North Shore Death Notices: Jan. 18 To Jan. 24

The following death notices were added to funeral homes serving the North Shore area in the past week. Those homes have provided obituaries for some of those that have passed away recently. Patch offers condolences to their loved ones, links to their obituaries and notices of upcoming services below.

Kelley & Spalding Funeral Home, 1787 Deerfield Road in Highland Park

Vivian Godzicki, 84, Deerfield

Edward Whitefield, 83, Highland Park

James Thomas Shinker, 60, Deerfield

Wenban Funeral Home, 320 Vine Ave. in Lake Forest

Young-Iob Chung, 92, Lake Forest

Donald O. Martin, 88, Lake Bluff

Wallace “Wally” Charles Dreikosen, 87, Mettawa

Barbara Jo Nimesheim, 74, Lake Forest

Reuland & Turnbough Funeral Home, 1407 N. Western Ave. in Lake Forest

Linda Marie Barrett, 71, Wheeling

Seguin & Symonds Funeral Home, 858 Sheridan Road in Highwood and 11 West Belvidere Road in Grayslake

Louis Sutton Mason, 64, Grayslake
Service Jan. 30

Lidia Selagea, 76, Chicago

Jill Marleen Neuman née Ambrose, 65, Buffalo Grove

Chicago Jewish Funerals, 8851 Skokie Blvd. in Skokie and 195 N. Buffalo Grove Road in Buffalo Grove

Charles Edward Slattery, 60, Evanston
Service Jan. 27

Fanya B. Dubrovinskaya, 90, Chicago
Service Jan. 27

Thomas Simons, 83, Northbrook
Service Jan. 28

Leona Boris née Baime, 98, Buffalo Grove
Service Jan. 29

Lilyan Elizabeth Muraff née Elfenbaum, 96, Northbrook

Leonid Rivkis, 93, Chicago

Rochelle Schultz née Fried, 91, Chicago

Beverly Weisbrodt, 88, Round Lake Beach

Yana Spivak, 83, Buffalo Grove

Susan Bonnie Kroner, 74, Lincolnwood

Leanne Heidi Star, 72, Wilmette

Suzanna DeFilippis née Mantelman, 71, Wheeling

Stephen I. Goldberg, 69, Chicago

Daniel Swift, 58, Deerfield

Bruce H. Reynolds, 56, Evanston

Michael D. Lanski, 55, Buffalo Grove

Donnellan Funeral Home, 10045 Skokie Blvd. in Skokie

Marian F. Moran née Browne, 99, Northfield
Service Jan. 30

Lee H. Stiles, 96, Evanston

Robert “Bob” McAllister, 91, Wilmette

Mary Virginia Harrington née Braasch, 84, Glenview

Patty Jane Pelton, 81, Wilmette

Ronald Bruce Gibson, 65, Evanston

Christopher Julian Dimitri Ainsley, 62, Wilmette

Marta Torres, 61, Evanston

Haben Funeral Home, 8057 Niles Center Road in Skokie

Irene L. Berg née Stake, 95, Chicago
Service Jan. 27

Bruce John Thoren, 87, Skokie

Louis E. Thorrens, 86, Skokie

Simkins Funeral Home, 6251 Dempster St. in Morton Grove

Jerry Pauley, 73, Chicago

N. H. Scott & Hanekamp Funeral Home, 1240 Waukegan Road in Glenview

Beatriz Casas Torres, 94, Glenview

Bonnie Kistner Wefler, 93, Evanston

Eldon D. Johnson, 92, Northbrook

Charles A. Preihs, 92, Northbrook

F. William “Bill” Schulz, 86, Kenilworth

Anita L. Oberg née Hylkema, 85, Northbrook

Marilyn Anne Lading, 66, Northbrook

Peter Tyson Adams, 63, Glenview

Evanston Funeral and Cremation, 1726 Central St. in Evanston

Miriam Louise Van Buren née Breslich, 97, Evanston

Jose Rafael Navarro Garcia, 56, Chicago

Thompson Funeral and Cremation, 1917 Asbury Ave., in Evanston

Dyrek William Coleman, 34, Evanston
Service Jan. 28

Neresa Rose Thomas, 73, Des Plaines

Weinstein & Piser Funeral Home, 111 Skokie Blvd. in Wilmette

Lois Krause, 94, Northbrook
Service Jan. 29

Fred Kusnetz, 93, Skokie

Nina Verbitskaya née Korenevskiy, 90, Chicago

Avery J. Stone, 88, Glencoe

Joel Sears, 78, Chicago

Michael Saul Huckman, 84, Chicago

James Wilson Boyle, 80, Chicago

Jane Ashley, 76, Wilmette

Harvey Scott Lerner, 61, Northbrook

Featured Obituary:

Leanne Heidi Star of Wilmette, IL, a talented editor and writer, avid volunteer, skilled wordsmith, and loving mom, grandmother, sister and fiancé, passed away suddenly on Saturday, January 23, 2021 at the age of 72.

She grew up in Park Forest, IL the second of five siblings and was then known as “DeeDee.” As a child she enjoyed and taught ballet, reading, and French and interned for Ann Landers. She attended the University of Chicago (class of ‘69) and the University of California, Berkeley where she received Bachelors and Masters degrees in comparative literature. Although not religious growing up, she learned to read Hebrew as an adult and became a bat mitzvah at the age of 57. She taught literature and writing at Beloit College in Wisconsin, Colby College in Maine, and at universities in Taiwan and China before becoming a freelance writer for Northwestern University among other organizations. She would have been the first person to read this over and offer her edits. She most recently managed a blog called Star Gazing for Chicago Now, and authored numerous play reviews for various publications.

She was a dedicated volunteer who was passionate about architecture and was a docent (class of 2011) for the Chicago Architecture Center for the popular river tour, amongst others, receiving 5-star reviews for her work. She took great pride in having created new tours and training incoming docents. She also marched for women’s rights and politically progressive causes, and was active in her congregation and choir. An avid and competitive puzzler and Scrabble player, she routinely hit “Queen Bee” status doing the New York Times Spelling Bee. In addition to her other hobbies, she designed and sewed personalized quilts for each of her 6 grandkids and always celebrated their birthdays with homemade cookies. She also loved exercising, trying new fitness classes, and walking her dogs.

Prior to COVID, she would host a regular minion for her synagogue, Congregation Hakafa, at her house and volunteered at A Just Harvest. More recently, she could be found dropping off her famed matzah ball soup for a sick friend or baking scones for her grandkids. She loved to travel and was always planning her next trip (Iceland and Israel amongst her favorites) or shuttling back and forth between her daughters’ houses. She was the favorite babysitter who was known as “Gaga” or “Grandma Leanne” by her grandchildren. Most of all, she was a Woman of Valor.

Send obituaries and images to your Patch to be included in future editions: Deerfield, Evanston, Glenview, Highland Park, Lake Bluff-Lake Forest, Niles-Morton Grove, Northbrook, Skokie, Winnetka-Glencoe-Northbrook, Wilmette-Kenilworth

Last week: North Shore Death Notices: Jan. 11 To Jan. 17