Winifred Julia Micks, nee Whalen, age 96 was born in Towanda, Kansas, to Vona K., nee Vaughan and William Patrick Whalen. Winifred was raised on a farm west of Anamosa, Iowa; attended Chillicothe Business College in Missouri from 1942-1943; worked for Montgomery Ward in Chicago and the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors in La Grange, Illinois, where she met Donald William Micks, whom she married on September 14, 1946 at St. Xavier Rectory in La Grange. During the War, she volunteered as a nurse’s aide at Community Memorial General Hospital in La Grange. She and her husband were longtime residents of Elmhurst, Illinois, and were loyal members of Visitation Parish. She was a beloved figure known as “Miss Winnie” to generations of students at Jefferson Elementary School in Elmhurst, where she worked as an aide from 1978 to 2015. She is predeceased by her husband and three brothers: John Michael Whalen (Jean), Michael John Whalen (Mary Flo), and Jerry Francis Whalen (Ruth). She is survived by her sister Kathryn V. Whalen Green (Chris); by her children: Maureen V. Miller (Rodney), Kathleen Anne Micks, Theresa J. Slowik (Kenneth), Wiley Stephen Micks, and Alyce Julia Vaughn; her grandchildren, Rodney K. Miller (Angela), Andrew V. Miller (Andrea), Jeffrey R. Miller (Susan), and Catherine V. Slowik; and her great-grandchildren Caitlin Miller, Grace Miller, Zoë Miller, and Ainslie Jane Miller. Visitation Sunday, 2:00 p.m. until 5:00 p.m. at Gibbons Funeral Home, 134 South York Road, (½ mile North of Saint Charles Road), Elmhurst. Friends and family will meet for a Mass of Christian Burial, Monday, 11:00 a.m. at Visitation Catholic Church, 779 South York Rd (at Madison), Elmhurst. Additional services and Interment will take place in Anamosa, Iowa later this week. Additional information available on the funeral home website. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to support maintenance of the historic St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Stone City Iowa c/o Fr. Nick March, 215 N. Garnavillo St., Anamosa, Iowa 52205. For additional information please call 630-832-0018 or www.gibbonsfuneralhome.com
Livestream link for Monday’s funeral mass : https://www.visitationparish.org/
**For service information in Iowa click here : https://www.goettschonline.com/obituary/winifred-meeks
Joe and Margaret Kaliski
As next door neighbor to Winnie, we always enjoyed her presence in our life. Our three daughters remember her smiling face both as a next door neighbor and as an aide at Jefferson. Whether tending her garden or caring for her beloved Don in his later years, she was a model of caring and compassion. It was good that she lived such a long and full life. She will be missed.
Marilyn Sullivan
I have been an aide at Jefferson for twenty years now and I had the pleasure to work along side Winnie in the lunchroom and outside in the playground. Students adored Miss Winnie. If they were having a tough day she would always make them happier with that incredible smile of hers and her unwavering support. I remember on the day she announced her retirement from working at Jefferson there were many tears amongst staff and students. She was beloved. She gave me cuttings from the newspaper about my kids sports team news and we talked about her wonderful children and the visits she would have with them. My favorite memory was seeing Winnie walk with her husband Don hand in hand around the neighborhood. She was one of the most caring women that I have had the privilege to meet.
Bob Marecek
It was a long time ago, but I have good memories of Winifred (and her husband Don) treating me with great kindness and hospitality when I was dating Kathy, their daughter. I’m sure she is happy being with Don again. May she rest in peace.