Vincent Streff Obituary

Streff, Vincent Paul

Vincent Paul Streff, 89, passed away Friday, June 4, 2021 in Naperville, IL. He was a long-time resident of Woodridge, IL and recently living at Harbor Chase of Naperville. He was born September 23, 1931, in Evanston, IL to the late Vincent M. and Anita (Kuebel) Streff. He is survived by his beloved wife Dolores "Dody" (nee Butler), whom he married on August 8, 1959; daughters Peg Foltz (Jeff), Jennifer Streff, Kate Yedwofski (Paul Michael), and Sheila Streff; son Paul Streff (Amanda Martin); grandchildren Ruth Foltz, Nora Foltz, and Nathan Yedwofski; sisters Dorothy Streff and the late Helen (Streff) Cico (the late Peter G. Cico Jr.); brother Joseph (Mary) Streff; and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.

Vincent was a 1949 graduate of Senn High School in Chicago, and a 1956 graduate of Northwestern University, (B.S. - Speech), after serving in the Air Force (1950-1953) where he traveled to Saudi Arabia, Germany and the UK. Vincent had a talent for photography which he perfected during his overseas travels and after college landed a job at a fledgling TV station in Chicago called Channel 11, where he met Dody. After Channel 11 he was employed as an industrial photographer at Sciaky, Inc, and then in 1966 went to work at the newly opened Bell Laboratories location in Naperville where he worked until retiring in 1996 just shy of 30 years of service. During his time at Bell Labs, in addition to taking the picture of most every employee at that location for employee directories (and therefore well-known and loved by many) he took a class in C Programming and was hooked on the computer world, writing programs to track orders for the Photography and Reprographics departments. In retirement, he joined Dody in her love of old radio shows by becoming the technical coordinator for the radio group "Those Were The Days". He not only provided sound-effects but recorded their shows on CDs. Before contracting lupus which forced him to stay out of the sun, he was an avid gardener, at one time having garden plots in 3 places for many summers. He was a do-it-yourselfer and painted, paneled and wall-papered every room in the house (multiple times), and built a wall (with electricity) in the house so the piano practicing would not interfere with being able to watch television! He also inherited his fascination for genealogy from his father. He created the website vstreff.com (which still exists today) and built an amazing genealogy for his family as well as Dody's family including numerous family photos and stories long before the tools of Ancestry.com and other websites became a commonplace way to document genealogy online. His research led him to getting to know distant relatives all over the country.

Wake will be held on Thursday, June 10, 2021 from 3PM-8PM at Hallowell & James Funeral Home, 301 75th St, Downers Grove, IL. Prayer service at funeral home Friday, June 11, 2021 at 9:30AM followed by Mass of Christian Burial 10AM at St. Scholastica Church, Woodridge, IL. Funeral home phone 630/964-6500 or www.hjfunerals.com

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