmidt passed away suddenly on December 28, 2022, after suffering a brain hemorrhage the previous day. She was 73.
Greta Holmes, beloved mother, cousin, and friend was born in Princeton, Kentucky on January 3, 1933 to Maggie Mildred Foreman and Isaac Nathan Gray. Greta was an only child, however, she grew up with relatives who were like siblings to her. Greta lived a long, interesting life across nine de…
Portia Linnea Palmer, a Hyde Park-Kenwood native and public servant, died February 6 in Tallahassee, Florida of natural causes. She was 63 years old. Ms. Palmer enjoyed an exciting, high-profile career in government.
Josie Brown Childs, who worked for Mayor Harold Washington and then founded a nonprofit legacy committee in his memory 30 years after he was elected Chicago’s first Black mayor, died on Feb. 13. She was 96.
Betty Matlaw, October 5, 1926 – February 6, 2023, was born in Cleveland, moving to Toronto with her parents Joseph (a mechanic) and Ethel (a dressmaker) during the Great Depression.
One of a kind, passionate, funny, sarcastic, sassy, gregarious, challenging, conversationalist, strong-willed, natural born leader, ‘the supervisor’, firecracker, loving, devoutly religious, supportive wife, caring cousin and niece, dedicated mother, and enthusiastic grandmother!
Sonya Hirschberg, of Shorewood, Wisconsin, formerly a longtime resident of Park Forest and Hyde Park, died on January 13, 2023. She was 84 years old.
Neva Lamae Hefner was born April 29, 1930, in West Point, Nebraska. She was active in her home congregation, Grace Church, teaching Sunday School and leading the youth group. Later, she was elected to the board of the national Luther League youth organization. In 1954, she attended the Assem…
Peggy Rampersad loved life and encouraged others to do the same. She embraced every day with remarkable strength, resilience, wisdom and kindness, and celebrated each day smiling and with love, laughter and wit. Peggy died at age 89 in Fredericksburg, VA, after a brief illness tipped the bal…
Richard Paul Scanlon, 68, was born on February 4, 1954 in Providence, Rhode Island to Bernard and Ann Scanlon. He died January 1, 2023 at home in Chicago, following a five year battle with cancer. He is survived by his beloved wife of 40 years, Lynn Siegel; his brother, Michael Scanlon (June…
Long time Hyde Parker Vincent McGill passed away on December 19, 2022. Vincent grew up in St. Louis and moved to Chicago after his honorable discharge from the United States military. He loved Chicago and always called it the most beautiful city in the world. For him, Hyde Park was home. He …
Shirley Newsome, who long led the North Kenwood-Oakland Community Conservation Council (NK-O CCC)’s neighborhood revival efforts and who served as alderman of the 4th Ward for five months in 2011, died on Dec. 25, 2022. She was 77.
Arthur Shigeo Takeuchi (June 16, 1931 - October 28, 2022), architect, pupil of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and former faculty member of the College of Architecture of the Illinois Institute of Technology dies at 91.
Anthony Dietrich Mauldin, born February 1, 1954, passed away suddenly on December 8 after a short illness. Anthony was a cook, a drummer and a lover of music. He was a friend to many and will always be remembered by them as a good person.
Lifelong Hyde Parker Nicholas Joseph Britton passed away on Saturday, November 26, 2022. He had been hospitalized at the University of Chicago Hospital for several days. The cause of death was advanced cardio pulmonary disease.
Alonzo Duke Means, 73 former resident of Lincoln Park, died on September 17, 2022. Beloved father to Rhondean Means Johnson (Earl), and son of Alonzo Duke Means, Sr. and Geraldine Means, both who preceded him in death.
Mattie Carrey Butler, who helped found the Woodlawn East Community and Neighbors (WECAN) organization after a 1980 fire killed 13 children in the neighborhood, died on Nov. 3. She was 79.
Martha Modena Vertreace-Doody, age 76, of Chicago, passed away on Nov. 12, 2022. Born to Walter Charles Vertreace and Martha (nee Modena) on Nov. 24, 1945, in Washington, D.C.
Estrella Ravelo Alamar, a dedicated archivist and cataloguer of Filipino American history and well-loved member of the Hyde Park community, died on Oct. 23 at the age of 86.
Richard Arthur Lathrop, a longtime resident of Hyde Park, passed away on September 14th, 2022. He was 95 years old. The only explanation for this longevity was copious lifelong consumption of coffee and frequent naps.
Ruth Louise Patterson, 96 of Chicago, IL passed away Friday, Sept. 30, 2022. Ruth was born Oct. 18, 1925 to the late Charles and Clara Schultz in Buffalo, NY. She was a longtime member of Augustana Lutheran Church of Hyde Park. She worked at the University of Chicago as a secretary for the R…
Virginia A. “Nan” McDivit passed away on Oct. 10, 2022. A dear daughter of the late Joseph and Virginia (nee Guy), fond sister of the late Mary “Mimi” (the late John) Hess, the late Joseph “Rick” (the late Swannie) and the late Michael (Carleen) McDivit. A loving aunt, cousin, and friend of …
Sergio Mims, a film critic, journalist, historian and raconteur who made a career out of written and audio commentary on cinema, and who put his love and encyclopedic knowledge of classical music and opera to use on a longtime WHPK radio show, died on Oct. 4 at the age of 67.
In the early morning hours of September 23, 2022, Joan Kroll Novick suffered a catastrophic stroke from which she was unable to recover. She died on Sunday, September 25 in the late afternoon just as Rosh Hashanah was beginning. Joan’s friends and caregivers were with her during her transition.
Charles (Chuck) Gilbert Staples was born to Harold and Margaret (Smith) Staples in Providence, Rhode Island, on October 6, 1929, and passed away peacefully in his home in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago on August 16, 2022. He was educated at the Moses Brown School in Providence, The Pu…
William (Bill) Shepard Woodfolk IV passed on Sunday, September 11 after a brief illness.
Irving Charles "Irv" Carrig, a longtime Hyde Parker, academic, civil servant and father of five with a multitude of hobbies, died on Aug. 31 at the age of 89.
Lester G. Telser, a University of Chicago-educated and -employed economist who lived nearly his entire life in Hyde Park, died on Sept. 3. He was 91.
Marisa Ferrari (1942-2022) was born and raised in Udine, Italy, where she lived until meeting her husband, Virginio. They were both in their early twenties when they moved to Hyde Park, where Virginio worked as a sculptor and Marisa raised their three boys, Alberto, Fabio and Marco. Marisa w…
Michael A. McGuire of Hinsdale, 77, predeceased by his wife, Frae McGuire and his son, Matthew McGuire. He is survived by his daughter Reagan Pittman, his partner, Deborah Davis, and many loving friends and family members, including his brothers and sisters Margaret Burns (James), Martin McG…
Jennette Schermerhorn Rader died peacefully in her sleep on June 4, 2022 in Seattle, Washington.
Evelyn Liliane Marsh was born in Kansas City, Missouri on November 4, 1943 to Hans and Eva (Rosenthal) Ekstein, refugees from Hitler’s Germany. The middle of three girls, Evelyn grew up in Hyde Park on Chicago’s South Side, which remained her lifelong home. She attended the University of Chi…
Editor's note: This piece was originally published by In These Times and titled "Rest in Power, David Moberg (1943-2022)."
Hannah (Anne) Hayes, daughter of the South Side, writer, teacher, activist, beloved Hyde Parker, sibling, wife and mother was killed by a hit-and-run driver in Hyde Park, Monday evening, July 11.
Maude Brooks, a longtime parishioner at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church (STA) and singer, died on July 7. She was 100.
Jesse Williams Jr., an arts businessman who owned the Third World Imports shop in Harper Court, and had a lifelong passion for jazz, died on Dec. 24, 2021, of cancer. His family had his memorial service last weekend.
Wayne Walter Whalen was born in Savanna, Illinois on August 22, 1939 to Leo and Esther (Yackley) Whalen. The oldest of five, Wayne grew up in Hanover, Illinois on his family's mallard duck farm, Whistling Wings. Wayne's early jobs, beginning at the age of nine, included detasseling corn and …
Joseph J. Foley died peacefully on May 17, 2022, at the age of 87 surrounded by his family.
Kyoko Inoue was born on January 1, 1935 In Tokyo. Her father was interested in working abroad, so in 1939, her family moved to Shanghai where they lived during WWII. At the end of the war, having lost everything, they were sent back to Japan, where they rebuilt their lives in Tokyo. After gr…
Erl Dordal, age 94, passed away on May 11, 2022 with members of his family at his side. He was born in the Lutheran parsonage in Larimore, North Dakota on September 22, 1927. His father was Rev. Dr. Lars Andreas Dordal (born in Telemark, Norway in 1884). His mother was Clara Wegge Dordal (bo…
Paula Christine Johnson, a Hyde Park fixture and the longtime owner of Divine Creators Beauty Salon along 55th Street, died on April 18 at the age of 68.
Warner Clock White died peacefully at home surrounded by family on Saturday, April 16. He was born in Hampton, Iowa, on October 25, 1926, to Evelyn Laura (Clock) and Russell Peregrine White.
Dr. Kambiz Dowlatshahi died on March 17, 2022, in Chicago. He was 84.
Walter Emil Kaegi Jr., a University of Chicago and Oriental Institute historian known for his scholarship on the the Byzantine Empire as well as the Ancient Romans and early Islam, died on Feb. 24 of natural causes in Chicago. He was 84.
Dr. Alfred L. Baker passed away peacefully in his home on March 1, 2022. He was born Feb. 17, 1940. His father, Smoot A Baker, was a minister and his mother, Ara Brueck, a director of church music.
Diego Damis, an immigrant who became a beloved bartender at The Cove Lounge after years of frequenting the bar, was robbed and killed on Friday morning at the intersection of 49th Street and Greenwood Avenue.
Dr. André LaCocque, Emeritus Professor of Hebrew Bible at Chicago Theological Seminary died on Jan. 28, 2022. He was 94. A revered teacher and a groundbreaking biblical scholar, he reconceived faithful study of a shared scripture, undergirded by interfaith dialogue and deep understanding bet…
Michele Makinen, 76, of Hyde Park, died from complications of ovarian cancer on Feb. 14, 2022, at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
Kwesi Preston Lee Hopkins, 72, a lifelong resident of Chicago, passed away Wednesday, January 19, 2022. Kwesi was the third child born April 6, 1949 to the union of Lester B. Hopkins Sr. and Alice M. Hopkins (nee Rogers). Kwesi’s marriage to Rosetta Hopkins (nee Ledbetter) brought forth thre…
Walter “Wally” Jonas, son of William Wolf Jonas and Mina (Frank), passed away October 5, 2021. Wally was born and raised on Chicago’s South Side.
The Very Reverend John Robert (Bob) Orpen, Jr. died peacefully at his home in Chicago on Dec. 16, 2021.
