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Grace W. Carlson, 94, Wheaton

Grace W. Carlson, 94, Wheaton, died Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015, at Central DuPage Hospital, Winfield, surrounded by her family.

She was born Sept. 30, 1921, to Grace (Holveck) and William Wimmer in Chicago.

She grew up in Portage Park and graduated from Carl Schurz High School and Northwestern University, Evanston, with a degree in education.

She and her husband, Joseph, moved to Glen Ellyn in 1947 where they raised four children.

She taught at Sunset Ridge School in Northfield while her husband attended Northwestern University and at Ben Franklin School in Glen Ellyn for 26 years. She enjoyed reading, music, travel, aerobics and loved looking after her granddaughter Sarah. 

While living in Glen Ellyn, she was active in the Glen Ellyn Junior Woman’s Club and the Glen Ellyn Square Dance Club, was a Glen Ellyn Community Concert server and a volunteer for the YMCA phone hotline for women.

She and her husband enjoyed concerts at Cantigny on weekends. After his death, she moved to Wyndemere in Wheaton to join many of the friendly residents she had become acquainted with during the previous 14 years of aerobics classes.

Survivors include three children, Joan (Louis) Bolwahnn, Plymouth, Minn., James (Dea) Carlson, Holt, Mo., and Bette (David) Chwalisz, Woodstock; six grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; two sisters, Billie Nolan and Berniece Martin; and many adoring nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband; a daughter, Lynn Carlson; a granddaughter, Sarah McCullagh; a great-granddaughter, Brooklyn Bolwahnn; and two sisters, Blanche Colvin and Hazel Wimmer.

A memorial service honoring her life will be held in the spring of 2016 at St. Ann’s Episcopal Church, Woodstock.

Memorials can be made to the Sarah McCullagh Memorial Dance Clinic, c/o Athletic Dept., Woodstock High School, 501 South St., Woodstock, IL 60098; the Cantigny Foundation, Attn: Finance, 1S151 N. Winfield Road, Wheaton, IL 60187; or School of Education Annual Fund, Alumni Relations, Northwestern University, 1201 Davis St., Evanston, IL 60208. 

Arrangements were made by Leonard Memorial Home, Glen Ellyn.

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