Valerie Schulz Obituary

Schulz, Valerie (nee Berez) Died Oct. 17, 2011, at St. Anthony's OSF Hospital in Rockford of lung cancer. She was 66. Born Nov. 16, 1944, in Dresden, Germany, during a World War II bombing raid, she and her family were Ukrainian refugees who traveled throughout Europe until 1949 when they received passage to the United States. They lived in New York City for a brief time before they moved to Chicago's Ukrainian neighborhood. In 1954, her parents, John and Maria Berez, bought farmland near Granton, Wisconsin, and the family, including her sister, Helen, and her grandparents, settled into a life of farming. There, her sisters, Julie and Gina, were born. Valerie graduated from Granton High School in 1962. She moved to Chicago and married Richard Luhman of River Forest, Illinois. She gave birth two children, Jennifer in 1964 and John in 1965. The couple divorced. In 1974, Valerie married Siegfried Schulz of Rice Lake, Wisconsin, and they had two children, Andrea in 1975 and Andrew in 1982. A skilled bookkeeper, Valerie worked for several banks including River Forest Bank and Oak Park Trust Bank. In the 1970s she began a career that spanned three decades at the Oak Park (Illinois) YMCA, retiring as the Y's business manager. For several years, she and Sig owned a Dairy Queen in Algonquin, Illinois, before retiring completely. She was a longtime resident of Forest Park, Illinois, and retired in Belvidere, Illinois. She was a devoted mother, a loving grandmother, and a cherished wife, daughter and sister. She is survived by her husband, Siegfried; her children, Jennifer (Rick) Clark of Schaumburg, Ill., John Luhman of Littleton, Colo., Andrea Schulz of Franklin Park, Ill., and Andrew Schulz of Belvidere, Ill.; her grandchildren, Samantha, Adam, Brittney, Ryan, Nicholas, Vincent, Arianna and Anthony; her mother, Maria Berez of Granton, Wis.; her sisters, Helen (Paul) Dodge of Menominie, Wis., Julie (Greg) Gorst of Granton, Wis.; and Gina (Tom) LaBansky of Elroy, Wis.; nephews, James (Lumilla) Dodge and Jason (Jessica) Gorst; niece Ashley Gorst; and great nephews and niece, Aryas, Anya and Jack. She was preceded in death by her father, John Berez; her brother-in-law, Paul Dodge; and her grandparents, Sawka and Oksana (Ruhlyada) Nos. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital's Trauma Center Program (brain injury treatment) in Park Ridge, IL 60068, in the name of Valerie and Andrew Schulz.